Wrong Location

[reneeaz]

My iMac and iPad think I am located about 300 miles from my city. This happens for store locations (which I keep changing) and other apps. The iMac is situated 4 feet from my router.

 

[cradom]

Usually that stuff goes by IP address. Most places think I'm about 20 miles from here.
Some think I'm in Dallas. Don't think there's much you can do about it.

 

[MacInWin]

The iMac has no GPS, depends on the IP as Craig said. IPs are defined by the service provider, so if your providers advertised location is 300 miles away, it will think you are there. The iPad may or may not have GPS, depending on the model, and you may or may not have location services turned on for whatever app you are using that finds you in the wrong place.

 

[vansmith]

IP location is wildly inaccurate and can be easily spoofed and manipulated. Not only can I make myself appear from somewhere else but your ISP may be doing it unintentionally. For example, my old ISP bought lines from a major telco and allocated IPs through NAT (I think). Thus, my outward facing IP was coming from a place 450km away.

The iPad however should have GPS. Do you have location services on?

 

[reneeaz]

I do have location services turned on my iPad. My service provider is a large one and I can't believe they would have their main location in the small town my Apple products think I am in. I am actually in Vancouver.....a main city. I change my location in some stores I buy from and when I return to that store, I am again located in the wrong city. Anyway, I won't worry about it but I do think it is strange

 

[MacInWin]

It's not necessarily their main location that is the IP location. It's whatever is registered as the location for the site to which your ISP connects you. In my case, it's a small town where their central station is located about 30 miles south of my actual location. I don't know how you are using your iPad in a store, but if the GPS cannot receive a signal, it will use the IP location process. If there is a WiFi in the store, and you connect, the location will be the location of the STORE's provider, which could be anywhere. And if the IP used the the IP from your cellular provider, that again could be almost anywhere on Earth, literally. It's not really strange, it's just how unreliable IP location is. I have a VPN service that I occasionally use to connect overseas. When I do that, my visible IP is on the far end. If I connect to someplace that uses IP Location, like speedtest.net, they think I'm actually IN those foreign countries.

 

[vansmith]

I do have location services turned on my iPad. My service provider is a large one and I can't believe they would have their main location in the small town my Apple products think I am in. I am actually in Vancouver.....a main city. I change my location in some stores I buy from and when I return to that store, I am again located in the wrong city. Anyway, I won't worry about it but I do think it is strange

City size doesn't matter - TekSavvy had me in Toronto when I lived in Ottawa. What provider do you use?