Why does geolocation for IP address vary so much?

[sweetcow]

I'm trying to geolocate an IP address: 75.83.156.16.
But when I enter it into various engines online, they yield a number of different results.

http://www.ipligence.com/geolocation

yields Palmdale, CA

http://www.ip2location.com/demo.aspx

yields Buena Park, CA

http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?GetLocation

just gives me the LA area

I know all these are in the same general area, but why would they not return the exact same results? Are there a bunch of contradicting databases out there?

Some also give me Herndon, VA, which is the location of the ISP -- I guess the ones that do this are just less sophisticated than the others or something?

 

[burtsbees]

They probably NAT to several servers.

/

tim@tim-laptop ~ $ sudo apt-get install windows
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package windows...Thank Goodness!