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CrazyJoey
@rr.com

CrazyJoey

Anon

[TWC] DHCP question - Los Angeles, CA

For the last few weeks, my cable modem got a local Los Angeles IP address from their DHCP servers. But then, just in the last couple of days, my IP address shows it's geolocated in Kansas.

I just checked the domain now, and it still reads socal.res.rr.com.

I called TWC support, and got their Philippine call center, and the guy advised me that it's the MAC address that's determining what IP address I receive. I tried changing the MAC address on the WAN side of the router (I have a WRT54GL running Tomato firmware) and I still get the same address.

What the heck is TW doing?
jojoyohan
join:2007-02-19
united state

jojoyohan

Member

They could just be moving IP addresses around. Why does it matter?

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal

DocDrew to CrazyJoey

Premium Member

to CrazyJoey
The geolocation database your looking at is obviously wrong, the IP can't be in Kansas if you have it in Los Angeles.

It's up to the database owner to update.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to CrazyJoey

Premium Member

to CrazyJoey
TWC does this a lot. My IP address, since I got RR in 2001, has shown Herndon, Virgina, Georgia, Kansas City and Oahu, Hawaii as well as sometimes showing Hilo, Hawaii (different island from Oahu).

I far prefer when it does NOT reflect where I live. I loved it when it showed my address as a Mainland one. It still does that sometimes and frequently shows Oahu.

I wouldn't worry about where it shows you to be.

Whois says this about my IP:

"Allocations for this OrgID serve Road Runner residential customers out of the Honolulu, HI, Kansas City, KS, Orange, CA and San Diego, CA RDCs."

DocDrew
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Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
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Linksys EA6900

DocDrew

Premium Member

Whois is not Geolocation.

Whois records are updated by TWC. These are to track IP address ownership and owner contact info. Most of the time these records will just show the company headquarters as the location. Secondary location information may give a more specific IP location.

The plethora of Geolocation databases are updated by 3rd parties. These are mainly used for advertising purposes. Sometimes they are used for CDN server location decisions, restricted content playback decisions, etc.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

It sounds to me like the OP is looking at Whois not some geolocation service. Why would anyone have that turned on in a browser anyway? Terrible loss of privacy. Just disable geolocation and always use Googlesharing for search (which means you have to use Fx for search as Abine has not made GoogleSharing available yet for other browsers).

DocDrew
How can I help?
Premium Member
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
Ubee E31U2V1
Technicolor TC4400
Linksys EA6900

1 edit

DocDrew

Premium Member

No this isn't a browser geolocation either. That's when your browser reports your client location using a lookup method it has access to. In smartphones this is often built in GPS. Other clients use other various methods, everything from local wireless network lookup to user entry. They tend to be pretty accurate and I doubt it'd report Kansas as a location for a Los Angeles IP.

It's various 3rd party databases used to geolocate IP addresses. These are used by various advertisers and providers (not ISPs) to physically show local offers and services. It can't be controlled by a browser setting or anything a end user can do, nor can thier ISP do anything. Many are frequently and frighteningly inaccurate.

See this example:
»whatismyipaddress.com/ge ··· roviders