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Odd request: German DC which geo-locates to UK
I realize this is unlikely to yield any results, but I figured it couldn't hurt asking: does anyone have a VPS (~1G, 1CPU, nothing too beefy, just for VPN hopping) that is physically in Germany but appears to be geo-located in the UK? I realize this is unlikely, and even more unlikely to remain post-reboot, but I'm looking to exit from Germany but look like I'm in the UK and I know I've had issues the opposite way with Ionos (in the UK but geo-locating in DE).
Comments
It's a bit more complex than you think and has nothing to do with a simple server reboot. It all depends on which geoip database does the target service rely to geolocate its users.
RFC 8805 defines how providers may publish special geofeed file, effectively declaring where servers within certain subnets are physically located. You can see an example of such file here.
Most GeoIP providers regularly update and parse those geofeed entries and include them in their database. In such case, ASN owner/hosting provider has full control over how 3rd party databases locate their ranges.
Going into more complex territory, @Operable4829 / IPinfo has probenet - effectively a large network of probes measuring latency to each publicly accessible IPv4 address. Nowadays, a lot of services use ipinfo for geolocation purposes due to its accuracy, probably the most major one being Cloudflare. With this, the earlier approach may not be entirely possible given ipinfo does not fully trust the geofeed from provider.
Google also has its own system similar to the ipinfo's one [source1, source2]. It's being used for YouTube, Google Ads, Search and other services. While Google trusts the provider's published geofeed to a certain degree, if too many users are on the same subnet coming from a specific geolocation (different from one in geofeed), it may choose to update the subnet's geolocation in its own GeoIP DB. Google of course has more leverage because Google Services are running on millions of devices worldwide. It can accurately determine the location of the user based on GPS signals, known Wi-Fi networks or cell towers nearby.
So while it could be possible to find a provider incorrectly geolocated in the UK, but servers being in Germany, this would just be a mistake of specific GeoIP database. This mistake could be corrected at any time and it's not guaranteed to work in a long term and on every service.
Aside, Germany and UK are some of the most interconnected countries in Europe, hosting major internet exchanges. Germany<->UK should be around 15-20ms apart.
Maybe it could be worth looking for a server in the UK instead.
Thanks for the detailed response. Follow-up request, then: looking for a server in the UK with the lowest possible latency to Munich (unfortunately not Frankfurt).
You can do that with OVH. Buy an additional IP and choose UK IP to add to your OVH Germany vps.
@speedypage is lowest ping to Munich using Exoscale Munich IP. It averages around 20ms for other providers.
Hey @citadella,
Less unlikely than you'd think, we set the GeoIP per individual IP on request.
One honest correction to your premise though: we're in Eygelshoven, NL rather than physically in Germany. It's right on the border near Aachen, so latency into Germany is single digit milliseconds, but if the exit genuinely has to be inside German borders we're not it.
If what actually matters is that the IP presents as UK, that part we can do. You tell us the country you want after ordering and we set it, and it stays set..
For the specs you described our XEON 1G is 1.49€/mo with 1 core, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB NVMe in RAID 1, 1 IPv4 plus an IPv6 /64, TUN/TAP enabled.
Order: skri.me/xeon
Looking Glass: skrime.eu/network / AS215365
I think it depends on the network in Munich. Testing to some random Deutsche Telekom IP, speedypage isn't the fastest at 21ms. However, the difference is kinda small so @speedypage would likely be a good choice anyways.
https://globalping.io/?measurement=28A8L3Pykz9qmMBqn00120sNu&display=table&by=avg
Best if @citadella did a globalping test against an IP from their network and look if the networks with top lowest latency belong to any recognizable cloud provider.
Curious how that'd work.
And also curious about this, like they let you purchase an IP from range that's normally used in another OVH location?
I think that'd be perfect for @citadella .
Yes you can choose from a lot of different EU countries.
Do you have any examples of servers with one of your IPs but with a UK geo-location? I'm coming from central europe, needing to connect to Germany but need to look like I'm coming from the UK. And I'm just looking for Wireguard connectivity-normally I set that up myself but I see you have Wireguard app options, what does that mean?
Do you know which geoIP tracker you need to appear as UK on? As @oloke said providers use different ones and they often differ in geolocation for the same IP
I do not. Unless you know which one MS365 uses for geolocation...