topic Re: UK IP Address While Roaming in Mobile Services

UK IP Address While Roaming

JosephDuffy — Thu, 12 May 2022 19:40:05 GMT

I'm current roaming but my IP address shows as a UK IP address owned by EE when I check it on various IP-checking websites.

This is a bit of a pain when accessing local websites that assume location by IP address, but it also seems to be causing the data to be very slow. Even on 4g I top out around 4mbps and have pings of 200ms+ to the UK and 300ms+ to a server that is only a few miles away.

All of this makes me think that my mobile data traffic is being proxied through an EE server in the UK, leading to a degraded service. Is this the case? If so, can I opt of this?

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

Chris_B — Thu, 12 May 2022 19:58:37 GMT

@JosephDuffy Your using a roaming network and the speed you are getting will depend on what agreement EE and that roaming network have with each other. Have you just tried restarting the device?

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

JosephDuffy — Thu, 12 May 2022 20:18:47 GMT

I've restarted the device, tried manually selecting networks to test different carriers, and tried using automatic.

I can understand having a slower speed due to agreements with the local carriers (plus no 5g, general variability meaning I just got unlucky, etc.). Perhaps the same could explain the higher than expected pings too.

Even allowing for variance getting a better ping to UK servers compared to ones less than 10 miles away and always getting a UK EE IP address points to the traffic being routed through the UK?

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

Chris_B — Thu, 12 May 2022 20:24:09 GMT

@JosephDuffy Your phone will always been connected through to EE as EE is uk based. Even if you call a local number it’ll get routed through EE before going through, Your usage have to be registered against your account.

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

bristolian — Thu, 12 May 2022 21:51:58 GMT

Hi @JosephDuffy

Call & data routing whilst roaming can be complex, in-country voice calls can be routed locally but mobile data will use EE's core network.

This is not something user-selectable.

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

XRaySpeX — Thu, 12 May 2022 22:10:36 GMT

It makes sense too for when you are trying to reach country-restricted content from a UK phone wherever it may be located.

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

JosephDuffy — Thu, 12 May 2022 22:15:44 GMT

Thank you for confirming. I wish it were possible to opt out of this so I don't have a 300ms latency on every request, but I understand the reasoning.

Re: UK IP Address While Roaming

JosephDuffy — Thu, 12 May 2022 22:18:24 GMT

This is a tradeoff that for me falls on the side being less useful. Lots of home routers support being a VPN server so it's easy (and free) to have access to a secure UK VPN, but accessing an IP in the country you're roaming in requires access to a local internet connection or a 3rd party VPN.