Ever wondered what your IP address is and how to find it ? In this article we explain the basics about your IP address, what its used for and how to see your current IP address.
When you go online you get assigned an IP address. An IP address is like a telephone number that allows web servers and internet providers to direct traffic and track your movements across the web.
Domain names & IP addresses
In the early days of the web the only way to access a website or server was to enter the IP address into a browser or FTP client. As its hard to remember an IP address we started to use Domain Names instead. When you enter a domain name into a browser to visit a website the browser checks the details of the domain and gets the IP address associated with it in order to find out where to go.
Your Broadband / WI-FI IP address
As a user browsing the web you also have an IP address assigned to you. If you are connecting via your local broadband Wi-Fi or wired connection this IP address would be a unique and dedicated IP assigned to your local router by your service provider. If you are connecting via a mobile device using your mobile data plan the IP will more than likely be shared and dynamically assigned each time you use it.
Your IP address privacy and tracking
When you browse the web or interact with web servers or aps your IP address may be used to log your actions and provide statistical data. An analyse of your IP address can provide information such as the country of origin and your rough location. An IP address could also be used to show how many times you visited a particular website or to block access to a problem user.
How to hide your IP address
Should you wish to not have your IP address exposed you can either edit the privacy settings of your browser, use a proxy server or use a browser such as TOR.
How to see your IP address
Want to know “whats my IP address” ? There are plenty of online tools that allow you to see your IP address but we recommend the following due to the fact that its the simplest to use and allows you to copy your IP to the clipboard ready to share with someone else.