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Andy5000
join:2001-12-20
Parsippany, NJ

Andy5000

Member

[Internet] Geolocation shows Rome, NY

Hi All - Not sure if there is a way around this, but we are located in midtown NYC and whenever we do a search for "local" things, our Apple Laptop seems to think we are located in Rome, NY.

I'm sure this is because TWC is giving us an IP which identifies as Rome, but is there any way around this?

Thanks.

hobgoblin
Sortof Agoblin
Premium Member
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY

hobgoblin

Premium Member

In almost all cases it will fix itself.

Hob

Cogitate
join:2014-01-01
US

Cogitate

Member

It only took 7 months!

But I have to give TWC credit since it went from 100 to 50 miles off during that period before they homed in on me.

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

DocDrew to Andy5000

Premium Member

to Andy5000
Almost all geolocation databases used are built and updated by 3rd parties. TWC has nothing to do with them and can't update them.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose to Andy5000

Member

to Andy5000
Mine says Pataskala, OH when I'm in NE Columbus so....

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS to Andy5000

MVM

to Andy5000
said by Andy5000:

Hi All - Not sure if there is a way around this, but we are located in midtown NYC and whenever we do a search for "local" things, our Apple Laptop seems to think we are located in Rome, NY.

I'm sure this is because TWC is giving us an IP which identifies as Rome, but is there any way around this?

An IP address can not identify a geographic location. Many ISPs and transit providers customarily include geographic clues in the IP address ptr record, such as, "adsl-69-105-38-120.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net" (an old residential ADSL account connection I once had); but it is not required by any convention, or legal statute. When I changed ISP from AT&T ('pacbell.net') to Sonic.net, I got a different, uncommon, but equally valid, naming on the residential IP address: "173-228-18-23.dsl.dynamic.sonic.net".

In the first example, the geographic clue is, "pltn13"; but I was not actually in the city of Pleasanton,, California.

In the second example, there is no geographic clue in the ptr name.

One common method of guessing a geographic location is based on the ARIN record of assignment. This accounts for the guesses I have seen that I was in San Ramon, California (based on the ARIN record of assignment for some residential IP address blocks to Pacific Bell/SBC/AT&T), or Santa Rosa, California (headquarters of Sonic.net). But any IP address of any provider can be assigned to any customer in their service area with no intrinsic (to the IP address) way of learning its geographic location.

Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY

Packeteers to Andy5000

Premium Member

to Andy5000
I went a long time geolocated in southern brooklyn while i'm in northern queens.

I forced DHCP to give me a new public IP address by attached something with
a different MAC address onto the cable modem. now my geolocation is correct.

NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS

MVM

said by Packeteers:

I went a long time geolocated in southern brooklyn while i'm in northern queens.

I forced DHCP to give me a new public IP address by attached something with
a different MAC address onto the cable modem. now my geolocation is correct.

I have been placed everywhere from Santa Rosa, California to Witchita, Kansas by various webs sites; and once, by Google, in the Asia-Pacific region. My avatar is closest to right.

Unless a web site does its homework, it is as likely to be wrong as right.

Andy5000
join:2001-12-20
Parsippany, NJ

Andy5000

Member

Thanks everyone for your replies. At least I'm not alone!