How To: Find my IP address
Your IP address is: 38.103.63.16
Your host name is: 38.103.63.16
Your country is: UNITED STATES
What is an IP address?
Your IP address is the address that identifies your computer on a network, to any application (such as a web browser) that uses the Internet communications protocol, TCP/IP.
Your computer may have two, three or more IP addresses:
- The localhost address, 127.0.0.1, may always be used by an Internet application to connect to another Internet application (such as a web server) running on the same computer.
- If your computer is part of a local area network (LAN) then it will also have a LAN address such as 192.168.1.101. This address uniquely identifies your computer on that LAN, but cannot be used to connect to that computer via a wide area network like the Internet.
- A computer may have more than one network interface, each connecting it to a different LAN, and each with its own LAN address.
- If your computer is directly connected to the Internet (for example, using a modem), then it will have an Internet address, such as the one shown above.
If your computer connects to the Internet using an external router with a NAT firewall then the Internet address shown above belongs to the router/firewall but is shared by the computers connected to it. The NAT software keeps track of which data belongs to which computer, so several computers can surf the Web at the same time. A computer outside the network cannot tell which computer inside the network is communicating with it (at least, not from the IP address.)
Is this IP address my unique address?
Your Internet IP address is allocated to you by your Internet service provider (ISP). If you use a dial-up connection or a consumer broadband connection where the modem disconnects when you are not using the Internet, then the address shown above may be yours only as long as you remain connected to the Internet. Your provider may allocate addresses from a pool, so that you will have a different address the next time you connect. This is known as a dynamic IP address.
Some providers permanently allocate an address to each customer, this is called a static IP address.
If you need a permanent Internet IP address and your ISP can't provide one, use a service like No-IP or DynDNS.
How can I find my IP address without using this web page?
If your computer is directly connected to the Internet (for example, using a modem), then if you are using Windows and have a connection icon in the system tray, right-click the connection icon and select Status. Your Internet IP address will be shown. Alternatively, open a command prompt and enter the command ipconfig /all.
If your computer connects to the Internet using an external router with a NAT firewall then you should be able to find out your Internet IP address from a status page in the router/firewall's management interface.
For an easier way to find your computer's IP address, bookmark this page and return to it whenever you want to check your IP address.
Can I be traced using my IP address?
Yes, you can be traced very easily. All web sites keep logs of all visitors to the site. These logs include the visitors' IP addresses. ISPs also keep logs of user activity. Even if you have a dynamic IP address, an ISP can find out who was using a particular address at a particular time, and they might be required to give this information to a law enforcement agency.
It would not be so easy for a private individual to find out your identity, because privacy laws prevent ISPs giving out user information to just anyone. But using a technique called reverse lookup, anyone can find out which ISP a website visitor is from. If you are using a company network, your IP address will reveal details of your company.
