What is an IP Address?
I bet you’ve always wondered “What’s my IP?” Well, you’re not alone in this. There are billions of computer users worldwide who also wonder “What is my IP?” too. Most of them do not have sufficient knowledge about IP addresses too. There might come a time when you may be required to perform a quick IP address lookup. It is therefore important to know the fundamental aspects of the IP address and the way they work.
IP is short for “Internet Protocol”. An IP address basically lets you know that you are now connected to the internet. It is one of the most basic requirements in a network and no network can be designed without the facility to provide IP addresses to track every computer and device that connects to it. The IP address connects your computer or internet-enabled device to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) which in turn connects your device to the internet.
In simple terms, an IP address can be defined as a computer’s virtual address in the World Wide Web. This works as a tracker for the internet to allow access to view and download information, images, emails, and other data.
The next time you wonder “What is my IP address?”, then think of it as a unique code that identifies your computer on the worldwide network. Your IP allows your computer to receive emails, images and other data from the web.
An IP address normally consists of 4 sets of 1 to 3 digits separated by a dot. The sets of numbers can range between 0 and 255 only though.
For example, an IP address would look something like this:
10.240.164.132
However, it will not always be the same and might change frequently. Despite this change, it will not affect the way you browse the internet. An IP address is assigned to any device that accesses the internet at any point in time.
Disclaimer: The location and geo details of an IP address are not always accurate.
What is my IP?
Check your IP address on Show My IP instantly with other details like the country, state and the city that IP is located
Details:
| Your IPv4 | 5.252.160.15 |
| Your IPv6 |
Not found!
|
| Country | Nigeria |
| Region | Lagos Nigeria |
| City | Lekki |
| ZIP | 300100 |
| Timezone | Africa West Africa |
| Internet Service Provider (ISP) | Dotifi Domains |
| Organization | Tweeterest Swordpress Digital |
| AS number and name | AS209181 Zenex 5ive Limited |
| User agent | Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/92.0.4515.131 Safari/537.36 |
Map has been removed. Please use the IP lookup tool if you’d like to see the map. go to www.tim.i.ng
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What’s my IP Address
Your IP Address is a unique identifier on the internet, without it you would neither be able to send or receive any information. Its like your home address but online.
Your IP Address usually changes when disconnecting from the internet. It could be that you turn off your computer, mobile phone or just simply switch on flight mode on your phone. Later on when reconnecting you usually automatically get assigned a new IP.
There are many ways to find out what your IP address is. Easiest is to type the question “What’s my IP/whatsmyip.com” in the search bar of your favorite web browser. We will clearly show you your IP on our front page. We will also try to locate you based on your IP.
This is how the IP (Internet Protocol) works
Without being too technical its quite simple to explain the basics. All network traffic is divided into smaller packages and then sent away with both a sender and receiver IP address. The data is then reassembled when received.
Lost packages: Accidents happens, both in real life and on the internet. Sometimes a network connection cuts off or a router is damaged. This usually results in a lost package. Those packages that never arrive to the receiver are considered to be a “lost package” after a set amount of time. When that occurs the sender(computer) just simply sends out a new copy of that package with a little bit of help by something called TCP/IP.
Why you might need to know your IP
One of many reason could be that you are a developer and are trying to sort out a network problem when communicating with your server. That’s my own most common reason, but it could also be when needing to filter out suspicious network traffic or when you need to communicate with a support and identify yourself to solve the reason for something not working on the internet.
Why you would need to trace an IP
One of many reason could be that you like to verify that the one you are communicating with is the one he says he is. For example; if you know that your friend is located in USA then you can assume that his or hers IP should originate from USA. It would be a big warning sign if the IP originated from China or Russia.
