My IP appears to be in a different location than contracted. Why?

My IP appears to be in a different location than contracted. Was my service delivered incorrectly?

Some “GeoIP” tools may show a country or city different from the contracted one. This does not mean the server is in the wrong place. GeoIP relies on commercial databases that take time to update (sometimes they never update) and may contain errors. In the case of BH Servers, since locations are isolated by different plans, it is highly unlikely there was any mistake, and the service is indeed in the contracted region.

Why can the IP show a different location?

1. Outdated databases
   Services like MaxMind and IP2Location use records that are updated with delay. An IP block previously located in another country may have been reassigned recently.
2. IPv4 exhaustion
   IPv4 is scarce. Companies buy or rent blocks that were used in other regions, so geolocation may still point to the “old country” until the databases are updated.
3. GeoIP does not measure physical location
   GeoIP queries a registry, it does not test where the machine is physically located. A good example is that many websites no longer rely only on IP to detect the visitor’s region. IP can be misleading. Modern platforms now use more reliable signals, such as browser language, timezone, or even GPS location (when the user authorizes).

How to confirm the real location of the server?

Use practical network tests, which show the actual path and round-trip time of packets.

• Ping
  Low latency to targets in the same region is a strong indication the server is physically there. Typical values: within the same city or metro area, 1–10 ms; within the same country (depending on size and routing quality), usually < 10–80 ms; between continents, generally over 110 ms.
• Traceroute / Tracert / MTR
  The connection path should cross carriers and exchange points typical of the contracted region. You can compare with reference destinations in that region, such as well-known data centers, local CDNs, cloud providers, or regional IXes. This is the most reliable test since it shows the physical route taken by packets. A good analogy is a car trip: to go from city A to city B, you must use specific roads. The network works the same way — within a country or region, packets usually follow local routes; between continents, they almost always cross submarine cables, which is visible in traceroute as a latency jump, followed by higher values consistent with international routes.
• Reverse DNS and IP block WHOIS
  Reverse DNS may sometimes indicate the region or ASN. The IP block WHOIS in the RIR (ARIN, RIPE, LACNIC, APNIC, AFRINIC) shows the current organization, but can also be outdated. Use it as supporting evidence only, as the strongest proof is the physical location itself.

Useful commands

Windows

ping <your-IP-or-host>
tracert <your-IP-or-host>

Linux/macOS

ping -c 5 <your-IP-or-host>
traceroute <your-IP-or-host>   # On macOS may require: brew install traceroute
mtr -rw <your-IP-or-host>       # if available

Reliable validation example

• From your VPS, choose a reference destination in the contracted region, such as a large data center, a local CDN POP, or a regional Internet exchange point.
• Measure latency with ping. If values match local/regional distances, it confirms the contracted location.
• Run a traceroute. Check if ASNs, intermediate hops, and domains indicate transit through carriers and infrastructure of the expected region.

Important

• GeoIP may show another country even if the server is physically in the correct region.
• Ping and traceroute are much more reliable technical evidence than a simple geolocation lookup.

Need help?

If you’d like, submit in a ticket the output of ping and traceroute to a reference destination in the contracted region. Our team will validate and provide you with a technical analysis.