Useless GeoLocation

[Emexrulsier]

Today I have removed my Static IP from my gigafast account and returned to dynamic, I didn't want to but I just got sick and tired of incorrect data that never updates. 

Services that pick local data centres for "optimal" connectivity were always 100s of miles out so I always had to manually change them or be faced with slower connections.

Any site that wanted to use my location to find things like local stores would not function as it would show me stores around London. 

I would get random adverts on social media relating to businesses and local news in a county I don't live in.

Simple sites like Argos, would always auto pick stores for collection down in London ... I live in Yorkshire!

I use lots of cloud based FTP services where I can upload data to my closest servers, ofc before this thinks I am down in London I get bad pings to the server (almost 4x what I get vs manually picking a server closer to home).

I have never ever been with an ISP that has the geolocation data so far off, yes I don't expect it to show my local village, but maybe at best the town/City I am in or more often show the Metropolitan Borough... but not Vodafone!

[Jayach]

Going back to a dynamic address will not help, you will just be in multiple "wrong" places.

[Emexrulsier]

It does help, before I went station the location details were correct.  I then moved to static and it was showing me In either Milton Keynes or Northampton, I supplied detail of the correct location but but 6 months later it was still wrong.  Vodafone removed my static address and assigned a new one but this time it was showing me in Watford.

The dhcp clearly uses a pool with the correct location data, static are incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Internet routing servers don't use the GEO-location databases, but rather a suite of protocols designed to find the shortest route.  It's only when your data gets to its destination that servers will use the GEO-Location databases to decide whether to allow, deny, filter, or target the data you have access to.

[Emexrulsier]

Gotta ignore you, as soon as you mentioned "routing" and "Geo location"

[Jayach]

The problem is the various databases don't agree, I'm in S.E. Essex but this one https://infosniper.net/index says I'm in Leeds and this one What Is My IP Address - See Your Public Address - IPv4 & IPv6, Rotherhithe in Southwark.

This one https://www.home.neustar/resources/tools/ip-geolocation-lookup-tool says Lewisham.

This one IP Location Finder - IP Lookup With Detailed Geolocation Data | KeyCDN Tools Poplar in London.

And I have a dynamic address.

What do you use for Geo location?

[Emexrulsier]

So my static IP was deactivated in the early hours, first test, testing two services.  Changed download location back to automatic, it auto selected Manchester, a ping of 4 compared to yesterday where it was selecting London with a ping of 12.

Next test, yesterday I was being directed to Watford with a ping of 8, now in Manchester again ping of 4.

So for me atleast the pool of IPs being used in my area is correct for the dynamic assigned IPs, the static pool is down south.  iirc Vodafone headquarters are in Berkshire?  Maybe its all related to that.

The only thing I don't like about Vodafone ip leases, is that they appear to be only 24 hours so it changes every single day or will change every single router reboot aswell which is weird.  Other ISPs have similar lease times, but you still found on renewal you got the same IP.  Virgin Media was one such company, often if you wanted to change IP you had to change from router mode, to modem mode and back again if you didn't though you IP stayed with you until VM did some internal changes.

[Jayach]

My IP never changes unless the router is rebooted, but if it is then I always get a different IP. I have definitely had the same IP for well over 30 days.