Why is my phone switching to America location?

B0bbyEwing

I'm trying to buy something. Since people usually ask what - it's a Zwift membership. 
I'm on my phone, opened topcashback & gone that way in the hope I get the 4% but if I don't then I don't. 

Go to the membership & it shows GBP but instantly flashes to USD. 

I go back to the top, select UK as location & then the membership page quickly flashes up GBP pricing but then back to USD. 

I'm not connected via a VPN. Just my regular home WiFi. 


I've noticed this before at times when I've searched for things & it brings up American based results. Very annoying. 

flaneurs_lobster

Likely to be the way that Zwift are interpreting your IP address.

Quick fix might be to use mobile data on your phone rather than your broadband. 

ballyblack

its ur wifi router

Grumpy_chap

Are you using a personal or work email address?
Could it be a corporate account hosted elsewhere?

itsthelittlethings

Are you using a VPN?

Ayr_Rage

itsthelittlethings said:

Are you using a VPN?

In the OP

I'm not connected via a VPN. Just my regular home WiFi. 

B0bbyEwing

flaneurs_lobster said:

Likely to be the way that Zwift are interpreting your IP address.

Quick fix might be to use mobile data on your phone rather than your broadband. 

In the end I went via my PC ... which connects to the internet via ethernet cable

So why is this happening?

ballyblack said:

its ur wifi router

Why?

I'm at home, in the UK. Why does it think I'm in America?

Grumpy_chap said:

Are you using a personal or work email address?
Could it be a corporate account hosted elsewhere?

Why would email addresses matter?

But no, I wasn't using any email address. I was just connecting to a website & wanting to pay.

When having this Americanism previously, again I was just browsing websites. Such as - "item xyz to buy........" and it brings up American results.

Ayr_Rage said:

itsthelittlethings said:

Are you using a VPN?

In the OP

I'm not connected via a VPN. Just my regular home WiFi. 

I always find it's best to put as much info as you can think of in the OP. You know ... it's the little things

born_again

Clear your cookies.

While you say not using VPN. do you have VPN installed??

B0bbyEwing

born_again said:

Clear your cookies.

While you say not using VPN. do you have VPN installed??

Chrome cookies or some other setting on the phone?

FYI - Samsung Galaxy phone. S24+.

Yes I have NordVPN installed but it was not connected at the time. There are times when being connected causes problems - the BBC News app doesn't seem to like it, even when connected to a UK connection. There's other cases too but I've never ran in to a VPN related issue when not connected to one before.

bob2302

B0bbyEwing said:

In the end I went via my PC ... which connects to the internet via ethernet cable

So why is this happening?

ballyblack said:

its ur wifi router

Why?

I'm at home, in the UK. Why does it think I'm in America?

It wont be specific to WiFi. Typically an ISP will assign you a single IPv4 IP address. There are databases that allow addresses to be mapped to countries, but they aren't always accurate. IPv4 addresses are scarce these days so they tend to move around a bit.

There does seem to be some caching too. I run a vpn on my desktop, and I'm still getting a lot of Dutch adverts despite moving to a new egress address months ago.

B0bbyEwing

bob2302 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

In the end I went via my PC ... which connects to the internet via ethernet cable

So why is this happening?

ballyblack said:

its ur wifi router

Why?

I'm at home, in the UK. Why does it think I'm in America?

It wont be specific to WiFi. Typically an ISP will assign you a single IPv4 IP address. There are databases that allow addresses to be mapped to countries, but they aren't always accurate. IPv4 addresses are scarce these days so they tend to move around a bit.

There does seem to be some caching too. I run a vpn on my desktop, and I'm still getting a lot of Dutch adverts despite moving to a new egress address months ago.

On the VPN thing, I've never connected to an American VPN.

German yes, UK yes, Japanese yes, French yes. 

American - no.