Router indicating wrong geographic location

Four computers in home, all connect to same router W-Fi. Checking location, all computers indicate they are located about 350 miles from our home. Our cell phones (Verizon) all show correct location. I am guessing that the Comcast modem has the wrong location, and passes that on to our computers? Is there a way to update the Comcast router with the correct address/location? I tried a simple reboot of the modem but that did not work. I tried chatting with Comcast Tech but that did not work either. Can anyone offer some guidance?'

Thanks!

Howard

Responses

EG

Expert

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111.5K Messages

4 years ago

You likely recently received a new / different WAN (public) IP address assignment to your connection from their DHCP server / IP address pool, and the rDNS / geolocation data that is associated with it is now incorrect for you as it previously belonged to someone else that lived in that other area.

Comcast shuffles blocks of IP addresses around the country all the time. ISP's don't correct this. A third-party service does. Unfortunately, this is typically a *back-burner* thing to get corrected. The only thing that you can do is to report it. You can try this;

https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip-location-correction

http://www.ipligence.com/contact/

https://www.ip2location.com/contact/

https://www.home.neustar/contact-us

https://support.google.com/websearch/contact/ip/

Wait for the geolocation provider to approve your request. If your request is approved, the amount of time it takes to see the correction varies by provider. The average is a month or more.

(edited)

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D

DShumeston

Visitor

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3 Messages

4 years ago

Thanks for your suggestion. However, I am still confused. Under "Find my Computer" in Windows it sees all my computers and shows they are 350 miles away. When I use a website to "find my Location" it requests permission to know my location, and when granted, shows me 350 miles away. When shopping at stores they also have the location wrong, but interestingly, usually only about 100 miles away. If this is a Comcast caused problem, there is no easy way to fix it? They don't assume responsibility for their errors?

The first link you provided goes to a bad page, but to be honest, I would not know what to report to any of these third party sites. Would I give them my IP address and tell them I am with Comcast? Would I provide some other technical info?

Is there a way to log into the router and update or correct this?

Should I ask for a different router from Comcast?

If I bought my own router would that solve the problem?

Or is it somehow not associated with the Comcast router, but some other component of Comcast?

Sadly, Comcast is my only viable internet option so I am stuck with them.

Thanks again for your help, I do appreciate it very much!

8

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CCJennifer

Problem Solver

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743 Messages

Hello @DShumeston! Thank you for taking the time to work with us on our community forum. I can certainly understand how frustrating it would be to have your computer show another location, especially when you use it for shopping nearby stores.

We do use dynamic IP addresses which change and can show different locations such as this. Changing the modem will not change the IP address or prevent this in the future. You can attempt to release and renew your IP address, but there's no guarantee it will work to change the location.

Something else to consider that may cause the different location is using a VPN. Are you using a VPN on those computers?

I no longer work for Comcast.

4 years ago

0

EG

Expert

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111.5K Messages

@XfinityJennifer

Changing the modem will not change the IP address or prevent this in the future.

Actually, the changing of the modem / device changes the MAC address that the system sees and will indeed result in a different WAN / public IP address being assigned. However the new public IP address may originate from the very same block of IP addresses so it may still have the same incorrect rDNS / geolocation information. YMMV.

You can attempt to release and renew your IP address, but there's no guarantee it will work to change the location.

FWIW. If this is done on a computer that is behind a combo modem / router gateway device or a stand-alone router, it will only serve to release and renew the LAN / private IP address that is assigned to the computer by the router's built-in DHCP server, not the WAN / public IP address that is assigned to the router / connection by the Comcast system's DHCP server.

I am not a Comcast Employee.
I am a Customer Expert volunteering my time to help other customers here in the Forums.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.

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4 years ago

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D

DShumeston

Visitor

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3 Messages

Thanks for your reply and suggestion. We have several desktops, laptops and tablets. All on WiFi and all showing location 350 miles away. We have a router and then a simple TV box. I will try the release and renew. If that doesn't work, can I just turn the location services off? Can I do that in the router or must I do it on every computer?

Thanks

3 years ago

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CCMike1

Official Employee

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933 Messages

Great question! You would not be able to turn off the location services unfortunately. I'd like to ask, did you try manually releasing and renewing your IP address to see if this made a difference?

I no longer work for Comcast.

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer. tick

3 years ago

0

EG

Expert

•

111.5K Messages

@XfinityMikeB I'll post this again.....

FWIW. If this is done on a computer that is behind a combo modem / router gateway device or a stand-alone router, it will only serve to release and renew the LAN / private IP address that is assigned to the computer by the router's built-in DHCP server, not the WAN / public IP address that is assigned to the router / connection by the Comcast system's DHCP server.

I am not a Comcast Employee.
I am a Customer Expert volunteering my time to help other customers here in the Forums.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.

Was your question answered? Please mark an Accepted Answer! tick

3 years ago

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Router indicating wrong geographic location

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