You open an IP lookup and it places you in a city you have never lived in. This is very common, and in most cases nothing is wrong with your connection. An IP address does not contain a location. Every location you see is an estimate that comes from a database.

How IP location works

Internet providers receive large blocks of IP addresses. Geolocation companies then build databases that link those blocks to places, using registration records, information from providers, and network measurements. When a site looks up your IP address, it reads the best guess from such a database.

The location on WhatsMyIP.net comes from Cloudflare, the network that delivers this site. Other sites use other data sources, which is why two lookup sites can disagree about the same address.

Country results are usually reliable. City results are much less certain, and street level precision does not exist in this data.

Common reasons the location is wrong

Your provider routes traffic through a central hub

Many providers send customers from a whole region through one location. Your IP address then appears to belong to that hub, which might be a large city far away from you. This is the most common cause, especially in rural areas.

You are on mobile data

Mobile networks send traffic through a small number of gateways. Your phone can appear hundreds of kilometers from where you are, and the result can change while you stay in one place.

You are using a VPN or a relay

A VPN replaces your IP address with one from its server, so sites see the location of that server. Privacy services such as iCloud Private Relay also replace your address, while keeping a rough regional location. Turn these off and check again to see what your own connection shows.

The address recently changed hands

Providers move address blocks between regions, and sometimes buy or sell them. Databases can take weeks to catch up, so your address may still show its previous location.

Your provider shares addresses between customers

Some providers place many customers behind one public IP address. That address cannot describe all of those customers at once, so its location is only a rough average.

What you can do about it

1. Turn off any VPN or relay and check your IP address again on the homepage.
2. Restart your router. You might receive a different address from your provider, although this is not guaranteed. See how to find your IP address to compare the result.
3. Contact your provider if a site blocks you because of your location. Some providers can correct the location records for their address blocks.
4. Request a correction. Database companies accept corrections, for example through the MaxMind correction form. A change at one company does not reach the others, so it might not change the result on every site.
5. Set your location manually on the site or app that gets it wrong. Many services let you pick a region in your account settings.

Does a wrong location cause problems?

Usually not. Your internet speed and your privacy are not affected by what a database says. The result can be annoying when a site shows the wrong language, the wrong local weather, or blocks content that is available in your country.

Apps that know your location precisely are not using your IP address. When you allow location access in your browser or phone, they use GPS and nearby Wi-Fi networks instead, which is why a maps app can be right while an IP lookup is wrong.