Geographic Location from Starlink IP Addresses

[butsonc]

I've been using Starlink for about a month, and I think my experience has been similar to others and to what I was expecting in terms of speed and up time.One curious problem: we use some services like Hulu that require knowledge of our geographic location. I think this is based on looking up the IP address using something like

https://www.iplocation.net/

. For Starlink, or for that matter any satellite based ISP, this is meaningless because the IP address and geographic location are uncoupled (for now I will avoid discussing how ridiculous it is that streaming companies are trying to determine location this way).Hulu only allows customers to change locations 4 times a year, and we are now getting messages that we have used up all of our location changes this year. A quick look at

https://www.iplocation.net/

indicates that based on our IP address we are in a city 500 miles away in a different state. I haven't systematically checked this, but it's easy to imagine that this IP location could change if the satellite downlink moves to a different base station. To test whether this was actually the problem I temporarily switch to another internet connection method and Hulu immediately worked fine.I'm curious if others have experienced this problem or found solutions, short of getting streaming companies to change their outdated practices.

 

[StarlinkLeader]

I'd contact Hulu and explain that exactly - You're on starlink and your IP changes and your IP is not relevant to your location. They can disable it on their end if you can provide justification.

 

[butsonc]

 

I'd contact Hulu and explain that exactly - You're on starlink and your IP changes and your IP is not relevant to your location.

They can disable it on their end if you can provide justification.

Just for fun I tried calling Hulu support, and it was a somewhat predictable waste of time. Hulu said I should call them every time our IP address changes to update it on their end. I haven't systematically tracked this but it has changed every time I have checked it, at least weekly and maybe more frequently. Maybe I will Twitter DM the Hulu executive team every time it changes

?I pointed out to them how outdated the concept is of determining geographic location from IP address, but they seem undeterred.

 

[StarlinkLeader]

Yeah, i'd tag in the Hulu executive/CEO everytime it occurs... They will have to stop doing IP lookups for geo location on starlink IP's eventually.

 

[StarlinkLeader]

Just a follow up on this - Some providers are now being a bit more proactive in regards to Starlink IP ranges.

If you're having issues with a particular platform feel free to post in our Starlink Trouble shooting and questions area -

https://starlinkforum.net/forum/8-starlink-troubleshooting-questions/

[Tim]

Are they using ZIP codes.   YouTube TV requires a ZIP code.

[Ksarah]

Same issue here with Hulu and the Samsung Plus apps. Any livestream for us is set in LA.
So Samsung+ & Hulu play us 3 hours ahead and all LA stations.
I spent a few hours on calls to Hulu & Samsung & emails with Starlink. Come to find out that it is Starlink that would need to help.
They replied that it isn't set up yet for us & to wait until they implement local Hawaii network traffic routing, whenever that is.