t-mobile Home Internet - Location Issue

Snooooopy wrote:

I often get messages on my cell phone about verifying it's me from banks and such.  I think that is mostly 2-step verification, though, and doesn't have anything to do with location.  (The messages often do show I'm in another state, however.)  There are only two websites I can't fully access with the Chrome browser, due to location problems.  My state lottery website is one.  (You can only play online if you are in the state.) Since I can play using the Firefox browser, it's no big deal.  Although Firefox recently asked if I wanted to turn on VPN.  Would doing so likely get me location problems with that browser, too?  I know nothing about VPN.

Without getting into technical details, a VPN essentially works in two ways: it conceals your true IP address and which obscures your location with those content providers relying upon IP address based geo-location; and it encrypts your traffic such that nobody can see it or modify it (including your ISP). Some folks have success with the location issues provided they are assigned a VPN server in their region but that's not always the case. At the same time be aware that some sites block access altogether if a VPN is detected.

Since you do mention Chrome and Firefox, there is an add-in (or extension) called Location Guard that can be used to establish your proper location. It also works on Microsoft's Edge. In all of these cases it can be successful provided the content provider (or site) relies upon the browser's built-in java script API and not an inaccurate geo-location database service. The add-in is only available for desktop browsers at this time. It works on most websites for me using any of the browsers mentioned and saves me a lot of aggravation.

P.S. For me it’s always preferable to have banks and other critical sites perform 2 step authorization from a pure security perspective (although some allow turning it off at your own peril).