Firefox is not setting my location correctly on a desktop, Android cell phone is fine
I have Firefox on Windows, Linux, and Android. Anytime I use Firefox on a desktop, it sends me to Tornado Alley in Kansas. However, I am not in Kansas, and I don't have dog named Toto either. I am in the Detroit area. If I use other browsers, I don't have this problem. It only happens on desktop computers. On my cell phone it shows the correct location. I have already done the simple troubleshooting measure (for a year now: clearing cache, uninstall, reinstall, etc...) and NOTHING removes me from this Tornado Alley, Kansas location on the Firefox browser. If I use Chrome, Opera, Edge, etc... I don't get this problem. It must be something in the Firefox program.
All Replies (11)
You can use websites like these to check how your location is reported via a reverse DNS lookup of your IP:
You can check the connection settings.
- Settings -> General -> Network: Connection -> Settings
If you do not need to use a Proxy to connect to internet, select "No Proxy" if "Use the system proxy settings" or one of the others do not work properly.
See also:
Let me explain again. I have NO proxy. I am searching Google in Firefox and it gives results for a city I am not in. If I go to the sites you listed, it does show my correct location. However, in the Google search it goes to Tornado Alley, Kansas. Everything else works fine. I don't see how it is a DNS or cache problem, as I can go to other sites such as the ones you mentioned. I have in the past tried it, and either days or weeks later it would go back to Tornado Alley.
Is this both for IPv4 and IPv6 in case this differs?
Boot the computer into Windows Safe Mode with network support to see if that has effect.
Look at the picture I added. I am NOT in Windows. I am using Linux. I am using IPv4. I can use the SAME browser, SAME connection method and go to dogpile.com and it shows my correct location. ONLY google.com tells me I am in Tornado Alley. So, it is not the browser, and it is not an IPv4 or IPv6 issue. The safe mode idea for Windows would only be useful for that particular time. The point is after a week or so, it goes back to Tornado Alley.
In your screenshot you have given Google location permission, have you tried revoking that and falling back on estimated location based on IP address or is that not accurate enough?
You can manually specify your location by editing geo.provider.network.url in about:config:
data:,{"location":{"lat":0.0,"lng":0.0},"accuracy":1000}
When I edit geo.provider.network.url and make those changes, it just pops up the usual message asking me to allow it to find location. It gives the same result when searching.
Modified by tigerprowlusa
This has also happened on another computer. It's ONLY in Firefox. Opera is fine, Edge is fine, Chrome is fine, Chromium is fine. ONLY Firefox Google searches put me in Tornado Alley. Dogpile has my correct location.
Actually, I don't use duckduckgo and I just tried that. It also sends me to Kansas. Is it possible the Firefox browser has me "hardwired" to duckduckgo or some related setting? I also tried Bing and that search is fine.
Modified by tigerprowlusa
Here's something interesting, look at the attached picture in this post. If I click the "choose area" link next to Tornado Alley, I get a window to select my actual location (the red parts). It works fine until I close out the browser and relaunch it. Then it shows Tornado Alley again. But look under in the "Popular" section. It has Kansas listed first. Perhaps disabling the popular category would force it to use my actual location?
It's been about a month, wondering if anyone has experienced this before also. Google seems to take the first popular location and use that as my location unless I select my location in the red area before "Popular".