How did a site tell where I live?

[Jon_King]

I wanted to post this a few days ago when I happened upon a site the stated:

"Glad to see you're from <this city's> region"

This was the first time at the site so no cookie info, I wish I had checked the code, but didn't.... How did they do that?

[lorax]

They may know your ISP's IP block or you may have entered info into your browser.

[GeorgeGG]

Look at your HOST_ADDRESS and see if it has any
letters that look like part of your city/state name.
Sometimes it might have an airport code in it.

.snfc21.pacbell.net San Francisco, California
.cg.shawcable.net Calgary, Alberta, Canada
denver1.level3.net Denver, Colorado

Airports
abe Allentown, Pennsylvania
bna Nashville, Tennessee

GeorgeGG

[onlineleben]

There are a few companies around that provide geo tracking services.
Tried geobutton myself before they switched to become a pay service.
You can use these services to offer region specific content or to just surprise your visitors (like in your case).

[Birdman]

I have webtrends stats on a site and it gives stats on countries, states, and cities that users came from. I can't answer the question "how", though.