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Location services: This is a bit odd...

I'm going to ask this question here, because someone may have come across this before or has an understanding of some of the system settings I've completely missed...


I subscribe to a VPN with a dedicated IP address from the UK which seems to work well and there are no issues accessing websites anywhere, except one, and that's apple.com.


For some reason, when I that website, I get a banner across the top asking if I want to change my location to Chile, as per the image below:

This happens with the VPN active, with or without using the dedicated IP address, on my iPhone, Mac and Windows Surface Pro machines, on both the wired or wireless networks I've got at home and on all browsers.


When I disable the VPN and access the same wedsite, I get the same banner, but with the United Kingdom option, which I can select and continue browsing without issue, but when I re-enable the VPN, it reverts to Chile.


I will raise this with the VPN provider because I think this is definitely a problem their end, but I was just wondering if I've missed something.


Thank you.

iMac Pro, macOS 13.4

Posted on Jun 23, 2023 4:34 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 23, 2023 4:42 AM

Nightowl4933 wrote:

I will raise this with the VPN provider because I think this is definitely a problem their end, but I was just wondering if I've missed something.

I expect you are correct. I don't think you've missed anything.

7 replies

Jun 23, 2023 2:05 PM in response to Nightowl4933

Unless you're using a true VPN tunnel, such as between you and your employer's, school's or bank's servers, they provide false security from a privacy standpoint.  Read these two articles: Public VPN's are anything but private and Former Malware Distributor Kape Technologies Now Owns ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, Zenmate, and a Collection of VPN “Review” Websites. 


Just some food for thought.


Jun 23, 2023 10:03 AM in response to dialabrain

So, I've had a reply from the VPN provider...


"Unfortunately, this can and does occur. The location of each IP is governed and determined by databases over which we have no control. 

Since there are no new internet addresses (IPv4 addresses) available to add more bandwidth to one of our gateways, we have to either add "used" IP addresses or move our existing IPs between locations. When you see this issue, it's because those geo-IP databases haven't been updated with the latest information. The IP address is in the area where we list it, but the website you're talking to doesn't have a new enough database to know about the change. Because different databases are controlled and updated by multiple independent organizations, the location information may be valid in some but not all places online."


Hmm...


Jun 23, 2023 10:27 AM in response to Nightowl4933

They are correct.


There is no single, absolute map of which IP addresses are where in the world.


"back in the day" there were buckets where large blocks of addresses were managed by different internet registries in different geographies (ARIN in the US, APNIC in Asia, RIPE in Europe), but over time, and with the constrained IPv4 supply that model has broken down. Companies with IP addresses in multiple regions would combine their resources, other companies would 'resell' their IP addresses they no longer needed, and the geographic controls fell to the side.

In this case, some company in Chile offloaded their IP addresses and the UK VPN company bought them.


The problem is there's no single way to track where any given IP address is. To solve this, a number of companies started using heuristics (such as traceroutes) to localize IP addresses which was a start, then they opened up and let IP address holders populate their database with location data, and then DNS was expanded to support geolocation hints alongside other DNS data.


Most companies don't maintain their own map, instead they subscribe to one (or more) of the databases that aim to track location data.


The main issues now are incomplete data, and lag. Even if the VPN service publishes LOC data in their DNS, it takes a while for that to get picked up by the databases, and therefore takes time before the rest of the world notices.


The good news is that (assuming the VPN service has done their part in updating databases and publishing LOC data), it's a problem that usually is solved with time.


Unfortunately it's nothing you can affect (other than, maybe, asking the VPN provider for an IP address in a different block, but there's probably a reason why they're using the block they have).

Location services: This is a bit odd...

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