Mutley2003
asked on
geocoding IP addresses
Hi
I am trying to figure out how accurate the MaxMind GEOIP service really is.
I am on dialup, but somehow it seems to guess my actual location with remarkable precision. My ISP beagle.com.au is not located anywhere near here (it is in Brisbane I think), but there is a national toll free dialup
Here is the tracert
Tracing route to beagle.com.au [202.174.107.130]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms VIRGO [192.168.0.1]
2 121 ms 124 ms 124 ms acc01-geor-bat.comindico.c
]
3 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms fe0-0.cor01-geor-bat.comin
40.157]
4 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms atm1-0-41.cor10-kent-syd.c
94.1.45]
5 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms 141.112.220.203.unassigned
.220.112.141]
6 122 ms 125 ms 124 ms 141.112.220.203.unassigned
.220.112.141]
7 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms pos5-1-0.sn1.optus.com.au [202.139.18.165]
8 122 ms 140 ms 124 ms 61.88.221.51
9 138 ms 140 ms 124 ms internodesystemspl.optus.n
10 138 ms 155 ms 156 ms pos5-1-0.cor2.bne1.interno
.30]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 152 ms 140 ms 156 ms gi2-0.core1.bne.co-lo.com.
13 139 ms 140 ms 140 ms snoopy.beagle.com.au [202.174.107.130]
Trace complete.
--------------------------
and this is the o/p from the demo at maxmind
Your IP Address 203.220.132.29
Countries Australia
Region 02 (New South Wales)
US Area Code
US Metro Code
Global Cities Ilford
Zipcode
Latitude/Longitude -32.9667/149.8667
ISP COMindico Australia
Organization COMindico Australia
Netspeed Dialup
Domain Name comindico.com.au
The suburb guess is remarkably close.
Note that Maxmind guesses my IP as 203.220.132.29 which is not on the tracert listing above.
Now, my understanding of dialup ISPs is that they randomly issue you an IP address from "their" block. I guess it is kown somewhere what blocks are assigned to what ISP's, but that would only get you to where the ISP is located. So, how can they get close to me when I am many hundreds of miles from my ISP??
Also, how would this work if someone is on broadband/cable? Say I was sitting in Los Angeles .. could it tell whether I was in Beverly Hills or in La Brea?
I am trying to figure out how accurate the MaxMind GEOIP service really is.
I am on dialup, but somehow it seems to guess my actual location with remarkable precision. My ISP beagle.com.au is not located anywhere near here (it is in Brisbane I think), but there is a national toll free dialup
Here is the tracert
Tracing route to beagle.com.au [202.174.107.130]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms VIRGO [192.168.0.1]
2 121 ms 124 ms 124 ms acc01-geor-bat.comindico.c
]
3 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms fe0-0.cor01-geor-bat.comin
40.157]
4 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms atm1-0-41.cor10-kent-syd.c
94.1.45]
5 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms 141.112.220.203.unassigned
.220.112.141]
6 122 ms 125 ms 124 ms 141.112.220.203.unassigned
.220.112.141]
7 122 ms 124 ms 124 ms pos5-1-0.sn1.optus.com.au [202.139.18.165]
8 122 ms 140 ms 124 ms 61.88.221.51
9 138 ms 140 ms 124 ms internodesystemspl.optus.n
10 138 ms 155 ms 156 ms pos5-1-0.cor2.bne1.interno
.30]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 152 ms 140 ms 156 ms gi2-0.core1.bne.co-lo.com.
13 139 ms 140 ms 140 ms snoopy.beagle.com.au [202.174.107.130]
Trace complete.
--------------------------
and this is the o/p from the demo at maxmind
Your IP Address 203.220.132.29
Countries Australia
Region 02 (New South Wales)
US Area Code
US Metro Code
Global Cities Ilford
Zipcode
Latitude/Longitude -32.9667/149.8667
ISP COMindico Australia
Organization COMindico Australia
Netspeed Dialup
Domain Name comindico.com.au
The suburb guess is remarkably close.
Note that Maxmind guesses my IP as 203.220.132.29 which is not on the tracert listing above.
Now, my understanding of dialup ISPs is that they randomly issue you an IP address from "their" block. I guess it is kown somewhere what blocks are assigned to what ISP's, but that would only get you to where the ISP is located. So, how can they get close to me when I am many hundreds of miles from my ISP??
Also, how would this work if someone is on broadband/cable? Say I was sitting in Los Angeles .. could it tell whether I was in Beverly Hills or in La Brea?
ASKER
ok, bear with me a little, please
1. does the situation with broadband differ? If I understand it correctly, with broadband you get a fixed IP address? Is that so, and if so, does the address get tied by the broadband provider to some small geographic region? .,. for example, are all the broadband customers of MegaTelco in Watts going to have IP's in a block more or less specific to the suburb?
2. I am still not sure how granular this really can get. I am not in the US, but MaxMind says it provides zipcodes. So, do these really distinguish between say, Beverley Hills and LaBrea - or is accuracy at that level really suspect?
Thanks
1. does the situation with broadband differ? If I understand it correctly, with broadband you get a fixed IP address? Is that so, and if so, does the address get tied by the broadband provider to some small geographic region? .,. for example, are all the broadband customers of MegaTelco in Watts going to have IP's in a block more or less specific to the suburb?
2. I am still not sure how granular this really can get. I am not in the US, but MaxMind says it provides zipcodes. So, do these really distinguish between say, Beverley Hills and LaBrea - or is accuracy at that level really suspect?
Thanks
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ASKER
great, thanks for the full explanation
There are ways to fool it, however. Proxy servers, long-distance calls, etc. If you made the long distance call to connect to a dial-up ISP in Beverly Hills, MaxMind might think you were there.