I live in Phoenix, Az. With my vpn OFF, when I look up Target or Best Buy, etc the websites show my location as Los Angeles. Apparently AT&T has my signal going thru their server in LA. I've heard AT&T customers in other states say the same thing. A person in a Midwestern state says his ip address is in Georgia. Why do the ISPs do this?
Why is my ip address 400 miles away?
- Thread starter anon(10766205)
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spARTacus
Well-known member
- Sep 9, 2018
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It could be that is where AT&T first actually interfaces with the actual internet for servicing you and your area, with local internal AT&T IP addresses until then. Do other folks with the same service as you in your area have the same, similar or different IP address schemes?
Chuck Finley69
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- Feb 22, 2015
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You're correct. I live in Tampa, FL and routinely my location shows as Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville and even Atlanta for various different website locations. Rarely, if ever, do I show in Tampa Bay region when actually there. I'm on AT&T too and I've attributed to load balancing system demand, but that's just assumptive guess.
Load balancing. I never thought of that. I was thinking at&t was just being cheap for not having a server in my area. Thank you for your reply.
- Feb 6, 2017
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Was the VPN just recently off ? How old your sim card ? Is it saying it over Wi-Fi or mobile Data?
Vpn not recently turned off, one of my simcards is 2 years old the other is 2 months old, over both mobile data and wifi. Same result. Los Angeles area.
- Feb 6, 2017
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Non dual sim s21ultra and s10e. Swap sim cards shows same result...also same result with my pixel 5a. It's probably just a matter of at&t requiring all my traffic to channel thru their LA server.
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Mooncatt
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- Feb 23, 2011
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This is common among all carriers. I'm on Verizon and live in Wisconsin, but my IP usually points to Chicago.
Carriers do sometimes assign new IP addresses (dynamic IP), but not every time you change location. A landline IP address can locate you down to the block you live on. For a mobile carrier, that would be insane to keep up with and probably break the internet in general as you travel. So the carrier assigns you an address that you keep within a certain region for stability reasons.
Carriers do sometimes assign new IP addresses (dynamic IP), but not every time you change location. A landline IP address can locate you down to the block you live on. For a mobile carrier, that would be insane to keep up with and probably break the internet in general as you travel. So the carrier assigns you an address that you keep within a certain region for stability reasons.
- Feb 6, 2017
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- Feb 6, 2017
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- Mar 9, 2012
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Nope, I got nothing. I've never had location off by that much when using mobile data -- only when connected to a public wi-fi network. There was a Noodles & Company near me in Cupertino that would routinely think I was in Kansas City when I connected to their wi-fi.
You guys are all talking about a normal mobile data connection, and nothing routed through a wi-fi router, right? Do you have a signal booster at home that uses wi-fi?
You guys are all talking about a normal mobile data connection, and nothing routed through a wi-fi router, right? Do you have a signal booster at home that uses wi-fi?
- Jan 8, 2011
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Back when I had AT&T, I had situations where my IP address showed I was in Kansas City, MO instead of Cleveland, OH.
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