Cloudflare Data Center not where I live

[hulka1337]

I live in an area which is significantly closer to London than to Manchester. However, when visiting 1.1.1.1/help , it tells me that I am connected to Manchester (MAN) instead of London (LHR). I know this because my previous ISP (Sky) allowed me to connected to LHR automatically but after switching to a new provider (Vodafone) it is now defaulted to MAN.

Is this caused by my ISP’s data center location? After searching my IP location on some top google result websites, it showed that the location is actually closer to Manchester than London?

[sdayman]

That sure points to ISP routing choices.

Peering - Why don't I reach the closest datacenter to me?

Why don’t I reach the closest datacenter to me? Cloudflare is an anycast network, so where you are routed is determined by peering with ISPs. The shortest path geographically isn’t always possible due to peering agreements. If you request a site hosted on Cloudflare from home: The domain resolves to a Cloudflare IP Your browser sends an HTTP request to that IP Your ISP’s routers consult their routing table and route the packets upstream to their transit provider ( COSTS MONEY ) The packets …

[cs-cf]

ISP egress points on their networks are fun. I’m usually routed to Denver on mobile vs. Dallas or Houston with my normal land based ISP. My Satellite ISP usually drops me in Atlanta or some other ‘interesting’ egress location.