IP location using ipinfo.io - php

Question

I need to get the state and country from the visitor IP. I will be using the country info to showcase custom made products. As for the state info it will not be used for the same purpose but only for record keeping to track the demand.
I have found on this site an instance of using the ipinfo.io API with this example code:
function ip_details($ip) {
$json = file_get_contents("http://ipinfo.io/{$ip}/json");
$details = json_decode($json);
return $details;
}
However, since I do not need the full details, I see that the site does allow to just grab single fields. So I am considering using these 2:
1) ipinfo.io/{ip}/region
2) ipinfo.io/{ip}/country
like so:
function ip_details($ip) {
$ip_state = file_get_contents("http://ipinfo.io/{$ip}/region");
$ip_country = file_get_contents("http://ipinfo.io/{$ip}/country");
return $ip_state . $ip_country;
}
OR would I be better off going with:
function ip_details($ip) {
$json = file_get_contents("http://ipinfo.io/{$ip}/geo");
$details = json_decode($json);
return $details;
}
The last one has the "/geo" in the url to slim down the selection from the first one with "/json". Currently I am leaning to the second option above by using 2 file_get_contents but wanted to know if it is slower than the last one having it in an array. Just want to minimize the load time. Or if any other method can be given it would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

In short, go for your second option, with a single request (file_get_contents makes a get request when parsed a url):
The result is a simple array, access the details you want via its key:
function ip_details($ip) {
$json = file_get_contents("http://ipinfo.io/{$ip}/geo");
$details = json_decode($json);
return $details;
}
$ipinfo = ip_details('86.178.xxx.xxx');
echo $ipinfo['country']; //GB
//etc
Regarding speed difference - 99% of the overhead is network latency, so making ONE request and parsing the details you need will be much faster than making 2 separate requests for individual details