What Is An IP Address?

An Internet Protocol (IP) address is the unique identifying number assigned to every device connected to the internet. An IP address definition is a numeric label assigned to devices that use the internet to communicate. Computers that communicate over the internet or via local networks share information to a specific location using IP addresses.

Types Of IP Address

IP addresses have two distinct versions or standards. The Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address is the older of the two, which has space for up to 4 billion IP addresses and is assigned to all computers. The more recent Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) has space for trillions of IP addresses, which accounts for the new breed of devices in addition to computers. There are also several types of IP addresses, including public, private, static, and dynamic IP addresses.

Every device with an internet connection has an IP address, whether it's a computer, laptop, IoT device, or even toys. The IP addresses allow for the efficient transfer of data between two connected devices, allowing machines on different networks to talk to each other.

Public IP address

A public IP address, or external-facing IP address, applies to the main device people use to connect their business or home internet network to their internet service provider (ISP). In most cases, this will be the router. All devices that connect to a router communicate with other IP addresses using the router’s IP address.

Your Device Information

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Main Components of the INTERNET

The internet is comprised of hardware, software and various protocols.

What Is Ping?

Ping is a network utility tool used to test the connectivity and response time between a host and a destination IP address or hostname.

What is HTTP?

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the foundation of data communication on the web, enabling the transfer of hypertext documents.

What is Router?

A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks.

What is DNS?

DNS (Domain Name System) translates human-readable domain names (like www.mypublicipaddress.com) into IP addresses (like 192.0.2.1).

What is VPN?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts your internet connection, creating a secure tunnel between your device and the internet.

What is Web Browsers?

Web browsers are software applications used to access, retrieve, and view information on the World Wide Web. Eg. Chrome, Firefox, Safari..

Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of popular question people generally ask about IP addresses.

What is the use of an IP address?

An IP address identifies every device connected to the internet. This enables computers and other internet-connected devices, such as mobile phones and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, to communicate over the internet and on local-area networks (LANs).

What happens if someone has your IP address?

The chances of being hacked through someone having your IP address is quite low. With an IP address, a users location can be narrowed down to a specific area. A skilled cyber criminal could potentially work out who their ISP is and then use phishing attacks to find their personal details. A bigger concern might be IP addresses being sold on the dark web alongside other personal information.
An IP address is more likely to be used by content providers to target the user with content restrictions based on their geographical region. For example, services like Hulu and Netflix read IP addresses to prevent their U.S. content from being accessed by people outside the country.

What are the two types of IP addresses?

The two types of IP addresses are public IP addresses and private IP addresses. A public IP address is the main device people use to connect to the internet, which is typically their router. Private IP addresses are assigned to the devices that connect to the public IP address, such as desktop computers, mobile devices, laptops, printers, smart TVs, and tablets.

What is the 192.168 IP address?

The 192.168 IP address is where the private IP address range begins. This goes all the way through to 192.168.255.255. This IP address is not usually used on a network, and devices like computers and mobile phones will not be assigned it.

What is a loopback IP address?

The loopback IP address is 127.0.0.1. The loopback IP address is used by a computer to identify itself, regardless of whether or not it has been assigned an IP address.