Location Issues

[SpiritWolfUK]

Looks like this is a major issue with Sky Broadband and they obviously do not care to resolve this issue but are quick enough to raise their prices.

I've had this issue since I received my new hub (I'm apparently located in Italy), as I tried purchasing something through my Oculus Headset and I got a popup saying, "not available in your Country" whilst I'm connected via WiFi but as soon as I connect to my iPhone's mobile data via its HotSpot, all is good.

I joined Tidal for my music and I stupidly enough setup my account via WiFi. Now I'm billed in Euro's and their emails and T's and C's are all In Italian.

Tidal's support states, their system registered my IP address and used that as my location - ITALY and the only way to correct this, is to cancel my account and start over using a router that is located in UK.

As this is a Sky Community forum, do any actual Sky Technical Support read any of this? Or are they just happy to sit back, watch, take our money whilst we all have Region issues?

I've tried the suggestion of turning off my Router for 30mins or so but I'm still in Italy.

Would it make any difference having a VPN, or would the issue still present itself?

Thanks.

[Highlinder]

@SpiritWolfUKIf the 30 minute turn off is not working. I have saw instances of some leaving it longer. Could try overnight to see if it clears this issue for you.

[SpiritWolfUK]

Thanks @Highlinder for the suggestion but it is still the same.

I think I'll go down the VPN route and purchase a plan. However, as I have the Sky SR203 hub, is it possible to input the VPN details into the Hub, instead of installing apps etc on my devices?

[Highlinder]

@SpiritWolfUKReally unusual that you are not being given an IP that is within the uk. You could try touch VPN extension to see if you can connect using the uk to see if this solves your issue before you go ahead and purchase a plan with a VPN.

Might want to trial out a few before purchase. I would also get in touch with Sky about this and what you have already went through to troubleshoot this issue.

[SpiritWolfUK]

Thanks @Highlinder 

In truth, I am not entirely sure what is going on with my Sky Router. Everything points to the fact that I am in Italy if I am purchasing. However, if I lookup my IP address, it gives me a location of London, England and I assume that is Sky's address, as I am up near Birmingham. The TouchVPN extension that you suggest shows that I am in UK and now protected (Secure) but my SR203 Router is greyed out showing Europe Region.

I'll ask the question again if I may. If I buy a VPN Plan, can I put the VPN details directly into my SR203 Router, instead of installing apps for various devices? As I am unsure how to input the details into my Oculus Quest2 VR Headset.

Thanks

[Highlinder]

@SpiritWolfUK  I would let others who might have some insight into this chime in with answers. Still perplexed to why when you check your IP it is showing you in the UK, but when you use websites they think you are in Italy.

[SpiritWolfUK]

Thanks @Highlinder for your help so far. Hopefully others will pick up and chip in.

All the best 🙂

[mae-3]

Worth trying and seeing what these settings are at for region:-

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-windows-regional-settings-to-modify-the-appear... 

[SpiritWolfUK]

Thanks for your suggestion @mae-3 but there's two problems with that one.

1: I stated earlier, that it was my Sky SR203 Router that was the issue.

2: I don't use Winblows. I have iPhone, iPad and MacBook and ALL Regions are set to United Kingdom.

But thanks anyway.

[TimmyBGood]

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@SpiritWolfUK wrote:

I'll ask the question again if I may. If I buy a VPN Plan, can I put the VPN details directly into my SR203 Router, instead of installing apps for various devices? 

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No: Sky Hubs do not have that functionality.

[Chrisee]

@SpiritWolfUK the router is not directly involved in setting locations it simply gets assigned a public IP address by the  ISP which can be used to determine approximate location. However there are multiple ways third party sites determine where you are connecting from. It can be from the devices OS, from browser cookies or from the IP address either IP4 or IP6 etc etc.

This thread started when Sky UK started last summer transferred some IP4 addresses orginally issued to Sky Italia, these switches are caused by the fact the world has run out of IP4 addresses so ISPs scramble round to use the ones their group hold more efficently. The introduction of  IP6 which sorted the issue but while Sky fully supports IP6 many third party sites dont. Sky will have reported the addresss switch to the issueing authority but that information takes time to filter out. Most location services pick up the switch within in a few weeks hence the drop off of posts in this thread. 

Sky cannot directly control the ways third party sites determine location but you quote BA whose website is not of the highest quality to put it mildly but has a page where you can reset your location as this happens quite frequently https://www.britishairways.com/travel/country_choice/public/en_gb you can do the same with Amazon it is a pain but you can largely avoid this by setting your device to share data, accepting cookies etc 

The reason the suggested work round of unplugging the router was suggested is that used to force a change to the IP4 address but recently I and other users have found out it no longer seems to do so. Your IP6 address should show your located in the UK. You can check both IP4 and IP6 locations using a site like https://www.iplocation.net if you click through to the details of location you will see the various results from the services that site uses.  I checked mine and found currently most are out by at least 50miles,one is within 20 and only 2 have the right town which is pretty typical.

Hope that helps.

[mae-3]

@SpiritWolfUK 

It is further complicated by the fact some websites record the joining public IP address in their database, and some don't change this information. Also, iCloud private relay, VPN or similar facilities hide the public IP address and connect from other locations and if any of these are recorded in the website database on joining this will have a region that you may have difficulty changing unless you contact the website and get them to change the region for purchasing, etc... for your account.

[SpiritWolfUK]

Thanks @mae-3 that is interesting to know 👍

[SpiritWolfUK]

Thanks @Chrisee That was very interesting reading and I understand where my issue was laying.

I used the iplocation that you included and both IP4 and IP6 do show that I am in UK. Showing where my ISP is based and my actual location is within a few miles of where I actually am situated.

It just got me a little confused as the firmware in my Sky SR203 Router is greyed out showing Europe Region under the WiFi Port and when I recently joined Tidal last week for my music, their website/server picked up that I was in Italy and my T's and C's are in Italian and all their emails are in Italian. I contacted their support and they confirmed that my IP Address showed my location was Italy. Whilst I can change the language on their Website, I cannot change their emails.

I've now purchased a 2yr VPN plan and everything seems to be working well. Incidentally, I tried the above iplocation with the VPN disconnected. I've just got to try and incorporate this VPN into my Meta/Oculus Quest2 VR Headset, being as though my router cannot accept VPN details - thanks to a reply from another user, as this is where my Region issue started. I can use the HotSpot option on my mobile data but that'll eat up my data in no time.

[Chrisee]

@SpiritWolfUK unfortunately whatever platform Tidal uses to determine your location is out of date. The hub's wifi page showing as European is separate and refers to the wifi regional standards. The UK uses the wifi frequency standards adopted across Europe rather than those the US or other regions may use.