Use results in Australian website

VPN
1

over the past few years I have noticed when I use express VPN I occasionally end up getting diverted to Australian versions of websites. news.google.com as an example is the Australian site.

I thought this was something to do with my android, but my adult kids on iPhones occasionally have the same issue. sometimes changing the VPN site will correct it, sometimes not. checking the geolocation the IP is what it should be. I suspect that express VPN is providing the wrong DNS server info.

anyone else have this issue?

2

Google doesn’t pay attention to regular IP geolocation databases, IP whois, etc.

Google often updates it’s perceived location, based on where the majority of users connect from - because people don’t turn off mobile signal, location services, gps, timezone, etc. Google have a pretty good idea where users actually are as their services are so ingrained in so many devices, sites, etc due to the vast amounts of data they collect.

3

Connect to the VPN. Go to ipleak.net and record your IP address. Now without disconnecting, go to google.com and type “what is my ip address”.

Report those back here, please.

4

A few things.

  1. I use split tunneling - so no obvious Google services communicate with Google.

  2. I doubt this is a Google thing because if I drop the VPN everything works fine.

  3. I know iPhone users who experience the same thing.

5

Ipleak: 185.238.231.245 and “IPv6 test not reachable.”

Google result: 2a0f:e383:6af8:3238:6201:b3b9:80a3:59d7
No ipv4 provided

:thinking:

6

  1. Split tunnelling is part of the problem, I’d be surprised if it got it all.

  2. That, to me, says it is.

  3. Not device specific.

The long and short of it, is… It’s a problem with shared IP addresses, along with the points above.

7

Yup. So, the VPN is diverting all Google traffic through a different server that is being flagged as Aussie by Google. Whereas, the rest of the traffic is flowing through the IPv4 server.