weird router location?

[xparidot]

I was browsing the internet, and suddenly pages started to load extremely slow. I checked with speedtest.net, and it turns out that for some reason it thinks I'm in Minnetonka, MN (I actually live in Oregon). The actual speed of the internet was unaffected (40-50 mb/s), but the ping is 60ms+. I selected a different server on speedtest, changed it to a Portland server, and the ping went down to 17ms. I've tried searching for the cause of this for hours, but I've turned up with nothing. All of the DNS servers on my Lynksys router are the default Comcast ones, and other than changing the IP address (which I'm not even sure how to do), I have no idea how this happened or how to fix it.

 

[fkr]

reset the router, power cycle

 

[SBMfromLA]

I turn off my router for 10 seconds to reset it at least once a week to keep it running quickly.

 

[xparidot]

It turns out to be an issue with my IP address. Somehow it changed to the Minnesota one. Is there a way to change it back? I already reset the router, flushed DNS, all of that. Do I have to contact my ISP for this?

 

[SBMfromLA]

TRY THIS:

This website will tell you your IP address and location. I just checked mine and it was right on target... write back and post the results

http://www.iplocation.net/

 

[fkr]

check in your router settings. there may be an option to have a dynamic IP address.

i always thought that IP addresses were location agnostic, as in it should not matter what your location is an IP address is nothing more that a note to where the data is sent/ received from otherwise how would a dynamic IP address ever work.

anyways here is an article that states that they get the location wrong at times and how to fix it

https://support.speedtest.net/hc/en-us/articles/203845660-How-do-I-correct-my-location-

can you try a different browser or computer or cellphone to see if pages load more qquickly on another device

 

[xparidot]

It's all saying the Minnesota one, however the DB-IP one is stating the correct location.

 

[xparidot]

Other than changing the registry information for my IP address, is there any other way to connect to servers closer to my location? Would I need to change settings for every different application I use, or do I have to spoof my IP address?

 

[SBMfromLA]

I'm still not sure if your IP is the problem. That link I provided.. what did it say.. did it get your city correct? Spoofing an IP address doesn't do anything to increase your speed.

 

[fkr]

what does it say when you go to this website

http://www.iplocation.net/

that site can tell you how to fix your geolocation also

 

[SBMfromLA]

what does it say when you go to this website

http://www.iplocation.net/

that site can tell you how to fix your geolocation also

That's the same link I suggested earlier.

 

[xparidot]

I'm still not sure if your IP is the problem. That link I provided.. what did it say.. did it get your city correct? Spoofing an IP address doesn't do anything to increase your speed.

5/6 got the locations wrong. However, the DB-IP one got it exactly correct. Could this mean that just the information on my IP's location has been updated incorrectly?

 

[fkr]

i would guess that you are correct. some of my location data iss wrong also but only by a couple of hours away.

I would not think that this would slow down all of your internet traffic tho. have you tried any other devices to see if it persists.

 

[xparidot]

i would guess that you are correct. some of my location data iss wrong also but only by a couple of hours away.

I would not think that this would slow down all of your internet traffic tho. have you tried any other devices to see if it persists.

The download speed is fine, it's just the ping. I have tested it on several other devices and it appears to be the same. It seems to be 20° east of my actual location. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it choose servers from around that location, thus increasing my ping, but for tasks that have the same server for both locations regardless (a North American based MMO for example) it wouldn't effect anything?

 

[fkr]

ping is server by server dependent. you could play to different mmo's that are both located in LA and one will be 60ms and the other 150ms.

I am in phoenix and I can get faster ping and download rates from LA than I can from tuscon sometimes but not always. it all depends on how busy that server you are connecting to is.

the lower the ping the better

 

[xparidot]

Okay, thank you two for your help. It seems like I'll just have to correct the location of my IP they have on record.

 

[bill001g]

The location information mainly only affect speedtest and it does not actually change your connection speed in anyway. Putting the location information in some database assumes that all web sites will use it which is not true.

All it is used for is to try to pick a test server near you so you don't have to pick off the list.

Changing this will not have any effect at all on most web sites. Most web sites are not like speedtest that have servers in 1000s of locations.

Besides location services is a bad thing in many ways. Do you really want someone to know where you house is so they can make fake 911 calls to the police and have swat busting your door down.