The location is detected from the google api location wifi, based on your ip address. To change the default location you would have to have a fixed IP.

It is possible to stop sharing the location with these resources:

• How do I turn on the Do Not Track feature?
• Gaurd Location Addon

You're not using a Proxy or a VPN, are you? If so, that's probably the cause.

What doe this website say about your location? Bookmark it so you can use it to "check" after every change of locale. http://whatismyipaddress.com/ Who is shown as the ISP for each change?

Your ISP may be issuing IP addresses from different locations that they own. Best to ask them why they are "moving you around" so much, if they are shown as the internet service provider for each IP Address youget assigned.

I am using a desktop computer located in Athens, Ohio. Using the-edmeister's link http://whatismyipaddress.com/ I am showing up in Wilmington, Ohio right now. Some days I am in Cambridge, Ohio or Newark, Ohio and a few times Springfield, Ohio. I'm with Frontier Communications. Maybe my ip address changes due to traffic or whatever. Asking them any kind of question is like beating your head against a wall. Mozilla Firefox should allow me to set my real current, permanent address if I want to. It would make things simpler for me but maybe not for everyone.

Sorry - but Firefox works with existing web standards for using the IP Address of the connection at your end or by using the Geo-location feature for wireless (WiFi) connection. Websites using the IP Address of a connection for website features or targeted advertising is secondary to the original purpose of using the IP Address of a connection. "Disconnecting" won't work - websites wouldn't know where to send that data you are requesting / viewing, you can't be totally anonymous on the internet. And changing the IP Address is something the ISP has control over.

One I forgot to ask is - are you using DSL, Broadband Cable / Fiber, or a dial-up connection for internet service?

DIal-up will get you a different IP Address every time you connect to your ISP; and depending upon the phone number used to connect each time - it might be "calling" different "main frame" offices around the state each time. 15 years ago a person could "look up" exchange prefixes to learn exactly where each dial-up phone was located by community name and maybe even the address of the "frame room" building. But with "the new AT&T" swallowing up all the "baby Bells" that information was probably lost from consumer view as the individual "baby Bell" websites were merged with "the new AT&T" websites. And the issuance of a phone number these days isn't dependent

Broadband services usually "lease" (via DHCP) the IP Address for 3 days (72 hours), so it's yours for at least that long, and normally doesn't change. The "lease" gets updated each time you use the internet, extending the "lease" for the full 72 hours. If you would happen to go for 3 days without using the internet via that connection for 3 days or more, you may lose that particular IP Address and be assigned a different address automatically.

I'm on DSL. I don't want to disconnect or be anonymous. Would just like to be where I really am. I'll just forget it. Guess it's not that big a deal.

It should be important... I don't LIKE Richardson Texas and have never even been there.

amznrandy said

It appears that most sites get my location from Mozilla Firefox. It is constantly incorrect and moves around. Today it was someplace in Texas and I live in Ohio. This is a desktop computer and doesn't move. I have set it on several sites and I don't delete my cookies but somewhere along the line it gets changed. It appears it gets changed in my Mozilla Firefox. I know you go off the dsl location or something but it just doesn't work. Even when it gets me in Ohio it's constantly a different city. How can I get a permanent location in Mozilla Firefox or disable the location finder in Mozilla Firefox?

Ironically, I have a fixed IP address, that the IP finder link agrees is in south Florida, but I still come up Richardson Texas and it does not like to change. Sometimes have to restart FF. This is totally annoying when looking for local news. If I have to spend 20 minutes just to reset my location, what's the purpose?

the-edmeister said

You're not using a Proxy or a VPN, are you? If so, that's probably the cause. What doe this website say about your location? Bookmark it so you can use it to "check" after every change of locale. http://whatismyipaddress.com/ Who is shown as the ISP for each change? Your ISP may be issuing IP addresses from different locations that they own. Best to ask them why they are "moving you around" so much, if they are shown as the internet service provider for each IP Address youget assigned.

I'm using a fixed IP address, shown in Delray Beach, FL... What keeps putting me in Richardson Texas? Is this FF or Yahoo?

You can use websites like these to see how your location is reported via a reverse DNS look up of your IP:

• http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/network-location/
• http://whatismyipaddress.com/

I've done that, and it reports that I'm really in South Florida, not Texas.

Now what?

Did you delete all the cookies from websites that get your location wrong?

Clear the cache and remove cookies only from websites that cause problems.

"Clear the Cache":

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove Cookies" from sites causing problems:

• Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"

Allpa, you might as well give up. I've fought this for quite a while and tried everything people say and nothing will get Mozilla to show your true location. It's because whoever supplies your internet actually gets on the internet at different locations for whatever reason. People on here use lots of initials for things I don't know what they mean for sure. I've emptied stuff, turned stuff off, turned stuff on and generally I'm in a different city in Ohio every day. Occasionally I'm in Texas and rarely in some other state. To mess with people I search for the nearest pizza place and then click on all their ads. Somebody someplace is paying for ads that aren't doing any good. Makes me feel better.

If the above methods create an erroneous location, Firefox ought to allow me to enter my own! Why is this not an option???

Geolocater: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/geolocater/