Hey all!
So I'm in Kansas, and my ISP is a local one called "Pixius". I decided to run a tracert to google, bing, and a game I play (APB: Reloaded), and every time I do, I've found that my internet is being routed like this:
First ping: Kansas
Second ping: Nebraska
Thrid ping: Georgia
Fourth and after: Seems normal, it changes depending on where I ping.
So, unless I'm an idiot or doing something wrong, my internet is going from KS, which is where I live, to Nebraska, to Georgia!? Then it'll go to wherever it actually needs to go.
I called my ISP about this a long time ago, and they said it wasn't in their control. So, in a desperate attempt, I'm asking here. Is there anything I can do to stop my internet from going to Georgia? This is just extra latency in my eyes.
Thanks in advance for any replies!
Thanks for the information zanginator and xipher. (Edit to avoid bump.)
It depends on where the exit point from your ISPs network is.
For instance their primary exit point to a higher tier ISP maybe in Georgia.
There isn't anything you can do if this is the case as that is setup in your ISP's routing.
Based on what I can find on the Hurricane Electric BGP toolkit site they get all their transit from Cox Communications.
http://bgp.he.net/AS14878
It could be they hand it off to Cox in Kansas or Nebraska, and from there Cox carries it over to Georgia. Since they don't appear to be running much more than the last mile access network and passing the rest off to Cox I don't think they are lying to you about it being out of there control. As for avoiding it, not without changing providers. If their routing sends traffic that way, you have no control over that.
All that said, take location information in reverse DNS (what you're seeing in the traceroute) with a grain of salt. It can be stale inaccurate information.