What is an IP Address Exactly?

Question

I wanted to know what is an IP Address.
Does my laptop have an IP address OR does the internet (weather if be wireless internet or the cable to get us internet) give us an IP address?

For example, if I am on my laptop at home and am on it, I have a specific IP address. Now, if I would go to my cousin's house, and access the internet over there, would my IP address be the same or will my IP address change to my cousins IP?

Answer 1

Most ISPs do not assign IP addresses to individual computers, but rather to the cable or DSL modem that they provide you with. Any computer that hooks to the modem will use that IP address. So if you move your computer to a different modem (such as at your cousins) you will get a different IP address.



If you want to confirm this, go to http://whatismyip.com and you will see your current IP. Then go to your cousins and try the same thing. You will get a different address. If you and your cousin are both hooked to the same modem by a router, you will both show as having the same IP address. If you were to take your computer to a public hotspot, you would get yet another address there.

Answer 2

Your laptop does not have an IP address. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) whose connection you're using assigns one to the connection from a pool that has been reserved for it. Technically, you're on their network as part of the Internet.



So if you went to your cousin's house, even with your laptop, you'd be sharing his global IP address.



Here's where things get interesting. As part of a local area network (a router plus computers and other devices), you also have a local or "private" IP address totally different from the one the ISP gave you. In fact, it can't be used on the Internet. It's usable only on your little Local Area Network. And because LANs don't interact there could be a million other people with the same private IP address -- on their own LANs.



It's one of a router's prime functions to do Network Address Translation between private IP addresses and the communications sent out over and received from the Internet.



Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Every machine on the Internet­ has a unique identifying number, called an IP Address. A typical IP address looks like this: * 216.27.61.137



Then Your ip-address Differ from Your Cousin Ip-address Static Ip-address will not change,But Dynamic Ip-address will Change,Only ISP can change the Ip-address.Other Cannot change the IP-Address...Each Computer and Laptop has it's own Ip-address..If you go to Your Cousin ..That ip-address will not be same as your ip-address..

You can Check Your Ip-address and more Details of it at here,

http://www.ip-details.com/



Note:If your Cousin Computer and Yours one connected via Same Modem via router,you can connect that system with yours.

Answer 4

Think of it like a street address. Every computer on the internet has to have a specific address that is unique for the data packets to be properly sent to it and from it. Every computer has a unique ip address.



Here is an example of what an ip address looks like:

204.17.5.128

Answer 5

Internet Protocol (IP) address is a numerical label that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network that uses the Internet



every machine running on internet has an IP address...

Answer 6

To learn more about IP address, TCP/IP protocols and see power of tracking someone behind IP address use:

http://www.ipaddresslocation.org

http://www.find-ip-address.org



Hope this helps!