A Case of Mistaken Locality

March 31, 2006 11:46 AM

Google thinks that I am in the UK. I am in the US. Any way to convince it of the truth?

When I open Google, it defaults to google.co.uk. Even manually switching over to google.com, I still get UK local results and ads. Sometimes when searching Google for goods and services the ads are more useful than the search results. This is true from all computers on our network, all behind the same IP address.

I have looked up my IP address information figuring that was how Google determines which version of itself that you see. I am listed correctly as in the United States.

My IP address is in the netblock in the link above, if I need to be more specific let me know. This is a T1 line at my work, but I am not sure if that makes a difference. Other sites consistently route me to their US versions. The problem appears google-specific.

What to do, what to do?

posted by voidcontext to computers & internet (16 comments total)

Are you running through a VNC or a proxy server? What does a traceroute to google.com give you? If you're getting a UK address in your traceroute, that may be your problem right there...

Windows: Open up a console and type "tracert google.com".
Linux: Open up a console and type "traceroute google.com"
posted by SweetJesus at 11:50 AM on March 31, 2006

Go to http://www.google.com/ncr. There should also be a "go to google.com" link on the UK page.

(Previously asked on AskMe)
posted by zsazsa at 11:55 AM on March 31, 2006

Google thinks I'm in Canada (I'm in the USA). I'm glad you asked the question.
posted by evariste at 11:57 AM on March 31, 2006

www.google.us ?
posted by ed\26h at 12:00 PM on March 31, 2006

Ok, I did a traceroute to your machine, and it looks like glbx.net in your traceroute is resolving to uk.glbx.net whenever you try to access it via HTTP, so I'm betting that Google thinks anything coming from glbx.net is in the UK.

This is strange, because all the individual IP addresses resolve to upstate New York locations, which would make sense since you're in Buffalo. Will the wonders of packet routing never cease?
posted by SweetJesus at 12:02 PM on March 31, 2006

Zsazsa, I know about that link, my problem is that even on the google.com or google.us sites, I still get the UK google ads on the search result pages.

I want the US ads. They're the most useful parts of a search on occasion. There are other smaller oddities too.

Sorry my question wasn't clearer.
posted by voidcontext at 12:02 PM on March 31, 2006

SweetJesus, thanks for the help. I hadn't thought that steps in between would be a factor.

I am in Buffalo, and if anything I would have been expected to be mistaken for a Canadian, it's 15 minutes to the border from here.
posted by voidcontext at 12:04 PM on March 31, 2006

Our T1 provider is Global Crossing, and it looks like GLBX is their UK office or affiliate.

packet routing nuclear strike survival++

voidcontext's google shopping sprees--
posted by voidcontext at 12:08 PM on March 31, 2006

I am in Buffalo, and if anything I would have been expected to be mistaken for a Canadian, it's 15 minutes to the border from here

Yeah, it's not you, it's your ISP's ISP. GLBX is Global Crossing, a large internet backbone provider. Also, I grepped around Google Groups and found the definitive answer:

Most of the traceroutes still go through the UK and Holland, they are the main points for incoming traffic from the US. Esat.net have a direct connection into NY with BBN Planet. Eircom use UUNet as far as I know and they go through the UK.

Global Crossing uses UUNet, so UUNet is throwing off the traceroute.
posted by SweetJesus at 12:21 PM on March 31, 2006

"GBLX", fwiw, is just GloBaL CROSSing, not an affiliate.
posted by mendel at 12:23 PM on March 31, 2006

Thanks for helping, SweetJesus & Mendel.
posted by voidcontext at 12:39 PM on March 31, 2006

Is the tip described here of any help to you?
posted by WCityMike at 1:22 PM on March 31, 2006

WCityMike, thanks, but no luck.

I know how to switch between Google UK and Google dot Com, but the ads are always from the UK, no matter where I search from. I have no problem switching over to get US actual search results instead of UK results.
posted by voidcontext at 1:41 PM on March 31, 2006

From Google Help Center:

If you feel that we're detecting your IP address incorrectly, please use the "Contact us" link below to send us the following information.

1. Your IP address.
2. Your physical location (for example, Paris, France).
3. The Google site you're being redirected to (for example, Google.co.in).

If we're able to fix the problem on our end, we'll do so within a few weeks.

Contact us

posted by ryanrs at 5:30 AM on April 2, 2006

Thanks ryanrs, I sent them a message and will see what happens.
posted by voidcontext at 1:06 PM on April 5, 2006

Google eventually straightened something out on their end a few months after I posted this question. They never responded to my inquiry though.
posted by voidcontext at 11:26 AM on November 29, 2006