What is an IP address?

IP addresses explained

When talking about Internet access, people often refer to their IP address. However, many people don’t really know exactly know what an IP address is or fully understand its purpose.

An IP address is similar to a street address in that it is used for identification purposes.  Just as a street address is a unique address that can be used to identify a house, an IP address is a unique address used to identify a computer on a network. 

While personal information isn’t publicly available for each IP address, it is definitely a means of identification on the Internet.

When you are on the Internet, you’ll have a unique IP address.  That IP address can be either a static or dynamic address.  If it’s a static IP address, that means that the number is always the same when you are on the Internet.  A dynamic IP address is the opposite in that the number changes each time you are online.