IP Address Manual - Your Ultimate Reference
Get to know all the things about IP address. Find specific explanations about public IP, private IP, dynamic IP, static IP, as well as an easy way to change your public IP address.
What is IP address exactly? How can we use it or change it? This article will try to explain all common terms about IP address. In the end, you will know how to use VPN to change your IP address in the fastest way. Stay tuned!
Part 1 - What Is IP Address?
IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is numerical label like 192.163.0.1 that identifies a device and tells about its location following the Internet Protocol. Internet Protocol is deployed to instruct a digital device how to connect to a specific network, how to communicate with another device, as well as how to get needed information & data package back to itself.
IP addresses are not random numerical labels. They are produced and allocated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), a division of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is a non-profit organization based in the United States. The mission of ICANN is to maintain World Wide Web security as well as to ensure the Internet is available for people around the world.
You might use or hear different types of IP addresses quite often, such as, public IP address VS private IP address, static IP address VS dynamic IP address, and IPv4 address VS IPv6 address. But, what are they?
Public IP Address
A public IP address is a unique address for the public Internet that’s owned by your ISP provider and allocated to you. ISP, a.k.a. Internet Service Provider, is a merchant who purchases a large number of unique public IP addresses and rent them to their customers, such you and me.
Each device on the Internet is supposed to get a unique public IP address, which specifies who you are and where you are based physically. Only with an allocated public IP, can your Wifi router associate with the whole Internet networks.
You can understand the public IP as the physical address of your apartment or house. It’s a unique numerical label across the whole Internet. Only with the details of your physical address, can an EMS worker take your package to your place.
Private IP Address
Private IP address is a private address generated by the router to identify a connected device within its routing network.
As we’ve mentioned in public IP address, your ISP will only assign 1 public IP address to your router. But only 1 IP address is not enough for home or office digital devices, such as, laptops, desktops, smartphones, printers and many more.
To get home or office devices online, the router needs to create enough new IP addresses for network connection within its small area, and these new IP addresses are called private IP addresses.
Whenever your home sets go online, they will connect to the Wifi router and ask for a private IP address to send requests and data between the Wifi router and themselves. These requests and data will reach the router at first, and then the router will package them and send them out via its public IP address.
Static IP Address
Static IP address is a sequence of static numerical label that are frequently used by a server or a website host. A constant numerical label make it easier for users to locate, find and visit them.
Dynamic IP Address
Compared to static IP address, dynamic IP addresses are almost everywhere. As we known, ISP purchases a myriad of IP addresses to rent and allocate to its log-in users. When a user logs out and uses no Internet, the allocated IP address will be assigned to another log-in user, and that process makes the IP address dynamic.
IPv4 Address
IPv4 is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol that has 32-bit addresses. It’s the most popular Internet Protocol, and goes like 185.135.76.115. An IPv4 address is composed of 4 parts of 8-bit number, and each part ranges from 0-255. IPv4 addresses with 4,294,967,296 public IP addresses available, have been used out by Feb 3rd, 2011.
IPv6 Address
Quoted from Wiki, IPv6 addresses are represented as eight groups of four hexadecimal digits each, separated by colons. IPv6 often goes like 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 or 2001:db8::8a2e:370:7334 in short.
IPv6 is created to solve the shortage issue of IPv4 addresses. With 128-bit addresses available, the number of IPv6 addresses is 4 times larger than the number of IPv4 addresses.
Part 2 - Check IP Address of Your Computer or Device
If you want to check your dynamic IP address for the public, you can just Google or Bing it with an input of “What is my IP address”. Of course, you need to log out of the VPN or server, if you’ve already used one.
To check the full parameters for IP address on Windows, users can try Windows command “ipconfig” or “ipconfig /all”. For more approaches to check an IP address, you can refer to: www.sonicsvpn.com/what-is-my-ip-address
Part 3 - How to Change IP Address Easily?
There are times when you need an IP address from another country. To change your IP, you can take the shortcut by using a reliable VPN. Here we will show you how to change your IP address by trying Sonics VPN service.
Step 1. Download Snoics VPN from its official website. Do choose the right version for your device.
Step 2. Register a free account.
Step 3. Log in with your new account, and choose Connect button. Your device will get a new virtual IP address, immediately. Of course, you can choose another country if you prefer. Sonics VPN allows to change from
Step 4. Go to Google and enter “What is my IP” to check your new dynamic IP address in public.
Change your IP address will help you bypass many a geo-restricted issues and allow you to reach more contents like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.
Read also: How to change IP address without VPN?
Part 4 - Words at Last
Internet Protocol is no simple technology, and this article has wrapped up the most essential parts and tips for you. After reading it through, you’ll know the basics of IP address. When you need a new IP address, remember it’s effortless to change the public IP address with a VPN service, like Sonics VPN, and you can get the most out of the Internet.
Access to the Internet
- Breakthrough the speed limit on network connection
- Private and safe online surfing
- Global streaming, gaming, downloading, social networks services
