When you open a website from a computer, the connection request is sent from the computer to a router as a private IP address. While your router serves out a private IP address to all the devices connected privately behind the router, your ISP delivers public IP addresses to all devices that are connected to the Internet publicly. You can also look at this by thinking of the router in your home or office as your own ISP. This type of configuration allows all devices in your home or office network to send information back and forth between your router and an ISP by using a single IP address – the public IP address. It is because private IP addresses can’t be routed, i.e., hardware devices used on the Internet are programmed not to allow devices with private IP addresses from communicating directly with another IP address beyond the router to which they are connected.Īs these private IP addresses can’t reach the Internet, you need an IP address that can reach the rest of the World, which is why public IP addresses are used. Unlike a public IP address, the devices in an office or home can have the same private IP addresses as the business or house next door, or in fact, anyone else’s anywhere in the World. This unique identifier is used for all the devices behind a router or other device that allocates IP addresses. public IPĪ private IP address is very similar to a public IP address. These requests will be submitted only to your network, and never to someone else’s. The same happens with your public IP address is used to send digital requests to.
Your home and email address are for example both unique to you, which is why when mail is sent to these addresses, you can be sure that it gets to you and nobody else. Your public IP address is virtually the same as any other address you use. ISPs use this address to forward Internet requests to a specific business or home, much like how a courier service uses a physical address to deliver a package to your home or business. Public IP address = Your Internet address
Public IP addresses are also sometimes referred to as Internet IPs. Every single device that accesses the Internet has to have a unique IP address. This includes a home router or office router, as well as servers that host websites.Ī public IP address uniquely identifies any device that is plugged into the open Internet. This IP address is called a public IP address, and it is required for any network hardware that is publicly accessible. When you sign up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for Internet services, the ISP sends an IP address to your business or your home router. Does using a proxy completely hide my real IP address?.