Why does my IP show the wrong location?

A site says you’re in Amsterdam, but you’re nowhere near it. That doesn’t necessarily mean your connection is broken. The site may have a different location estimate, see where your traffic exits, or use something other than your IP.

Where does that location come from?

An IP address doesn’t contain coordinates. Geolocation providers estimate its location using registry and routing records, ISP information, measurements and user reports.

MaxMind, IPinfo and IP2Location can show different cities because their sources, methods and update schedules differ. City estimates are generally less reliable than country estimates.

Why it can be wrong

• Your IP serves a wider area. A database may associate it with a nearby city or network gateway rather than your town. Shared addresses on mobile and carrier-grade NAT networks can make this harder.
• The IP range changed hands. Databases may still show its old location after a transfer or reassignment.
• A VPN or proxy changes where traffic exits. A work VPN may route some or all of your traffic through another city or country.
• The website uses other signals. Your account region, billing address, browser location permission, timezone or cookies may affect what it shows.

How to narrow it down

1. Check the same IP in two or three independent lookup tools. Disagreement may reflect different sources or methods, not just stale data.
2. If the tools agree but the website doesn’t, check its account and browser location settings. It may use another database or see a different address, such as IPv6 rather than IPv4. Lookup agreement alone doesn’t prove the cause.
3. Disable your VPN or proxy, try a private window, then test another device on the same network. Compare whether the result changes with the connection or browser.
4. Check the registry record and announcing network, identified by its ASN, if you need to investigate further. They show who holds and routes the address, not its physical location. ARIN doesn’t maintain authoritative IP geolocation, and networks can operate across countries.

What you can change

For a home or office IP, submit corrections to the databases showing the wrong location. MaxMind and IPinfo have correction forms; IP2Location also accepts requests. Submit to each provider separately.

MaxMind says it typically reviews one-off requests within 1–2 business days. Accepted changes go into a later database release, and websites may take longer to adopt it. A correction won’t reach every site at once.

If you run the network, you can publish a geofeed: a list mapping your IP ranges to locations. It helps geolocation providers update records, but doesn’t guarantee agreement across websites.

Restarting your router might give you a new IP, but your ISP may assign the same one again. It won’t correct the record itself.

What if it’s a proxy IP?

Ask your provider about the affected address. Static residential and ISP proxies are easier to test repeatedly because they’re intended to retain an IP, subject to provider terms. A fixed IP isn’t inherently more accurately located, and its records can still change.

With mobile proxies, shared carrier gateways can make city-level estimates less precise. Results depend on the network, provider and database.

Before buying more, test a few addresses on the websites you actually need. If they consistently show the wrong country, send your provider the addresses and lookup results rather than relying on the dashboard’s country label.