Forum Discussion
5G Internet Showing Incorrect Location
- Hace 2 años
Location for T-Mobile's 5G service reflects where the signal from the towers connects to ground based servers and infrastructure. This can sometimes be hundreds of miles away and even further. This is how the service works.
Allcalcio wrote:...YouTubeTV actually cut off my service because they think I’m using the service for too long away from my home location…
I'm not using YouTubeTV yet but I am considering it. I was not aware the IP geolocation could be that big a problem. Thank you for mentioning it.
Fortunately, I did not cancel Spectrum before trying T-Mobile. My plan was, and continues to be, to see how well T-Mobile works before committing to go all the way. This means switching involves turning the gateway off and the Spectrum router on. The biggest hassles is switching my printer manually every time because it can remember only one network at a time. I've continued experimenting because thanks to Long Covid, I am no shape to drive to the nearest T-Mobile store and return the gateway. So I keep giving it a chance before inevitably throwing the switches to get back to Spectrum when I can no longer endure the internet thinking I am at least I am 100 miles from where I really am. (There were times when it showed me in Chicago or California. I live in New York State.)
In addition to the geolocation issue, T-Mobile is slower than Spectrum where I live, but otherwise works well. I am using the 5G home gateway to post this message while '80s music is playing on my phone's SiriusXM app. I have used the gateway for dozens of Zoom calls into hybrid martial arts classes. While connecting to the call can take a little longer than Spectrum, it has worked well for the calls. The calls themselves are IPv4, so credit to the 464XLAT/NAT64 tunnel to make those connections. For internet connectivity, the gateway usually works well. There is just this one issue that, like you, I have trouble getting past. Furthermore, I did searches to see if the 5G home gateways offered by Verizon and AT&T have the same geolocation issue and, apparently, they do.
The underlying problem (which also applies to AT&T and Verizon) is T-Mobile is primarily a cell phone provider. While the 5G home gateways have attracted enough customers for Spectrum to make commercials against it by name, this is still something TMO does on the side. If they lose some customers to the geolocation issue, it won't affect the company's bottom line, At the same time, it seems the home service has brought in enough money for them to keep doing it for years, through several models of gateways.
WRT providers like YouYubeTV, there probably aren't enough 5G home internet users for content providers to adapt how they determine user locations to users with IPSs that use a variation of CGNAT that makes accurately determining the location impossible if the user is not living in the same city as the hub they are going through. They will probably not change to accommodate us when the majority of users are probably on cable.
All of which is my long-winded way of saying the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon. And while there are valid reasons for it, that doesn't mean the situation and TMO's lack of action is any less vexing.
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