Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

NMBob

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 18, 2007
2,083
3,033
New Mexico
A box poped up on my MacBook that I had recently signed in to Messages and FaceTime on my iPad. I hadn't. So I changed the Apple ID password from the MacBook and told it to log all my stuff out. I logged in on the iPad, and the F2A map popped up on the MacBook. It "guessed" the iPad was in Washington DC. I'm in New Mexico. That map is usually off a town or two, but has never been all the way across the country. The iPad was connecting through Verizon. I don't *think* I've ever done that when logging in. I've normally done this kind of stuff through WiFi, like at work. Should I be worried? Does locating by IP just not know any better with a mobile connection? Thanks!
 
I get your concern! I'm assuming you're not connecting via a vpn. Go to whatsmyip.com or ivpn.com (at the top of the page) to view your ip's location. Hopefully that will confirm what you've been seeing. Other people will chime in with 100 other ways to do this, but they're the two I use most often.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brawdy14
I get your concern! I'm assuming you're not connecting via a vpn. Go to whatsmyip.com or ivpn.com (at the top of the page) to view your ip's location. Hopefully that will confirm what you've been seeing. Other people will chime in with 100 other ways to do this, but they're the two I use most often.
ivpn.com turns into concentric.com and just sits there for a while and fails, but whatsmyip.com shows Albuquerque. Close enough (70 miles :)). Yeah, normally no VPN. I only need it when I have to get into work remotely and do some things. Boy, those IPV6 addresses are hard to read. :) Nothing funny has happened since. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. Thanks!
 
Now it’s evening: Now whatsmyip.com thinks my Verizon connection is in Las Vegas, so it must just bounce around.
 
The problem is that you may not be getting a unique public IP address anymore when you connect to a mobile network but a private one with a NAT layer to route your packets behind it. Thus, from a website's point of view you could be located anywhere really, because the traffic always gets routed through your provider's backbone first. I don't know whether or not Verizon already does this but given the scarcity of IPv4 IP addresses I wouldn't be surprised.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 0128672
Sounds about right. The IPV4 address just says "not detected". I'm still in LV this morning. Maybe I'm dreaming that I'm at home? :) Thanks!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.