If you wanted to contact someone in the 19th century, you had to send them a letter. Usually, you would write a specific home or office address to where the post office would deliver this letter. Without your recipient's home or office address, your letter remains at the post office, and no one will receive it. In today's digital world, instead of physical addresses, all you need now is an IP address to send your messages.
What Is An IP Address?
An IP is the initials for "Internet Protocol." It is a specific set of four numbers separated by periods. An IP lets an internet user recognize and access your device location to communicate with you on the Internet.Remember the example in the introduction? You need to inscribe a specific home / office address on your letter for the post office to deliver it to them. This way, no post officer is mixing your letter up with another. Similarly, the Internet needs to singularize your IP address from other IP addresses. This must happen before you can receive information. Thus, your IP address allows the Internet to locate you without any hassles.
How Do I Know My IP?
Now that you know what an IP is, you may be curious to find out yours. Finding out your IP address is a simple thing to do, and it does not cost you money. All you need to do is check what's my IP, and you'll find out your IP address, location, and ISP (Internet service provider). Simply using Google to check for your IP address will only reveal your public IP address and not the IP address your router uses. Do you see how simple this process is? It's just like checking a public document for your personal information.
How To Test My Internet Connection
Now that you know what an IP address is and how you can locate yours, the next step is to test your Internet connection. Earlier, this article mentioned ISP and will now explain what it is to you and its relation to your Internet connection. An ISP is the initial Internet Service Provider; they provide various services to access the Internet. So, technically, if you're paying your ISP for an Internet connection, you deserve to know if you're getting what you paid for. Also, if your Internet connection is slow in loading a web page or downloading something on the Internet, you should conduct an Internet speed test.
What Is The Difference Between IPV4 and IPV6?
IPv4 is short for "Internet Protocol Version 4," and it allows you to connect to the Internet with your smartphone or computer. IPV6, on the other hand, is the more advanced version as it was created to solve the limitations of IPV4. For example, IPV4 uses a 32 bit IP address while IPV6's IP address is 128-Bit. Also, IPV4 allows for broadcast, while IPV6 doesn't allow this. Finally, in IPV4, the binary bits have periods between them, while IPV6's have colons.
Conclusion
Now, you know the basics of an IP address, how to locate yours, and how to test your Internet connection and speed.
