Why does my VPN locate me 2500 miles from my actual area, which doesn't help in locating services?.?

Haukum:
But the VPN on my mobile device from the same source, Norton, approximates my location and says the isp is hidden.

I imagine your mobile device knows your location by cellphone masts.  Your cellphone needs to contact nearest cellphone masts in order to reach the network, and once it's done the operator knows where your phone is located.  The antenna masts the phone is connected to and the signal strength allow for triangulation of your position to the street/block level in cities.  Your provider always knows to which cellphone tower your phone is connected. This gives a rough estimate of your location since the provider knows where its own towers are located.  With multiple towers and simple triangulation the estimate can be further improved. 

VPN changes the IP address that the network “sees” associated with your traffic. It becomes the IP address of the gateway that the VPN tunnel exits from. Only the VPN gateway knows your real IP address.  IP addresses don’t generally show a physical location. The country will normally be correct, sometimes the city but that’s about all you can expect. 

VPN on mobile will have the same uses as VPN on home computer....hiding your IP, allowing you to hide things like your original country, provider, etc.  VPN changes your apparent location by sending your traffic through a server in another location. 

It really does not matter whether you are connected to Wi-Fi or established a mobile (cellular) data connection – a VPN will work where the internet is accessible. A VPN on mobile data will encrypt and secure a connection so that your cellular internet traffic is protected from being sniffed by the mobile network provider or third parties.  (credit: google) 

The VPN encrypts your data that you are sending and receiving. It also can disguise your IP address. If you are using your ISP's DNS servers then your ISP will have a history of the websites you visit. The VPN will not help you there. You must use public DNS to keep your ISP in the dark. If you are logged into your Google account they can track your history and the VPN will not help there either. VPN is useful on public Wi-Fi to encrypt your data and shield it from prying eyes on the same network. VPN is also useful to bypass regional and country restrictions to certain websites. Using the VPN on a home secure network has very little value. 

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