What is Public vs Private IP Address?

Private IP address is your local router IP address assigned to you by your private network such as assigned by WiFi Router, Network wired topology or by any other networking. This IP address is never public and is not used to surf Internet. While public IP address is visible to devices on the Internet which is the reason why you are able to communicate with other devices on the Internet.

 You might have come to this page after searching for location of private IP addresses. This is explained below:

Difference Between Public IP vs Private IP?

What is Private, Local or Router IP address?

Private IP Address which is also known as local IP address or Router IP address is an IP address that is assigned to your device by your internal network. Private IP address is assigned by network devices such as router where multiple devices are connected lets say PC's and Mobile phones. These IP addresses are assigned to differentiate the internet traffic going to or from each connected device.

Private IP Address looks like 192.168.1.0, 192.168.0.1, 1.0.0.1 etc. Each router has it's own way of assigning private IP addresses and it's vary from router to router of different manufacturers. 

For example: 

• TP Link uses 192.168.1.1
• D-Link and NETGEAR routers are set to 192.168.0.1

 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the authority that is responsible to register IP addresses to various Internet Service Providers (ISP's). There have been serveral IP addresses which are revered for Private IP assignment and cannot be assigned to Internet devices publicly:

When you are assigned private IP address from above 3 IP ranges you are able to see devices connected to local or private network. However, devices residing outside your private network cannot communicate with your Private IP address.

What is Public IP Address?

A Public IP address is also known as external IP address. It is an IP Address that is assigned to your device mainly by your Internet Service Providers (ISP's). When you visit Whatismyip.live we can see your Public IP address not private. You are able to communicate over the internet using your public IP address, when you surf on Internet your public IP address is logged by various websites and devices. 

Unlike Private IP address Public IP address is globally unique and can be assigned to unique device at a time. Public IP address is same what we show on our home page. If someone talks about "IP address" they are referring to "Public IP Address" not "Private IP". 

Types of IP Address

There are two types of IP addresses exist Ipv4 address and Ipv6 address. Read about them here: What is IPv4 vs IPv6 Address ?

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