VPN does not hide my location

[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

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Worked for a few days.
Now VPN is back to show my true location (set to the Americas or Europe) no difference.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @Guest last edited by

@esebm said in VPN does not hide my location:

Worked for a few days.
Now VPN is back to show my true location (set to the Americas or Europe) no difference.

If you try https://ipleak.net/ without your VPN enabled, you should get your own IP address. If you enable VPN and retry ipleak, do you get a different IP? If so, once again, something else is leaking the location information from your system. If not, then something is wrong with the VPN.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

When I turned my PC on this morning (VPN on) the ipleak site displayed my true location. Turned VPN off, still my true location, obviously.
However, when I turned VPN on again, ipleak showed my location in Europe. Apparently, VPN does not work automatically after boot-up but only when triggered OFF and ON again.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @Guest last edited by blackbird71

@esebm Once again, what matters in VPN usage terms is whether the VPN's IP address or your IP address appear when visiting a test site like https://ipleak.net/ , since the IP address is really all that a VPN necessarily masks. Whether any other things like OS geolocation (native or enabled in the browser) or stored browser cookies can be used by a site to infer one's location is unrelated to the VPN operation. In other words, it's a VPN issue only if using it is allowing your IP address to leak through... the other locator elements are unrelated to the VPN. Hence, this is why I keep asking which IP address (yours or the VPN's) is appearing in the ipleak tests, particularly when your location is not being fully masked.

If something besides the IP address is leaking your true (or nearby) location, it's not the VPN; and you then have to track down and kill it at the source, whether leakage by WebRTC or cookies or whatever else a website's Javascript might be able to snoop off your machine.

[bbildman]

bbildman last edited by bbildman

Although Opera has VPN (make sure you understand that it is in use for ONLY Opera browsing), my sure fire VPN solution is to have bought a VPN utility for my Windows 7 laptop, cost is minimal and blocks my IP address for ALL my programs that use the internet on my computer. I use Easy-Hide-IP VPN, costs me about $47 for 6 months.