I suddenly find that my Samsung tablet and my Huawei P10 phone have decided that I am eight hundred kilometres away from my actual location! This started on Friday and affects my weather and Goodle Maps and is displayed on my home screen weather and clock.

 

I have not left the city of Chiang Mai in over a year but apparently I am now in Phra Khanong, Bangkok! The only thing that has changed its that on Thursday we had a new router installed in our True fibre optic internet. We have reported this issue to True but they are adamant that they are not the source of the problem. I have not added any new apps since the new router was installed and am at a loss to know how to rectify the problem.

 

Any ideas?

Online services that try to 'infer' your location will use a couple of methods.

 

(1) The location the ISP (Internet Service Provider) provides when they acquire or issue a new IP Address. Since this record is usually updated once when the ISP receives a large block of IP Addresses it's usually the location of the ISP's Network Operations or Billing Center.  So not very accurate when used to predict YOUR actual location.

 

(2) Proprietary DataBase information. The hardware MAC address of your router (something that rarely changes on your local network) is associated with location information provided directly by you, or gathered by information you've posted in the past.

 

(3) Proprietary DataBase, surreptitiously gathered information. This is the most accurate, where the hardware MAC address of your router is directly associated with a mobile device capable of providing Mobile Tower or actual device GPS coordinates. Usually occurs when connecting to Google Services like Google Maps or Google News and Weather. 

 

Since your router is new to your location, the service is using type 1 information to infer your location.

 

But when someone (anyone) connecting to your WiFi with a mobile phone uses a Google Service then google will associate the Tower or device GPS coordinates with your router, and then 'infer' a more accurate position from that moment on when any future device on you LAN or WiFi reconnects to a Google provided Service.

 

So use a mobile phone with GPS to connect to your WiFi and open Google Maps and/or Google News/Weather apps. See how long before the location gets accurately positioned.

Nothing unusual.

My "location" based (only) on the IP address changes every other time.

Up to 400 km off.

Currently we could swap. "Location" Chiang Mai

About 400 km from my real location.

 

Open this site:

https://www.iplocation.net/

 

and compare the results from the different sources.

Currently I have three "Chiang Mai", one "Bangkok", one "Unavailable"

 

And I am quite happy that my real location can not be derived from my IP.

 

As RichCor writes: both(?) devices should have GPS receivers which allow to determine and share exact location to the apps/websites (if you prefer to).

Rebooting you devices will probably fix it.

Sent from my SM-T815Y using Tapatalk

Go into Settings, Location, select High accuracy under Mode.

 

GPS should give you a fairly accurate location, on both devices. 

 

On the Huawei P10, when you open Google Maps, does it give an accurate location?