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Monday, March 17th, 2025 4:05 PM

IP Address

How can I get an IP address that is in my local geographical area?  Recently got a new IP address (from a different area) and lost my local channels within Sling.

Gold Problem Solver

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26.3K Messages

18 days ago

How can I get an IP address that is in my local geographical area? ...

IP geolocation information is often incorrect, sometimes wildly so. Websites get location information from third parties and it's a somewhat dark art. Essentially websites you provide location information to make extra $$$ by selling your location and IP address info to geolocation providers, who turn around and sell that information to companies who want to know where you are located.

It's common for different geolocation providers to report different locations. For grins, plug your public IP (from https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+my+ip) into an IP geo comparison site like https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup, which returns locations from several providers. When I do that, 5 of the results are very close, 2 are 30 miles away, and one is 60 miles away. Not horrible, but not terribly accurate either. The results that site returns also has a "Incorrect location? Contact [provider]" link which may help you.

If you're using your own modem and router, you can use the "clone MAC" feature to change your IP address.

 

If you're using a rental Comcast device, they do not provide a way to change the IP address, and they won't change it for you, so you'd have to:

  • swap out the gateway for another, or
  • place the gateway in bridge mode and connect a Wifi router, or
  • replace your gateway with customer-owned equipment

A VPN is another possibility. If you use one your public IP won't actually change, but systems you connect to will see the IP provided by the VPN rather than your actual public IP.

More information is available in the post at https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/your-home-network/security-issue-my-outside-ip-address-changed-and-now-says-im-in-nj-when-i-live-in-mn/6259b49336b3dc41e2a67826?commentId=6259be51ff19c3627da44a36.

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Official Employee

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2.1K Messages

16 days ago

 

user_tm2j1d We provide you with the IP address for your area, but the router assigned a seperate one per device to identify the devices. I'm not sure how Sling works too much. Have you tried to disconnect it manually and reconnect to see if it gets assigned a different IP address for itself?

 

Gold Problem Solver

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26.3K Messages

16 days ago

@XfinityEricB wrotte: "... We provide you with the IP address for your area, but the router assigned a seperate one per device ..."

Back to "Customer Routers 101" and "IP Geolocation 101" for you Eric!

IP Geolocation uses the customer's Comcast/Xfinity assigned public IP, the "the IP address for your area". The IP addresses customer gateway/router devices assign to end devices are private IPs, and these are NOT used in geolocation (because they are, you know, private, and are generally not available on the Internet).

Also, Comcast/Xfinity doesn't provide IP Geolocation information. As I stated above, 3rd party companies do that.

Please be aware that there are 2 kinds of responses in this Forum: Replies and Comments. When you Comment on a post by scrolling down to "Comment on this post here...", I am notified of your response. But if you select Reply, I am NOT notified and may not be aware of your response.

Administrator

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4.2K Messages

15 days ago

Just to add to what @BruceW had mentioned, we also have this information as well: Correcting location data on Xfinity Internet

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