What is My IP Address

IP means Internet Protocol and address means a specified destination you want to access. An IP address is an address then lets you access the required page. It is just like the home address or any specific location address like you note down the address and reach that required destination.

What is an IP Address?

All the individual systems are named with a specific unique id that is only addressed to that IP address only. Computers require IP addresses to send data networks over the network. These days TCP/IP network protocol is used as the standard way of communicating on the network. In the TCP/IP protocol, the IP address is called the unique identifier address.

TCP/IP can be a breakdown as –

TCP – Transmission of packets to its destined destination over the internet is done by TCP. When it reaches the destination all the packers have resembled.

IP – All the IP addresses of the data packets are handled by IP. It takes that the packets are reached to the proper destination.

Differences in IP Addresses

IP addresses can be divided into two parts that are IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. These two IP versions are used for identification and addressing of the location.

IPv4 is 32 bit and it is called Internet Protocol version 4. When any device accesses the internet it provides a 32 bit unique IP address like 196.243.122.3.

What is My IP Address

IPv6 consists of 128 bit IP addresses and it is called Internet Protocol version 6 or you can also call it the successor to IPv4. When any device accesses the internet it provides a 128 bit unique IP address like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334.

It can support and create 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431, 768,211,456 these many IP addresses. It works similarly to IPv4 except there is a difference in bits.

Read Also:

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  3. What Is a LAN

What is my IP address?

If you are unaware of your IP address then don’t worry we will provide you how to find your IP address no matter what operating system (OS) you are using.

For Windows user 

Step 1 – Go to your Start Button, and click on the command prompt.

Step 2 – Once Command Prompt is opened, type ipconfig in it and hit enter. From the given list IPv4 will be available, that is the IP address you were looking for!

For macOS users 

Step 1 – Go to the System Preferences.

Step 2 – Select the Network Panel

Step 3 – Whatever your internet connection, choose it, and then hit the advanced button.

Step 4 – There will be a TCP/IP tab click on it to know your IP address. Yay now you know what your IP address is!

For iOS users 

Step 1 – Go and click on Settings

Step 2 – click on Wifi network

Step 3 – choose you’re currently using Wifi network

Step 4 – Now you are with your IP address displayed over there.

For Android users

Step 1 – Choose the apps

Step 2 – Go to the settings then

Step 3 – select Wireless & networks

Step 4 – choose your network.

Step 5 – your IP address will be available over there now with other details.

How Does a Device Obtain an IP Address?

As you all know by now that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides you an IP address to your router. And you also know that these IP addresses can be changed as they are dynamic IP addresses. All the devices like computers, tv and other network devices in your home are directly in contact with your router.

Then the router shares its public IP address to its connected devices. The basic chronology is Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns an IP address to your router and that IP address is assigned to all the other connected devices through the router.

Because a local address is assigned between the devices so the communication is possible. But you cannot use these local IP addresses while using the internet. All the devices that are connected to your router will have a public IP address through which they can access the internet.

So due to this the traffic which comes first it is encountered by your router then to all the other devices with the same network.

What You Need to Know About Your IP Address

Knowing your IP address is very important. But have you wondered how it can be important to others to stalk your IP address? Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can watch all the activities you do online, all the websites you visit, it can also keep a track of how much time you spend on that specific website.

It can also track what all you do on any website. You might think what is such a big deal in it? But there is actually a big deal in it! It will track your activities and produce your targeted advertisement according to that. It will bombard you with many advertisements which you do not wish for!

Tracking your activity on the website also throttles your internet connection speed. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) might also block you from some of the sites like torrent or other sites. Tracking your IP address will also track your identity and your work on the internet.

Even if there is nothing to worry about but sharing your personal information might not be comfortable for you.

How Can I Change My IP Address?

Changing IP addresses should be your own choice and no one will question about it. There might be many reasons for changing your IP address like your IP address might get blocked by the website or your personal information on that IP address is leaked.

So you can easily change your IP address whenever you want without questions being asked. Hence, in order to change your IP address lets get down to that business. We are providing you 5 options to change your IP address. Follow them carefully without making any errors and finally your IP address is changed.

Option 1: Router Restart

This is the first option to change your IP address. Restarting your router is the easiest step to follow and your IP address is also changed within no time. All you need to do is simply restart your router. You must be wondering how can your IP address be changed when you restart your router, right?

Your IP address stored in the router is dynamic memory that is in the form of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Static memory is not assigned to your routers hence, you are able to change your IP address of the router by just restarting.

So using a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) while you are restarting your router, Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns a new IP address.

Make sure to disconnect your router and turn it off for about 5 minutes to get the appropriate results. If this doesn’t work then keep it turned off till 24 hours and you will have your new IP address.

Option 2: Change Your MAC Address

After restarting your router still your IP address is not changed? Then do not worry because here’s some trick to it. When you restart your router Internet Service Provider (ISP) using HDCP tends to assign a new IP address to your router while doing this your Internet Service Provider (ISP) also assigns the same IP address to your MAC address, that is different and only assigned to your router.

So when your router’s MAC address is changed by Internet Service Provider (ISP) then only you get a new IP address. To achieve this new IP address you need to login to your router and do the following changes.

Some routers are stubborn and do not let you change the MAC address while some routers make your work very easy by changing it. Since there are many different routers available in the market and all are slightly different and act differently from each other, I recommend to check the changes in the google and follow those.

Option 3: Ask Your ISP

Quite a few Internet Service Providers ( ISP ) are very sweet sometimes so when the customers request them a new IP address then they provide the customers with a new IP address.

If you give a general reason to change your IP address and provide you a new IP address to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) then you will get it without even having to try restarting your router or even taking an effort on changing the MAC’s address.

You can give a general reason like “Hey, can you provide me a new IP address because my previous IP address is not available?” This is a very easy option if you are looking to change your IP address. You don’t have to take extra stress about restarting your router or changing MAC’s address.

If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) really wants to help their customers and wants them to be happy then they will help and provide you with a new IP address. If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not ready to provide you with a new IP address then the only solution for you is switching your router to a different one.

Option 4: Connect to a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Virtual Private Network (VPN) will let you mask your IP address with the help of routing traffic via a remote VPN server. Masking your IP address will help you access the web pages that are restricting the access and helps protect your identity.

To connect to a Virtual Private Network start your VPN service and connect to a VPN server. Now if you check then your IP address is changed. With the changed IP address you can easily visit any website. VPN servers are available at some cost of money and some are available for free.

The free gives you the limited benefit of bandwidth and also restricts its uses in some things. While on the other hand, paid VPN servers give you many advanced features that cost you a few dollars and paying that amount is worth it.

Option 5: Use Tor Browser

Want an anonymous communication over the internet? Then Tor is the one for you. It is an open source for the users that want to communicate anonymously over the internet. Many nodes are interconnected among it and across the world.

Using the Tor browser will form a circuit and sends an encrypted traffic through those nodes from source to its destination and it also keeps your identity or IP address private.

You now want to use the Tor browser, right? Then just download the Tor the browser to access its network. Tor is nothing but a modified version of Mozilla Firefox. The Tor browser is free and it is compatible to run on any Operating System (OS) that is Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Read Also:

  1. WiFi Repeater
  2. Why Is My Internet So Slow
  3. What Is a Firewall and How Does a Firewall Work

Conclusion

So here we are finally with a good amount of information about the IP address. The difference between the two versions of IP address that are IPv4 and IPv6. How to find your IP address through different OS. And also, how to change your IP address.

Hope the article was helpful enough for you and you got all the answers you were looking for. If you still face any issue then please let us know, we will definitely help you. Have a good read. See you, until next time. Ciao!

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