Wrong timezone automatically selected during installation

[Aaron Rainbolt]

This bug is the fault of either all of GNU/Linux (unlikely), or it's my ISP's fault (way more likely).

Original report:

Note: This bug might be the fault of my ISP - I'm using Verizon's Premium Mobile Hotspot plan as my home internet, and I've noticed a similar problem in Lubuntu Jammy. Seems like this bug probably would have been caught back then, so I'm pretty sure this isn't Ubuntu's fault, but just in case, I'm posting it. I'm about to have a different ISP most likely tomorrow, so I'll be able to test again then.

Testing Ubuntu Kinetic in a VM, doing the "Install (entire disk with lvm and encryption)" test. Same host hardware and software as present in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/plymouth/+bug/1973150

In step 18 of the test, the timezone automatically detected is New York. I'm in the Chicago timezone, and had to manually select it. This contradicts the testcase, which states that the timezone and city displayed should match my timezone and the main city from my area.

Steps to reproduce the bug:

1: Download the Ubuntu Kinetic daily ISO from 2022-05-11. Here's the link: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/20220511.1/kinetic-desktop-amd64.iso
2: Open virt-manager, and ensure that you have a connection to "QEMU/KVM User session". (If you don't, you can create this connection in virt-manager by clicking "File", "Add Connection", selecting "QEMU/KVM user session" in the "Hypervisor" drop down, then clicking "Connect".
3: Create a new VM under QEMU/KVM user session. Select the Kinetic ISO downloaded above, set the OS to "Ubuntu 21.04" (that's the newest version my virt-manager recognizes), and give it 4 GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 20 GB of disk space.
4: Follow the steps in this test procedure: http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/433/builds/247872/testcases/1451/results

Expected result: In step 18 of the test, the timezone automatically detected should match the timezone the user is in.

Actual result: The timezone automatically detected is somewhere not even close to where the user is.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.10
Package: ubiquity (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-27.28-generic 5.15.30
Uname: Linux 5.15.0-27-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu May 12 03:52:47 2022
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed maybe-ubiquity quiet splash ---
InstallationDate: Installed on 2022-05-12 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 22.10 "Kinetic Kudu" - Alpha amd64 (20220511.1)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no username)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Leó Kolbeinsson (leok)]

Tested daily Ubuntu Kinetic ISO dated 12-05-2022
and unable to reproduce error. My timezone was correctly identified.
Test result here :
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/433/builds/247906/testcases/1451/results/

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1973152

[Dan Bungert (dbungert)]

Would you please navigate to https://geoip.ubuntu.com/lookup in a browser while using the same network you used during the install? Is the location listed in the XML result what you would expect?

[Aaron Rainbolt (arraybolt3)]

Well, this isn't the same system that I used during the install, but it is the same network... and it thinks I'm smack in the middle of the Cheney Reservoir, Kansas. Like, not in the general area, but it literally thinks I'm living **in the middle of the water (?!)**. I'm getting this from the latitude and longitude coordinates (I plugged them into Google Maps). The rest of the XML seemed... well, here, let me show you:

<Response>
    <Ip>174.210.2.185</Ip>
    <Status>OK</Status>
    <CountryCode>US</CountryCode>
    <CountryCode3>USA</CountryCode3>
    <CountryName>United States</CountryName>
    <RegionCode>None</RegionCode>
    <RegionName>None</RegionName>
    <City>None</City>
    <ZipPostalCode/>
    <Latitude>37.7510</Latitude>
    <Longitude>-97.8220</Longitude>
    <AreaCode>0</AreaCode>
    <TimeZone>None</TimeZone>
</Response>

I did this from an HP Chromebook x2 11 with Chrome OS.

My host testing system (the HP Z220 SFF Workstation) gives me different but also odd results. Same network, same IP, totally different data (annotated by me):

<Response>
    <Ip>174.210.2.185</Ip>
    <Status>OK</Status>
    <CountryCode>US</CountryCode>
    <CountryCode3>USA</CountryCode3>
    <CountryName>United States</CountryName>
    <RegionCode>CA</RegionCode> (Wrong)
    <RegionName>California</RegionName> (Wrong)
    <City>North Hills</City> (Nope)
    <ZipPostalCode>91343</ZipPostalCode> (Wrong ZIP Code)
    <Latitude>34.2363</Latitude>
    <Longitude>-118.4798</Longitude>
    <AreaCode>818</AreaCode> (Wrongo)
    <TimeZone>America/Los_Angeles</TimeZone> (Totally off)
</Response>

The Kinetic VM seems to have an identical response, as does a modded Acer Chromebook C720 that's running Lubuntu 21.10.

I think this has gotta be my weird Internet. The timezone detection used to work perfectly well when I was on a cellular hotspot provided by a mobile phone, and this stuff is working for other people. I could try doing an install of Focal and see if the timezone detection works there, since it appears possible that the GeoIP URL treats different operating systems differently.

This is all on the same network that I initially did the installs on (and during the installations, I was connected to the network every time). My new Internet gear is supposed to arrive today, sometime before 7:00 PM, so I'll be able to see what happens on a different network in the hopefully near future.

[Aaron Rainbolt (arraybolt3)]

New ISP, now my systems keep thinking I'm in Denver (even my Chromebook!). Closing this as invalid, since even Chrome OS is affected. This is my Internet's fault, not Ubuntu's (unless there's something wrong with GNU/Linux so deep that it affects Ubuntu and Chrome OS, which I seriously doubt).