how can you tell actual device location by IP?

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KiwiOverseas66

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Topic # 18022 22-Dec-2007 23:45

guys and gals

just a quick question - how can you tell the actual geographic location of a device on a traceroute? I've always thought the location information returned by traceroute to be inherently unreliable since if the source is simply a DNS record for that particular device IP, or the IP range - then for all intense and purposes it probably the head office address of whoever owns that IP number - not necessarily the device location itself. Is that the case?

PenultimateHop

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Reply # 101474 23-Dec-2007 02:05

You're correct, you can't tell it reliably. For the larger networks in the world (Verizon, Global Crossing, Sprint et al) the reverse DNS that you see will give some hints.

Otherwise there is no reliable way to tell at all. Some of the geolocation sites rely on people filling in surveys to identify where they are from and try and group IP addresses that way; but that isn't always so reliable either.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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Reply # 101478 23-Dec-2007 07:16

When an ISP request a range of IP addresses it is registered with its "contrller" - for New Zealand is APNIC for example. There are databases with all those ranges and where it is being used.

That's how we show the flags here on Geekzone - based on your IP address. Some databases (the more expensive) have the IP address down to a city - but for some services using transparent proxy for example this is useless. Better to just point to a country for example, since city/state may be unreliable.

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KiwiOverseas66

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Reply # 101498 23-Dec-2007 10:03

Thanks guys....I thought as much but never really sat down to think about it. FYI - trying to untangle the route from here in New Delhi to a web site in the states - as I can't browse it directly, but can connect to it when I go via an anonymous proxy in Germany! Go figure.

freitasm

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Reply # 101505 23-Dec-2007 11:38

Perhaps the site is blocking visitors from IN? Here on Geekzone for example, after so much spam, we allow NG to browse but not post in the forums...

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KiwiOverseas66

173 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 101587 23-Dec-2007 20:42

I thought as much as well - but as it turns out other users in India with other ISPs are able to connect. I suspect the provider I'm with uses a single gateway to connect to the States (with no diversity by the look of it), where as traffic to Europe goes via a completely different route/ infrastructure (the DNS servers for my ISP are split between Delhi and Mumbai - Delhi DNS has been ok but Mumbai DNS is not visible - and its effectively an internal connection on the ISP)! A few of the online forums here in India detail how network diversity is pretty thin on the ground - or doesn't exist at all - so I'm thinking traffic to the States probably goes via Mumbai.

As the old fred dagg song about NZ goes "you don't know how lucky you areeeee....mate, you don't know how lucky you are"!