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Why do I need to turn on WiFi to determine my closest location?
For some reason, my mac won't get the latest time from the NTP server if I am plugged into Ethernet. What could possibly be different between my wireless and my Ethernet?
Update: I let my Mac sit for 30 seconds with this window open, wifi off, and ethernet plugged in. The location and date would not update. Turning on wifi caused the location and date to be determined within seconds.
I think you may have misread what the UI was trying to communicate. Turning on Wi-Fi is not mandatory just to get NTP working. All you have to do is select a time zone manually. Turning on Wi-Fi will allow your Mac to triangulate its location from nearby Wi-Fi APs in Apple's location database, which will allow it to set your time zone automatically based on your geographic location. It's just a helper, not mandatory. – Spiff – 2013-08-26T23:53:23.113
@spiff that was my though too. Even after letting the mac sit for a while, the location & time would not update. Immediately after I turned on wifi the time and location updated. – spuder – 2013-08-27T00:28:20.430