--- a/toolkit/components/search/nsSearchService.js
+++ b/toolkit/components/search/nsSearchService.js
@@ -380,6 +380,10 @@
     return;
   }
 
+  // Prevent Firefox from contacting location.services.mozilla.com on a new profile
+  Services.prefs.setCharPref("browser.search.region", "US");
+  return;
+
   // If we have 'isUS' but no 'countryCode' then we are almost certainly
   // a profile from Fx 34/35 that set 'isUS' based purely on a timezone
   // check. If this said they were US, we force region to be US.
@@ -463,6 +467,10 @@
   // If we have a country-code already stored in our prefs we trust it.
   let countryCode = Services.prefs.getCharPref("browser.search.countryCode", "");
 
+  // No countryCode set, use US as default, don't contact location.services.mozilla.com
+  Services.prefs.setCharPref("browser.search.countryCode", "US");
+  return;
+
   if (!countryCode) {
     // We don't have it cached, so fetch it. fetchCountryCode() will call
     // storeCountryCode if it gets a result (even if that happens after the