What's going on with my location?

B0bbyEwing

For a little while now my location has been wacky on my PC. It's never pinpointed me precisely (which surely is a bit wrong since I'm connected to the router via cable?!) but it's generally got me somewhere close-ish.

Lately though I've just been way off. A few 100 mile away. Google Maps is one that's been getting me wrong. Recently when I've Googled Amazon & clicked the link it will take me to the American Amazon rather than the UK which never used to happen.

Just now I've gone to sign in to a Health Lottery account & it says I'm "Geo Blocked" and that I can't play from outside Great Britain. 

This happens in both Firefox (default) and Chrome. 

Heedtheadvice

Usually uses IP address of PC. Not using VPN are you?

DullGreyGuy

B0bbyEwing said:

For a little while now my location has been wacky on my PC. It's never pinpointed me precisely (which surely is a bit wrong since I'm connected to the router via cable?!) but it's generally got me somewhere close-ish.

Lately though I've just been way off. A few 100 mile away. Google Maps is one that's been getting me wrong. Recently when I've Googled Amazon & clicked the link it will take me to the American Amazon rather than the UK which never used to happen.

Just now I've gone to sign in to a Health Lottery account & it says I'm "Geo Blocked" and that I can't play from outside Great Britain. 

This happens in both Firefox (default) and Chrome. 

For websites etc that dont ask your permission for your location then they will be basing it on your IP address which is never a very accurate mechanism and very dependent on what security software you are running (eg a VPN or proxy) and your ISP. 

Have you recently installed or updated any new security/privacy software/plugin? 

B0bbyEwing

I seem to remember a few weeks ago having bother accessing something that was locked to a foreign country so installed a VPN add on to one of either Firefox or Chrome to access it but deactivated it once I'd done whatever it was I was doing.

I had a look last night & saw no mention of VPN add ons so assume I must've uninstalled it. 

Funnily after this I was getting Bad Gateway error messages in both browsers when trying to access this forum. Chrome wouldn't let me view it at all whereas Firefox would but if I tried to reply it would send me to the Bad Gateway page. 

I'm now at work on mobile data & can obviously access this forum just fine as well as access the Health Lottery login just fine. 

So it has to be something wrong with either both browsers or my PC as a whole.

Windows 10 if that helps any. 

J_B

We use Airband as our ISP - they are a WISP service with bases in Hereford and Devon

My location often comes up as Totnes!

Last weekend I was searching for flights and for some bizarre reason Google et al thought I was in Dublin which was most annoying as it kept offering Dublin flights and priced them in Euros

I had to keep changing google.ie to .co.uk

booneruk

Any location identification made by IP address will only be, at best, very approximate and liable to vary wildly if you're allocated a dynamic IP address by your provider.

A similar thread for reference: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80706039/#Comment_80706039

facade

I was about to suggest that the OP tries https://www.whatsmyip.org  and clicks on more info to see his location.

I just tried and to my horror, it shows my location!  Yet my IP address reports as 45.84.137.XXX and according to https://iplocation.com/ and https://whatismyipaddress.com/ it is in Paris, France.

Now I did click on "allow browser to access my location" which apparently unleashes google spyware to geolocate me, but how did it do it? Did it use the fact that my mobile is connected to the same network as my pc to grab geolocation from the 'phone somehow? Or have they captured where all the SSID's are from passing 'phones?

Revisiting the page and clicking "block" instead of "allow" it correctly shows Paris.

matelodave

Mine seems to think I'm in Islington (London) at the moment  but I really live near Ely in Cambridgeshire, although on previous lookups I've been in Rochdale.

B0bbyEwing

The plot thickens.

So I've just hopped on Google to order a takeaway. Search for the website & it brings up Ireland's version of this site. 
I try it on Chrome & exactly the same thing. 
I click through to find this...



Is there any way to fix this .... considering it never used to do this at all??

Oh and for the record, the Health Lottery website which didn't work last night is now working for me.

booneruk

Where abouts are you located, and who is your internet provider? What does this page tell you your "IP Location" is?

https://www.whatismyip.com/

For me it's showing Virgin media (correct), but Birmingham (incorrect - but that's just the nature of location via IP address)

facade

When I used https://www.whatsmyip.com, it shows the correct IP, but claims I am in Toronto, Canada.

https://www.whatsmyip.org shows the correct IP address, and with my Wifi disabled it shows I am in Edinburgh (which is correct, my VPN is set to Edinburgh now)

Enabling my Wifi and https://www.whatsmyip.org shows my real location to within a few metres.

Obviously my router is snitching me up, it must be sniffing other SSIDs that are geolocated.

I