{"id":21608,"date":"2019-04-13T12:27:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-13T12:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comparakeet.com\/?page_id=21608"},"modified":"2019-04-16T14:07:32","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T14:07:32","slug":"what-is-an-ip-address","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/comparakeet.com\/best-web-hosting-reviews\/what-is-an-ip-address\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an IP Address?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve checked out the add-ons hawked by most hosting providers<\/a> these days, you’ve probably seen the term “dedicated IP address” floating about. You’ve also probably wondered why you should pay for one. With this series of articles, Comparakeet helps you answer that question–along with other questions you might have about IP addresses in general.<\/p>\n

This week, we kick things off with the fundamental question: What is an IP address, anyway?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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IP stands for “Internet Protocol,” and that should give you a hint about what it’s for. Simply put, an IP address identifies hardware devices on a network. Each device gets a unique sequence, which other devices use to find and communicate with it. Think of it like a license plate, or even a fingerprint.<\/p>\n

Bear in mind, too, that “device” isn’t limited to computers. Any kind of device, from your smartphone to your wireless printer, gets a unique IP address when it connects to a network.<\/p>\n

Reading IP Addresses<\/h2>\n

You might have seen the terms “IPv4” and “IPv6” floating around. Those are just names for the two standards currently used for IP addresses.<\/p>\n

When these addresses started being used, IPv4 was the only system, and it’s universally supported to this day. IPv4 addresses use four sets of numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255. They look like this:<\/p>\n