IP address is almost similar to home address. Without this address, the data you retrieved on the internet cannot be sent to your device or connected network. The form of IP address is a series of numerical label. This binary number is unique. There are about 4 billions of IP address out there and countings. It is managed by a central allocation system and internet service provider.
There are two types of IP address. One of them is IPv4. The version 4 of IP location is not new. All devices, such as computers and Smartphones, have IP address version 4. This address contains 8 decimal numbers which are separated by dots. This address is eight-digit binary number, for example: 201. 67. 41. 206.
The other type of IP address is IPv6. This new version is quite different from the version 4. Certain device has already uses this type of IP address. It employs eight groups of hexadecimal numbers. Each of them is separated by colons. The example of IPv6 is 2001:cdba:0000:0000:0000:3257:9562. However, it is sometimes written without the zero, i.e. 2001:cdba:3257:9562.
The IPv4 only has 32 bits. Because of this fact, people are worried that the combination of this type of IP address will run out shortly. However, the new innovation of IPv6 has relived the worry. It has 128 bits. Therefore, there will be billions and billions of unique IP address for internet users.
IP location can be static or dynamic. Static IP address is very rare. It is usually set manually on the network setting of your computer. It can cause problems if it is not set properly. The most common IP address is dynamic IP address. This type of address is assigned by DHCP. DHCP runs on servers and routers. This type of IP address usually only actives for certain period of time. Once it is expired, your computer will get new IP from the service provider.
IP address is not only about unique sets of numbers that are attached on computers, Smartphones, or networking device. It also indicates the geo location of your IP location. It tells the city, latitude, longitude, and country. This information can be very useful. If someone is hacking your computer, you can trace the location of the hacker based on the IP address. Therefore, you and the police can have bigger chance to catch him.
In addition, IP address can be used to block web visitors from certain location. Some websites block certain IP location. The admin of the websites do it for several reasons. One of them is for avoiding hackers from certain countries. In addition, e-commerce website only allows certain IP address to access them because they want to make sure that their products are promoted and sold to the right people. In doing this practice, admin we can use black list or white list.
However, some internet users have some tricks to avoid IP address blocking. Some of them try to hide their IP from those websites. Therefore, they cannot trace the IP location and allow the internet users to access their data. Other internet users choose to use fake IP address in browsing. They use add-ons or certain application to trick websites. For example, they use U.S IP address when actually they are accessing the internet from U.K.
Most internet users are pretty ignorant on their IP address. They don’t care much about it so that they don’t know the unique numbers that represent their IP location. It is okay to not knowing your IP address. However, you must know it when you have internet connection problems. This problem may be caused by your IP address. And you need to modify it to make your internet connection faster. Certain tutorials on the internet can help you have faster internet connection by changing the DNS server and IP address.
If you need to know your IP address and you don’t know your IP address, you don’t need to worry. There are many websites which can help you identify your IP. This website can also identify your latitude, longitude, location, and internet provider. Once you know your IP, you can fix your internet connection problem. Knowing the IP location will also help you to hide your IP and browse the internet anonymously.
