What is an IP Address

Many of you who use computers hear some terms thrown around by all the tech savvy people in your office, school, or even at home one of those such terms is an IP Address.IP Address is an abbreviation for Internet Protocol Address. This address is kind of like the address your home has it basically points to where you live in the internet or what you computer is called on the internet. There are 2 different types of IP Address’s that you might need to know about or have heard about previously. There are WAN IP Address’s, or LAN IP Address’s both are equally as important to your understanding. A WAN IP Address is a Wide Area Network Internet Protocol Address basically when you get on the Internet you have to go through an Internet Service Provider or ISP they will assign your home or other place a pool of WAN IP Address’s to use when ever you go onto another website or connect to another computer they will use this WAN IP Address to name or see each other. The LAN IP Address is equally as important LAN IP Address stands for Local Area Network Internet Protocol Address. LAN IP’s are what all of the computers in your home,office,or subsequent workplace use to communicate with each other. The LAN IP is used for anything on a Network such as any phones,MP3 Players,Gaming Consoles,Computers,Printers absolutely anything. LAN IP’s can all be the same in each network because the internet only uses WAN IP’s to communicate with each other all LAN IP’s are ignored. This also allows you to understand that no hacker or Russian spy can see your computer from the internet all they can see is the IP Address given to you by your Internet Service Provider. Your WAN IP being known is akin to someone knowing what city you live in but nothing else it really does them no good or very little. Thanks for reading this short summery on IP Address’s I hope it gave you a better understanding of what they are used for and what they are.