You are correct. There are a few websites you can use to see what various providers have your geo-ip result as. This is one I use and a few of them are very wrong:
I work for IPinfo and let me go off on a tangent here. We use our own infrastructure system to probe IP addresses and determine geolocation. This system is based on technology similar to GPS satellites (ping and check RTT from multiple servers).
Other providers mostly rely on WHOIS data and other public databases. These sources are not very accurate and often contain stale data because the IP range geolocation reporting mechanism for ISPs is mainly voluntary.
Sometimes, even though an IP address is pingable and we have evidence of the round trip time, the majority of providers will indicate one location while we indicate another. So, who is correct in this situation? Is it the majority or us?
If someone needs to verify the location of an IP, I usually recommend visiting that site first. If there are any discrepancies, I recommend pinging the IP address and checking the WHOIS records.
I work for an IP geolocation company and precision isn't the main goal of IP geolocation. Accuracy is the main goal. IP geolocation needs to be precise enough on a city or zip code level at best. If precision is the goal, IP geolocation is not a drop-in replacement for GPS geolocation.
Right? I used to use t-mobile home internet and sometimes I'd be geolocated to Detroit or Baltimore or Wichita etc etc. It was wild haha caused problems at times too because retail sites thought I was in a different place entirely.