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regional location of desk top

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Firefox browser assigns physical locations to towns and cities that are not close or related to the actual location of the Desk Top or the Lap Top! How can the Firefox browser be changed to assign the correct location of Desk Top!

Firefox browser assigns physical locations to towns and cities that are not close or related to the actual location of the Desk Top or the Lap Top! How can the Firefox browser be changed to assign the correct location of Desk Top!

All Replies (9)

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Firefox doesn't "assign" location information.

Accuracy is usually very good with a wireless (WiFi) connection which takes advantage of the Geolocation feature in Firefox. With a desktop PC, 'location' is usually determined by the IP address of the connection for the user, information that is provided by the internet service provider, and available from dozens of data providers. Some data providers are better than others at providing accurate information. Some ISP's may not even know where their user's are actually located all the time, IP addresses are many times dynamically assigned and might change frequently if the user doesn't use their 'connection' everyday and their "lease" expires.

And when the user is away from a major metropolitan area, their reported IP address location could be in a different state or even a different country if they are located near a border; northern Washington state user's might have a connection from a Canadian ISP.

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Thank you for the helpful information.

I would appreciate a little clarification. My ISP has my correct address so I am puzzled why it would provide the wrong location. How can I find out what my ISP thinks is the location?

The default location in Windows is correct andFirefox can pinpoint my latitude and longitude. However, Firefox still seems to think that the location is somewhere else. That is, when I perform various searches, a map may appear but it has the wrong location - always the same wrong location.

If the Geolocation feature can identify my location perfectly well, any thoughts about why that would not be the basis for determining location?

Thank you.

Cathy

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What does this website say where you are located?
http://whatismyipaddress.com/

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Lowell, MA - that is correct.

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What are you seeing in Firefox that shows a different location? And how far off is that location?

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Did you try to clear the cookies from those websites to reset stored data?

"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:

  • Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

Note that if you use a company network or proxy that you location may change and you may have to clear cookies after moving to a different connection.

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My cookies are not the problem! When I am on yahoo home page I am given addresses in Ft Wayne Indiana, located over 200 miles from my physical home address or Indianapolis Indiana, located 130 miles away. I had not experience this problem until May of 2012 and has persisted since! I am a "user" far from being a "tech"

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"When I am on yahoo home page... "
Sounds like a Yahoo settings issue.

How about what this page says about your location.
https://settings.yahoo.com/locations
Any difference between being signed in and not?

See this - Known Issue: Do you have incorrect local news locations on the Yahoo! Homepage?
Sorry, there was no conclusion to that thread, but there's a whole bunch of other Yahoo! Answers threads here - Yahoo homepage wrong location. Maybe there is a more definitive answer in one of those threads.

Doesn't appear to be a Firefox support issue, but rather a Known Issue with Yahoo!

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The "Cookies" were remove: as per internet carrier, I am now in Brownstown IN. When the location became a problem, contacted Yahoo! Their response, the Firefox browser was the problem. As there appears, to be no solution to the problem, thank you for your time and considerations