Question Is Google hacking my internet and sending it to Washington DC ?

[miogpsrocks]

I have ATT Fiber and normally the website " Whats my ISP as being AT&T

However recently I checked and it has changed from AT&T to GOOGLE.

Before:

NOW:

According to what's my IP address website, my ISP has suddenly changed from AT&T to Google and now I am on a " network shared device" in Redmond, Washington.

By the way, I am not in Washington.

Any ideas what is going on here? Is this something the government is doing?

This is messed up right?

 

[lantis3]

Same here. Charter became Google.

Checked my IP it showed that my IP changed from 7x.xxx.xxx.xxx to 4x.xxx.xxx.xxx a few days ago.

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BTW, IP geo location & ISP info is not always correct. No one is hacking you.

Check https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup and you probably will get different info all over the place.

 

[DSzymborski]

I have ATT Fiber and normally the website " Whats my ISP as being AT&T

However recently I checked and it has changed from AT&T to GOOGLE.

Before:

NOW:

According to what's my IP address website, my ISP has suddenly changed from AT&T to Google and now I am on a " network shared device" in Redmond, Washington.

By the way, I am not in Washington.

Any ideas what is going on here? Is this something the government is doing?

This is messed up right?

Wow, I would have thought that Washington DC moving to suburban Seattle would have been bigger news than it was.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Point is my ISP is AT&T and now its reading its from Google from a different location. Explain that? I could not be further away from Washington State.

 

[lantis3]

Asked Copilot and the answer:

Your IP address showing an incorrect location can be frustrating, but there are several reasons behind it. Let’s explore why this happens and how you can address it:

1. Geolocation Databases: Websites and applications use geolocation databases to map IP addresses to specific locations. These databases may not always be up-to-date, leading to inaccuracies.
2. Proxy Servers and VPNs: If you’re using a proxy server or a virtual private network (VPN), your IP address may appear in a different location. Disabling the VPN temporarily can help if you need accurate location information1.
3. Shared IP Addresses: Some ISPs assign shared IP addresses, which can lead to discrepancies. Your IP might be associated with a different location due to other users sharing the same address.
4. ISP Routing Errors: Internet service providers (ISPs) sometimes route traffic through different regions, affecting geolocation accuracy.
5. Mobile Networks: Mobile devices use GPS data for precise location, but IP-based geolocation may not be as accurate.

Remember that IP geolocation isn’t always 100% accurate, so occasional discrepancies are normal

---

Also

https://www.bigdatacloud.com/blog/ip-geolocation-demystified

 

[miogpsrocks]

Asked Copilot and the answer:

Your IP address showing an incorrect location can be frustrating, but there are several reasons behind it. Let’s explore why this happens and how you can address it:

1. Geolocation Databases: Websites and applications use geolocation databases to map IP addresses to specific locations. These databases may not always be up-to-date, leading to inaccuracies.
2. Proxy Servers and VPNs: If you’re using a proxy server or a virtual private network (VPN), your IP address may appear in a different location. Disabling the VPN temporarily can help if you need accurate location information1.
3. Shared IP Addresses: Some ISPs assign shared IP addresses, which can lead to discrepancies. Your IP might be associated with a different location due to other users sharing the same address.
4. ISP Routing Errors: Internet service providers (ISPs) sometimes route traffic through different regions, affecting geolocation accuracy.
5. Mobile Networks: Mobile devices use GPS data for precise location, but IP-based geolocation may not be as accurate.

Remember that IP geolocation isn’t always 100% accurate, so occasional discrepancies are normal

IP Geolocation might have the city where you live on the outskirts of that city. This is not your cell phone map app routing you to the wrong McDonald that is further away from your house.

This is more like the Geolocation is saying you are in southern California and you live in upper Maine.

I am literally over 3 thousands miles away from this location.

Also, when I check later, it goes back to AT&T but with the same IP address that I had when it showed Google.

How does it go from AT&T for years then to Google for 1 day then to AT&T the next day while keeping the same IP address. This is acting more like a hijacked situation.

 

[lantis3]

You can complain all you want. Charter constantly change my IP address, probably every half year.

If I looked up the IP geolocation (with different websites providing the databases) at the time, I could be in Missouri or Colorado.

And move back to the west coast a few days or months later.

The reason that I checked my IP? Because the network was down for a few hours,
then Charter did a reroute!

Reality is IP location database does not sync/update a lot of times.

Google has a lot of cash, why did it want to hack you or me?

 

[miogpsrocks]

You can complain all you want. Charter constantly change my IP address, probably every half year.

If I looked up the IP geolocation (with different websites providing the databases) at the time, I could be in Missouri or Colorado.

And move back to the west coast a few days or months later.

The reason that I checked my IP? Because the network was down for a few hours,
then Charter did a reroute!

Reality is IP location database does not sync/update a lot of times.

Google has a lot of cash, why did it want to hack you or me?

Google does a lot of stuff they are not supposed to. As for the reason? To please their government master overlords. They wanted apple to provide ways to unlock all apple phones after the San Bernardino incident. They did not just want access to the 1 person's phone but all apple phones. The master key.

Also, Google does not own AT&T as far as I know.

Perhaps this is just more of this kind of thing.

So you are saying your same IP address switched the ISP and location.

ATT as far as I can tell is somehow able to never change your IP address no matter what. When I had a power outage with Comcast, it should change the IP address, but ATT it stays the same no matter what.

Even when it was reading from Google/Washington, it was the same IP address.

 

[lantis3]

whatismyip.com , whatismyipaddress.com, ipchicken.com or iplocation.net, maxmind.com or any other websites providing ip geolocation info do not charge you/me any fees, they do not have the responsibility to provide 100% correct info 24/7/365.

Your ip location probably only matters when you are doing banking/shopping and those sites will pay money to have a more accurate database. They will not use databases that are free and often inaccurate.

 

[miogpsrocks]

whatismyip.com , whatismyipaddress.com, ipchicken.com or iplocation.net, maxmind.com or any other websites providing ip geolocation info do not charge you/me any fees, they do not have the responsibility to provide 100% correct info 24/7/365.

Your ip location probably only matters when you are doing banking/shopping and those sites will pay money to have a more accurate database. They will not use databases that are free and often inaccurate.

All tech companies have this type of language that they are not responsible for anything. That is beside the point. Geolocation will usually be within the same city or maybe the city next to you if you are close by. It's not going to say you live in California if you live in NY. It's not going to say you are over 3,000 away from where you are unless there is something else at play here such as a VPN or whatever happen to me.

It's not going to say your ISP is X when your ISP is Y, unless a VPN or whatever happen to me.

Maybe some kind of hackers forum might be able to recognize this kind of thing instead of getting answers from the same AI that thinks George Washington is black or that the average person needs to eat 1 rock per day.
As of this moment in time, now in 2024, the AI is about as good or worse than Ask Jeeves. You are just asking a bot butler to google search something for you.

Bank system is nothing to write home about. It said" we don't recognize your device" when I am using the same device I always use.

There is easy or no obvious answer as to why this happens, besides some kind of man-in-the middle malware which acts like a VPN. That would make more sense to me.

 

[bill001g]

VPN does not work like that you get a different IP when you run vpn.

The routing in the internet pretty much does not change much. It might move to a backup fiber if one goes down but the end blocks of IP are manually assigned to some general location.

If you want to see the actual routing there are sites called lookingglass that some ISP have that allow you to get into their routers and issue various commands from the router in different cities in their network.

The only source to trust 100% for the owner of IP blocks is ARIN. This is the official registry. This though does not tell you where the owners of the IP actually use the IP. It will just tell you the company that owns it.

Geolocation is mostly harvested data. Some of the sites will actually take wifi scan data from people machines and based on the signal levels try to triangulate the actual location. It only takes a few people dumb enough to allow this for them to get fairly acturate information for large blocks of IP. Since all IP in the same subnet have to be conencted to the same ISP router.

Have you tried a different browser. Who know what google has been up to lately with chrome.

 

[lantis3]

To OP:

https://www.reddit.com/r/networking...nt_ip_geolocation_services_provide/?rdt=37058

https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup/146.75.117.140 even in different country

PoisonWaffle3
•
1y ago
This is the way.

I work for a large ISP. When I deploy a new block on a CMTS or OLT (to be assigned out to customers from there), I add it to our database that says it serves customers in approximately X zip code. All of the different geolocation services sync to our database on a set schedule, but their schedules vary. Some are daily, some are monthly.

So how accurate these different databases are?

It's also possible OP uses some sort of VPN and forgot that. Then checked IP and suddenly was in a different state.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Ok, it happens again. Now it shows I am AZ on a network sharing device. When, in fact, I am not in that State either. I'm not on a shared network device either, whatever that means.

This is extremely odd.

 

[miogpsrocks]

To OP:

https://www.reddit.com/r/networking...nt_ip_geolocation_services_provide/?rdt=37058

https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup/146.75.117.140 even in different country



So how accurate these different databases are?

It's also possible OP uses some sort of VPN and forgot that. Then checked IP and suddenly was in a different state.

I know when my VPN is on vs off and I d'on't even have the VPN software installed at the moment.

99% of the time, my IP shows AT&T and the correct geolocation. At least nearby location.

It also does not explain why it goes from ISP AT&T to ISP Google LLC.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Could this be a sign that a computer is hijacked with some malicious code like man-in-the-middle or something else?

My ISP is AT&T and my state is Florida.
However, recently or at random times, the websites like " What's my IP" will show my ISP as Google and my location as being Washington State and currently showing AZ.

It has also gone from a normal ISP and changed to " Network Sharing Device" yet my IP address is the same that it normally is.

Should I be reformatting my PC or is this kind of thing normal?

I decided to check after I tried to log into Amazon which I shop from all the time to receive this message out of the blue.

So it's like they think my computer is compromised or something?

Have you guys heard of some kind of malicious code or security problem acting like this?

Thanks .

 

[COLGeek]

Have you scanned your system for malware? If so, with what application?

Are you using any VPNs, even those in some browsers?

 

[lantis3]

If you used Psiphon or Tor Project Onion network then they could be using some sort of proxies, your IP will change all the time. Even if not, it's possible your PC has been hijacked. But it has nothing to do with AT&T or Google.

If you suspect that your PC has been hijacked, it's a good idea to format the drive and start over. SSD Windows install is fast nowadays.

 

[bill001g]

Does the IP address actually change. If it is the same IP address then it has to be some issue with the location website.

Maybe try a actual proxy. Normally I don't recommend free proxy but just for simple testing it is likely ok.
One that is not real bad is called proxyium. It does open other tabs with ads...my ad blocker blocks .

This should show a different Ip and location.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Have you scanned your system for malware? If so, with what application?

Are you using any VPNs, even those in some browsers?

Yes, I used Avast anti-virus with a several boot-time scan usually once a week. Also, Malwarebytes scan. Also, I think windows has some built in security for whatever that is worth.

I don't currently have the VPN software installed. I think I may have a built-in VPN in some browsers, however its not in Chrome where I first noticed the issue.

I did look at the extensions and they are all common programs except for a twitter media downloader which Chrome recommended I uninstall, so I uninstalled.

I am considering formatting my OS to see if that irradiates the problem. I am wondering if there is anything I should check before I pull the trigger with the reformatting of the hard drive/OS?

Thanks.

 

[miogpsrocks]

Does the IP address actually change. If it is the same IP address then it has to be some issue with the location website.

Maybe try a actual proxy. Normally I don't recommend free proxy but just for simple testing it is likely ok.
One that is not real bad is called proxyium. It does open other tabs with ads...my ad blocker blocks .

This should show a different Ip and location.

IP stays the same, which is the strong part. a VPN would change the IP address. Also, its not all the time. Sometimes I check and its normal and other times I check and its like hijacked.

If I try to sign into Amazon and they are asking me to prove I am not a robot, its usually a sign that its happening and I will check and my ISP will have changed and location.

 

[miogpsrocks]

To OP:

https://www.reddit.com/r/networking...nt_ip_geolocation_services_provide/?rdt=37058

https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup/146.75.117.140 even in different country



So how accurate these different databases are?

It's also possible OP uses some sort of VPN and forgot that. Then checked IP and suddenly was in a different state.

The problem is sporadic. Almost like a malware that will periodic peep its head up then pops back down.
Currently my IP address is showing normal.

The website you recommended:
https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup/146.75.117.140

All shows up correctly, with 1 showing an unincorporated area right outside the correct city and one showing the next city over within 20-25 miles of the correct location. Everything is within the general area of the correct geolocation now.

Not over 3,000 miles away like before.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

It has NEVER been the case that an IP address is guaranteed to pinpoint your location with any amount of accuracy. Thus there is no problem here.

 

[miogpsrocks]

It has NEVER been the case that an IP address is guaranteed to pinpoint your location with any amount of accuracy. Thus there is no problem here.

Even if you were to forget about the geolocation issue.

What about the ISP AT&T turning into Google
What about the "shared network" appearing where it was not a shared network before?

Obviously, Amazon thinks it's an issue because they won't let even get to the username/password screen without first proving that I'm not a bot.

I also get errors like" we detected usual activity from your network, please contact your network administrator and stuff like that" from time to time.

 

[COLGeek]

No political commentary or government conspiracy theories, please. Thank you.

 

[bill001g]

I would first try a different browser. You could also use the options to wipe any stored data.

Have you tried a different device like you phone or something else in your house.

At some point you just wipe windows and reinstall it. It might not be a actual virus it could be something you installed.