Anonymous wrote:Thank you Jeff. I thought IP addresses were unique.
When the most widely used version of Internet Protocol (IP) was introduced, nobody expected there would be so many devices using the Internet. As a result, it eventually became obvious that all available addresses would soon be utilized. To slow down the day that all were used, several techniques were introduced to conserve them. One is Network Address Translation (NAT). This is commonly used on home networks. If you have a Verizon connection to your home and own an iPad, a laptop, a desktop, etc., all of them probably use non-routeable "private" IP addresses. When you connect outside your home network, those addresses are translated to a public, routable address. So, all of your devices appear externally with the same address. Moreover, that address may be dynamically assigned to you. That means that when a public address is needed, your router requests one from Verizon and a address is "leased" temporarily. When your lease expires, it may be renewed, or you may get another address leased to you. These temporary addresses come from a pool of addresses. On top of all of this, Verizon appears to be using proxy servers which also use a type of address translation. Your device connects to the proxy server, which connects to the destination server and acts as a go-between between you and the destination server. The address that shows up on the remote end -- DCUM's end in this case -- is the address of the proxy server. There could be any number of users behind that server all showing up as one.
So, no, IP addresses are not unique. One address could be shared by thousands of people and that address could change daily.