The same applies to the internet. Without an IP address, two devices would not be able to find and exchange information with each other. Each computer or device in your home network has a unique private IP address so it can communicate with all the others, but nothing outside of the local network can see them or establish a connection.
Certain ranges of numbers are only available for use as a private IP address. Anytime you visit a website, it can potentially gather even more information about you. By combining your IP address with other information gleaned from metadata, cookies, trackers, and browser-fingerprinting tactics, website owners, marketers, and advertisers can build quite a thorough profile about you.
ISPs are privy to even more information. In countries like Australia and the UK, ISPs are actually required to maintain logs of your browsing activity and hand them over to countless government agencies without a warrant. Modem Compatibility. Manage My Services. Find Available Services. Was this page helpful? CenturyLink Services Support.
Home Phone. All Rights Reserved. Residential Small Business Chat. Accessories Check for Deals at My Home. An IP address is a string of numbers assigned to an internet-connected device, much like an address on a house. Your computer network uses the IP address to communicate with other computers, websites, and all parts of cyberspace. Essentially, IP addresses are how computers on the internet recognize one another. Considering every single internet-connected device has an IP address, billions of IP addresses exist.
Every device that can connect to the internet is a member of the World Wide Web — computers, laptops, tablets , mobile phones , routers, etc.
Websites and computer networks require that form of identification for you to interact with them. Worth mentioning is that your IP address changes every time you connect to a different Wi-Fi network or router. IP addresses do reveal your geolocation, but not your precise location like a home address and never your name, phone number, or other precise personal information. Instead, IP addresses might reveal your city, ZIP code, or area code of where you are connecting to the internet at that moment — this is why IP addresses change every time you connect from a new location or using a new router.
Sure, these internet-connected devices share their IP address with your router, but your router uses its own IP address to grant your device access to the World Wide Web.
Finally, to put your mind at ease, we have answers to a few common IP address FAQs regarding what information an IP address reveals about you:. Remember, IP addresses are like your membership card to the internet and are required to enter any website and webpage on it. This includes social media sites , internet forums, chatrooms, and blogs you comment on. All of these platforms can view your IP address. Authorities, including, law enforcement or fraud investigators, can also use subpoenas to contact your ISP and get your IP address.
If you're lucky, you might also find the city of orgin. You may also use products developed by 3rd-party companies like Ip2location and MaxMind. Our sister website, findmyip.
You may also use reverse DNS to find out the hostname of the IP address, which might give you some clues. Many ISPs, Corporations and Academic institutions use location as a qualified hostname, although this is not always true.
A couple of things to note here: 1 Reverse DNS translation does not always work. You may use 'traceroute' command to find clues to the location of the IP address. The names of the routers through which packets flow from your host to the destination host might hint at the geographical path of the final location.
IP-based Geolocation is mapping of an IP address or MAC address to the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected computing or a mobile device. There are a number of commercially available geolocation databases, and their pricing and accuracy may vary.
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