Your Public IP Address Is:

What Is My IP?

Your public IP address is an external facing IP Address that's provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). A Pubic IP Address is accessible by anyone on the Internet. Internal IP's are known as Private IP's, which are dedicated to the devices connected to your internal network router, such as laptops, desktops, printers, cell phones, smart TV, etc.

Knowing what your external facing IP address is critical for opening ports used for gaming, running an email or web server, or setting up a remote connection.

What is an IP Address?

IP Address stands for Internet Protocol Address and all devices on the network have an IP Address assigned to it. So, what is my ip address? An IP address is made up of 4 numbers in the following format: aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd. Each number can be in the range of 0-255. An IP address is defined as "a numerical label assigned to each devices (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses Internet Protocol for communication". When computers communicate with each other over the Internet or via a local network, the information sharing is done through IP addresses. Like physical addresses, they offer a location to send information to.

Types of IP Addresses

IP addresses can be categorized as private and public addresses. Private IP addresses cannot be reached via the Internet, whereas public IP addresses can. For instance, most home networks have a router. This router will have a public IP address that is accessible through the Internet. Devices that are behind the router such as your laptop, gaming consoles and smartphones have private IP addresses that are unique and registered on the home network.

In this case, the router acts like an intermediary that offers a path to the information pouring in through its public IP address. Basically, all the devices that are connected to the router are communicating with other IP addresses over the Internet from a single IP address, i.e. your router's public IP address.

There are 2 types of IP addresses - IPv4 and IPv6. Currently most devices today are on IPv4. Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth generation of IP addressing technology. Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) has been setup for future growth and is currently the latest version of IP Addressing technology which has been developed. Eventually all devices will be moved to IPv6, but until that happens, the IP address provided here, will be IPv4.

Who uses public IP addresses?

Internet web servers, DNS servers, network routers as well as directly connected computers use public IP address. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for assigning a range of addresses to organizations like the ISP (Internet Service Providers), because they own these IP ranges. In turn, the ISPs assign individual public IP addresses to their customers.

• Internet Speed Test

  An Internet speed test allows you to see the fastest burst rates (upload and download) that occur in the duration of the speed test and in the distance between your locations and the server you choose for testing.

• IP Address and WhoIs Lookup

  IP Address Lookup or IP Locator is a tool that allows you to see where your IP address is located. It can also be used to lookup other IPs and find their IP Location. A WhoIs Lookup is a tool that will give you pertinent information about the owner of the IP address. This information includes the name of the allocator organization, IP address contact information, and more.

  WhatIsMyPublicIP.com is the only website you need to perform these tests and WhoIs lookups.

For additional information on IP addresses and how they work, click on What is my IP address