Wi-Fi & connectivity

[twilight811]

My TCL Roku TV is using the IP address of my ISP which is located in a city approximately 100 miles from me. This means any commercials or other information is displaying as "local" but for that city. Even though I set up my ZIP Code in the account, how do I force Roku to use my home IP address so all channels are "seeing" my actual, physical location as local, and not of that distant city? I know the Local Now app, as well as Paramount + have an icon to change locations to the subscriber's local area, why not Roku?

[renojim]

Your IP address is given to you by your ISP, so your Roku isn't using the "wrong" IP address.  Why there isn't an option to manually set your location I couldn't say.  Perhaps you can ask your ISP if they can give you a different IP address that's closer to your true location, but ascertaining one's location strictly by using an IP address is hardly an exact science anyway.

[twilight811]

Thanks for responding. I have already contacted my ISP regarding this issue. They weren't much help. Here's hoping Roku soon develops the technology to manually reset a subscriber's actual location as other apps/channels do. I know I'm not the only one with this frustrating issue.

[Pd562]

Yes, it would help a lot if we could set our location! I just changed ISPs, and now my Roku thinks I'm in Boston... I am in Virginia [sigh]. So now I can't livestream my local PBS channel.

[atc98092]

You really need the channel developers to provide the ability to enter your location. They all use IP addresses because it's cheap and doesn't require any significant coding on their part. But then you have issues like this, where your ISP has their Internet Point of Presence located far away from you. I notice it with my work computer, because every FAA computer that hits the network goes out through a PoP in Oklahoma City. I see all kind of web ads for OKC businesses. 

Even if Roku provided a place for you to enter your home zip code, or some other method of identifying your location, the channel developers would need to change their channel to use that info. 

However, there's one big reason that will probably never happen. Many online providers are only legally permitted to stream their content within certain geographic areas. One way the enforce this restriction is by identifying your location by IP address, because a user might enter a location other than where they are actually located. There has to be a way to determine your location without any action on the user's part. Again, this is because of legal restrictions. 

[Pd562]

Ah. That explains why my laptop randomly was showing Boston's weather, and I saw an ad for Haystack on my Roku with "local news"... from Boston.

Here is a reply I received from PBS. I tried their suggestion, and now I can watch PBS live on my Roku (as long as I pretend to be a Bostonian.) Maybe it would help someone else:

Some devices are experiencing an issue with their location software in regards to our app. While we work with these device developers to address this issue you should still be able to view a live stream, just not the one in your current area. Please open the PBS app and navigate to Settings>Change Station. You should see a list of stations that your device believes you are near. Select one of these to view their live stream.

[atc98092]

Yep, I'm near Seattle. And ads for OKC establishments don't provide me much. I haven't attended a class at the academy in OKC for close to ten years, and don't have much other need for visiting there. 😛