216.73.217.150

The address above is your public IP address — the unique identifier your internet service provider assigns to your network. Every device in your home shares this single public IP when communicating with the outside world.

Public IP vs private IP

Your home network actually has two types of IP addresses in use simultaneously:

• Public IP — assigned by your ISP, visible to the internet, shared by all devices on your network. This is what ipchu.com shows above.
• Private IP — assigned by your router, only valid inside your home network. Common ranges: 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16–31.x.x. Websites cannot see your private IP.

Your router acts as a translator (NAT — Network Address Translation). Outgoing traffic from any device is tagged with the public IP; incoming responses are routed back to the correct private device.

What your public IP reveals

Any website you visit can see your public IP. From it, they can typically determine:

• Your approximate city or region (usually accurate to within 25–50 miles).
• Your internet service provider (ISP) and the ASN it operates.
• Your country (used for geo-restrictions on content).

They cannot determine your exact street address, name, or precise GPS location from your IP alone — that would require a legal request to your ISP.

Static vs dynamic IP

• Dynamic IP — the most common type for home connections. Your ISP can reassign it when your router reconnects or at scheduled intervals. Most home users have a dynamic IP.
• Static IP — never changes. Used by businesses hosting servers, or by individuals who need a consistent address for remote access. Usually costs extra from your ISP.

IPv4 vs IPv6

IP addresses come in two formats:

• IPv4 — the older format: four numbers separated by dots, e.g. 93.184.216.34. There are about 4.3 billion possible addresses — nearly all are assigned.
• IPv6 — the newer format: eight groups of hexadecimal digits, e.g. 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946. Provides an astronomically larger address space. Many ISPs now assign both to customers (dual-stack).

Check your IPv6 address to see if your connection supports it.

How to protect your public IP

Because your public IP can reveal your approximate location and ISP, you may want to hide it:

• Use a VPN to replace your IP with the server's IP.
• Use the Tor Browser for maximum anonymity.
• Use a proxy for per-app IP masking.

After hiding your IP, you can reload this page to confirm the change.