I have Verizon 5G Home Internet, but every device connected to the router makes websites and apps think I'm located in Arizona, even though I'm physically in Texas. My IPv6 address also appears to geolocate to Arizona. I spent more than two hours with Verizon support, tried resetting the equipment, and confirmed that my service address is correct in their system. I can access the router's admin panel, but support couldn't explain which settings might affect this. Is there anything I can change, or does Verizon need to correct the IP location? The inaccurate location is causing sports blackout restrictions when my team plays Arizona.
2 Answers
The IPv6 result is a strong clue that the problem is on Verizon’s network side, not with your local Wi-Fi or the router’s physical-address setting. Ask Verizon to investigate the public IPv4 and IPv6 addresses assigned to your connection and explain that the incorrect geolocation is causing sports blackout errors. You can also report the addresses to the geolocation databases used by the affected services, although the ISP usually has to make the lasting correction.
If you aren’t using a VPN or proxy, this probably isn’t something you can fix in the router settings. IP-based geolocation comes from databases that associate an ISP’s public IP ranges with a location. Verizon may be routing your traffic through an address registered or previously used in Arizona, so websites are simply trusting outdated or inaccurate data.
Being several hundred miles away is unusual, but it can happen with cellular and 5G home internet because the public IP location may reflect a regional gateway rather than your actual service address.
Changing the router’s location or resetting it generally won’t help, since websites identify you by the public address Verizon gives them rather than by the address entered in the router.