I don’t understand the IP location criticism at all. At least for my experience across Europe all locations that are being reported by the common databases are within 250km of the actual customer.
IP locations work great for probably a reasonably large chunk of services.
But it's the edges that get you.
I moved home a few years back, connected a new service with the same ISP.
They have an IP pool that is labelled as for one state (Victoria, Australia) but is also used for their services in Tasmania.
So now I have to fight every major website (Google, Amazon, Maxmind, etc) that does GeoIP lookups that I'm not in Victoria, I'm 500-800KM away.
Google was very confused for about 12 months because when I moved I also brought my wifi gear and so it would give me a precise location of my old address because it used wifi geolocation.
Maybe this is very european of me but 250KM is outrageously far. Dublin to Belfast is like 130KM. If it says they're in Seville (in Spain) within <200KM they could also be in Portugal, Morocco, or Gibraltar. If it says you're in Brussels within <200KM you could also be in France, England, Germany, Netherlands, Lux. If you're in Vienna (Austria), you could also be in Germany, CZ, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia or Croatia. Maybe you're in Vilnius? You could also be in Latvia, Poland, Russia or Belarus.
It's short by Australian standards. I was born 1000km away. It's a 12 hour drive. I've done it numerous times. It was a regular thing when I was young.
Uni students have been know to drive for a drink at the pub at the next Uni north (at the time) over the weekend for a lark. That's 2000km, one way.
A serious undertaking by Australian standards is a drive to Perth. That's 5000km in a straight line, but of course you can't drive in a straight line to Perth.
I met a guy once who was the last leg of circumnavigating Australia on his push bike. It had taken him years, and it looked like it. I've never seen someone so wirey, so obviously fit. Yet he rode at a slow measured pace. That was no doubt a habit forced by the trailer his bike towed. I guess the trip was around 15,000km.
But it's the edges that get you.
I moved home a few years back, connected a new service with the same ISP.
They have an IP pool that is labelled as for one state (Victoria, Australia) but is also used for their services in Tasmania.
So now I have to fight every major website (Google, Amazon, Maxmind, etc) that does GeoIP lookups that I'm not in Victoria, I'm 500-800KM away.
Google was very confused for about 12 months because when I moved I also brought my wifi gear and so it would give me a precise location of my old address because it used wifi geolocation.