Forum Discussion
Getting the right location on my Gateway
I have had T-Mobile internet for almost a year, and while I have no complaints about the service, I've been trying to have the location changed. Whenever I do a Google search, it shows my location in a city 4 hours away and it's totally frustrating. I've been to the T-Mobile store and told they cannot do anything about this, but it is getting to the point where I am considering changing servers. Does anyone have any suggestions so that when I do a search or need something locally, the Gateway doesn't automatically send me to an area far away. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can offe.
I'm far from an expert on this, but it's a problem with the websites using your IP address to determine your location. This is standard practice, but I believe far from ideal and one that the industry will eventually have to move away from. T-Mobile's IP addresses have proven to not be very accurate for this purpose. I don't know if it's just that they have a limited number of addresses to utilize or if it's some other issue with their use of dynamic addresses.
You can probably search the site for "dynamic IP address" or "static IP address" and get some suggestions. There might be a couple of options both of which have an added cost. First might be using a VPN service. Second would be signing up for a business account with T-Mobile and paying for a static address. You can also try rebooting your gateway to see if it assigns you an IP address that's closer to your location, but I imagine you've already done this plenty of times over the last year.
This is from the T-Mobile FAQ section regarding moving.
¿Puedo usar el dispositivo en otro lugar, como por ejemplo, en mi residencia de vacaciones?
No. El gateway 5G de T-Mobile está ligado a tu dirección elegible, de modo que no puedes llevarlo de una ubicación a otra. Esto nos ayuda a garantizar que el lugar de uso cumple con los requisitos de nuestra red para ofrecerte a ti y a otros un servicio de alta calidad.
-Per the T-Mobile Home Internet FAQ
I'd return the gateway and make them give you a new one that is not located at your old address.
it isnt pinging his old home location from what im reading above...as in if you pulled up Google Maps and instead of it showing where you currently are it shows you 4 hours away in a completely different town. he's saying if he does a google search (im guessing any local search for say food for example) automatically starts his search results as if he was in a completely different town 4 hours away instead of where his home actually is.
I'm far from an expert on this, but it's a problem with the websites using your IP address to determine your location. This is standard practice, but I believe far from ideal and one that the industry will eventually have to move away from. T-Mobile's IP addresses have proven to not be very accurate for this purpose. I don't know if it's just that they have a limited number of addresses to utilize or if it's some other issue with their use of dynamic addresses.
You can probably search the site for "dynamic IP address" or "static IP address" and get some suggestions. There might be a couple of options both of which have an added cost. First might be using a VPN service. Second would be signing up for a business account with T-Mobile and paying for a static address. You can also try rebooting your gateway to see if it assigns you an IP address that's closer to your location, but I imagine you've already done this plenty of times over the last year.
Same here. I live in one county, yet when I use a service like Ookla Speedtest, it shows my closest tower is in another county. I would think that "my" location would be registered in my SIM card and given my location from my cell tower (about 1 mile away), I would think my GPS location would show my address. Otherwise, my connection and speeds have been good for the past 6-months.
Darko66 wrote:
I'm far from an expert on this, but it's a problem with the websites using your IP address to determine your location. This is standard practice, but I believe far from ideal and one that the industry will eventually have to move away from. T-Mobile's IP addresses have proven to not be very accurate for this purpose. I don't know if it's just that they have a limited number of addresses to utilize or if it's some other issue with their use of dynamic addresses.
You can probably search the site for "dynamic IP address" or "static IP address" and get some suggestions. There might be a couple of options both of which have an added cost. First might be using a VPN service. Second would be signing up for a business account with T-Mobile and paying for a static address. You can also try rebooting your gateway to see if it assigns you an IP address that's closer to your location, but I imagine you've already done this plenty of times over the last year.
Thanks for your comments, but nothing seems to work for getting my right location....totally frustrating!
Same issue with wifi if I let a web site use my current location to say find closest store (I'm in North Carolina) it tells me I'm in Orlando Florida
