How To Find My Public IP Address

You might need to use your public or external IP address to log on to your network when you are away from home. You may also need it to transfer your files over the FTP server or while connecting your network to a custom DNS service. There are multiple ways to find your public IP address. Here is what all you can do:

Using Online Tools

You can use a website to figure out your public IP address. Many of these websites also offer other information like your web browser, local IP address, etc.

Using The Command Prompt

You can use the command prompt on your computer to find out your public IP address if you type the command, slookup myip.opendns.com. resolver1.opendns.com in the command prompt of your Windows PC, you will get your IP address in return.

Using Your Router

You can also find out your IP address through your router or modem. Since your router is the device assigned with a public IP address, you can find its address through your device. If you know how to log in to your router, you will be able to find out its IP address under the information section.

What Is My Public IP Address?

Your public IP address is the address assigned to your home or business router by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This IP address is unique and serves as the identifier for any publicly accessible network hardware, such as a home router or a server hosting a website.

Devices like your home routers and servers are directly connected to the public internet, making the public IP address crucial in distinguishing these devices from one another. Each public IP address is distinct and often referred to as the external IP. Internet Service Providers utilize these addresses to route internet requests to specific homes or locations. The uniqueness of these addresses ensures that only the intended recipient receives their digital requests.

My Public IP Address vs. My Private IP Address

While a public IP address is assigned to the router connecting devices to the internet, each device within your home has its own private IP address, unique to that device. Private IP addresses are internal and shielded from external access. They rely on a public IP address for accessibility.

In your home, multiple devices may share the same private IP addresses, but the public IP address for each home, as well as other locations, remains distinct. This ensures that while your neighbors devices might have similar private IPs, the public IP differs for each home and beyond.

How To Hide My Public IP Address

The public nature of your external IP address arises from its connection to the internet, making it the identifier for all your online interactions and visited websites. While this address shields your devices, it does not extend the same protection to your network, leaving it vulnerable to potential snooping. A straightforward method to conceal your IP address involves employing a Virtual Private Network (VPN). By establishing a tunnel from your network to the VPN service, the VPN displays its own address as your public IP, thereby safeguarding your online activities.

Does My Public IP Address Change?

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) routinely assign new IP addresses to public devices, resulting in the alteration of your public IP every few weeks. Consequently, your public IP address is subject to change regularly. Nonetheless, you have the option to maintain a semblance of consistency through the use of a dynamic DNS service. This service assigns a name to your external IP and continuously updates its address in the background. Functioning similarly to a websites hostname, it provides a means for accessing your IP through the assigned name, preserving a virtual continuity despite the actual IP changes.

My IPv4 vs. My IPv6

IPv4 serves as the predominant internet protocol for connecting devices, employing a 32-bit address scheme that accommodates over 4 billion addresses. However, given the ever-growing number of devices worldwide, the available IP addresses under IPv4 may eventually become exhausted. To address this limitation, IPv6 was developed as an upgrade to IPv4, heralded as the "next generation" Internet standard.

In IPv4, the 32-bit numeric address is expressed in decimal form, consisting of four numbers separated by periods, and each number ranging from 0 to 255. For instance, an IPv4 address could appear as 123.23.10.5. In contrast, IPv6 addresses are 128-bit and presented in hexadecimal format with colons serving as separators. As an example, an IPv6 address might be written as 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf.