VPN does not hide my location

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

OK,
I did try all 3 links that you guys provided, locations set to Americas:
https://whatismyipaddress.com shows my location in Venezuela, ads in the cyrillic language.
https://whoer.net shows my location somewhere in Europe
https://ipleak.net also shows Europe (Vaduz)
At least none of the above does show my true location.
Go figure!
Ed

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @Guest last edited by

@esebm Part of the problem lies in the IP lookup-lists being used by sites, including the IP leakage test sites. As you may have seen at the ipleak site for all those DNS servers, there may be different locations listed in various places for a particular IP, including that of a VPN. These reverse IP look-ups are notorious for missing the mark. With my non-VPN IP (part of an IP block used for services by my ISP), the DNS servers have my location shown as everywhere from Minnesota to Kentucky, though I'm actually in Indiana.

I'm not sure what you mean for the whatismyipaddress site regarding ads in cyrillic, unless you're referring to the ads on that site itself. If so, they may be simply assuming you're using a VPN from Eastern Europe based on a misinterpretation of who-is information... I've seen a couple of posts in these forums indicating similar cyrillic-language behavior for users in different places of the world when visiting any number of websites, never with a clear explanation of why cyrillic pops up. I've tended to assume it has something to do with (mis?)interpretation about the who-is physical location or registration information published for the VPN's server and IP.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

blackbird, thanks for the detailed explanation, I really appreciate the input from all you guys.
What I still don't understand is why my home town popped up yesterday and what I can do to prevent any kind of leakage.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @Guest last edited by

@esebm said in VPN does not hide my location:

....
What I still don't understand is why my home town popped up yesterday and what I can do to prevent any kind of leakage.

If you've changed nothing at your end, it's possible that something temporarily malfunctioned in either your Opera installation or Opera's VPN server which caused the traffic to not route properly thru the VPN. If you were in a censored country, it might also be possible that there was some man-in-the-middle interception going on by the ISP or national firewall, but that certainly isn't likely to be the case at a location in the Lone Star State.

Just to be on the safe side, I'd bookmark one or several of the leakage-test sites and retest with the VPN from time to time to see if the problem recurs (and if so, with what periodicity).

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Just checked the leakage test sites and all 3 of them show my hometown and my real IP address. VPN is on, set to Europe.
Changed the setting to the Americas, same thing.

[andrew84]

andrew84 last edited by andrew84

I tried site https://whatismyipaddress.com. It doesn't show my real location(Eastern Europe) with VPN on but shows incorrect regions which were selected in VPN settings.

1. I select 'Optimal location' ->hit refresh-> it shows me Country Iran
2. I select 'Europe' -> hit refresh-> it shows me Country Iran again
3. I select 'Americas' ->hit refresh-> it doesn't text any info(I see only ISP Opera Software AS and Services Network Sharing Device). But on the graphical map red dot is on the Switzerland.
4. I select 'Asia' ->hit refresh-> it shows me Country France.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Tried the same site and it shows my real location and my real IP address.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

The result is the same in a private window?

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I tried a private window, VPN set to the Americas, all 3 test sites show a European location.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

This is kinda expected and already discussed several times here.

So it doesn't show your real IP?

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

No, not my real IP and not my real location.
Can this private window thing be set as default?

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

I don't think so. But if it works in private window then some extension or setting is causing the problem in the normal window.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Is there any way to find out what would cause it?

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

Do you use any extension? If so, disable them all and then enable one by one until find the extension causing the problem.

Also try disabling Flash.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I have disabled my extensions (LastPass, Open in pdf reader, tabs to the front) and the leak test sites still show my real location/ip address.
Don't know how to disable flash.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

You can disable Flash in settings.

Did you already try with a clean profile!

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I think I'll leave things as they are right now and use private windows every now and then.
Thanks to all y'all for your input.
Ed

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I was trying to try one last thing, disable Flash.
I browsed through the settings half a dozen times, basic and advanced but couldn't find anything flash related.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @Guest last edited by

Here: opera://settings/content/flash

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

OK, found it, thanks!
Checked the 3 leak-test sites (VPN set to the Americas), all 3 placing me into Europe (Vaduz, Unknown location, Russia). Not ideal but, at least, not my home town in Texas. Guess, I have to live with that.
Thanks again for all the help.
Ed