Steam has my ip address listed in another state

[Naota]

Just now I tried for the first time to login to the Steam website since I started using Steamguard.

So they sent me a code in the mail.

The email said my ip address is in Arizona. . . but I'm in Florida.

Is something really wrong?

[Falro the Great]

Double and triple-check that it's the correct site. (Often fake sites will have small, barely noticable misspellings, like L instead of i, etc.) Sometimes however the IP locator can be wrong if you're using different devices to check the email and sign in. If it's the same device, you should probably not log in until you are 110% sure you're on the right site.

[WhereIsBusmin]

Geolocation isn't always accurate, so sometimes the location in the Steam Guard emails isn't correct (I'll admit though, I haven't heard of it being off by such a great distance). The important thing is that the IP address in the email matches your computers external IP address: http://www.whatsmyip.org/

[crunchyfrog]

As Busmin says, the location is based on where your ISPs main server connection is, not where YOU are.

For instance, I live in Lincolnshire, England, which is on the east coast around the midlands area. My ISP is based in Northern Ireland. Steam states my location as London or Manchester (it varies).

London is 120 miles away, and Manchester about 100 miles in the other direction.

[Naota]

Okay, I got that, so it's possible this is normal.

However speedtest.net lists me as being in Florida,and has my city correct. Do they do something different at speedtest?

[RAGE]

I live in Kansas, and it says I live in Texas. (Cox internet) Not sure how I'd have highspeed cable internet from Texas, when I live in kansas. (that's over 660 miles away to AUSTIN where it shows) Speedtest.net shows me being in Lawrence, which is only 25 miles away from me.

[Naota]

Alright, thanks everyone.

I was afraid some malware had hijacked my pc, but maybe it's just some weird thing with cox+steam.

[phil4u1970]

Its probably not a good idea to give clues as to where you actually live Burnt Man. Someone could look on a map and find which towns are 25 miles from Lawrence and possibly find you. Not the best idea to give distance. You don't say which direction you actually are from Lawrence, which is a great idea. You shouldn't make it easier to find you, not even a little bit easier. Of course you could be not telling the truth about the exact distance too. It could be more or less than 25 miles. I'm just saying... I am not an evil criminal mastermind bent on hurting another person ( like stealing their identity ). Just don't help anyone find you. FYI

[Skitch]

Basically what happens is that you’re simply being assigned an IP address that is still registered as being held in another location. Where things get weird is that sometimes these IP addresses are purchased in bulk and haven’t been re-registered quite yet. So if Comcast buys an IP block from someone, the IPs may still appear as if they’re located in the original location! You can see how messy buying and selling IPv4 addresses has become.

[Kargor]

It's not just selling IP addresses. ISPs might throw all their addresses into one large pool, all of them with their company headquarter location, and assign them to customers wherever they might be instead of changing the location every time they assign the address to someone.