Your Digital Postcode: What IP Addresses Really Are

Every device online has a unique address—your phone, laptop, tablet, even your smart fridge. That number isn’t just a label. It’s how your device finds and talks to other devices across the internet. Think of it like a postal code. Without it, no one could send a package, and the web would fall apart. When you visit a website or stream a video, your device sends a request using that address. The internet then routes it to the right server—just like mail goes to the right house. This system keeps everything moving smoothly, from emails to video calls.

IP addresses are made up of numbers separated by dots, like 192.168.1.1. They work in binary, using only 0s and 1s, which gives them billions of possible combinations. The most common version today is IPv4, which uses four sets of numbers between 0 and 255. But even that’s running out of space. That’s why the internet is moving to IPv6, which uses longer, hexadecimal addresses and gives us way more unique IDs. Your home network uses private IP addresses—like 192.168.x.x—so they don’t show up to the outside world. Your router handles the translation, swapping those private numbers for a public one that the internet sees.

Key Points About IP Addresses

• What an IP address is: A unique number assigned to every device on a network, acting like a digital postal code so data can reach its destination.
• How they work: Devices use IP addresses to send and receive data, with the internet routing packets based on these addresses.
• Private vs. public addresses: Private IPs (like 192.168.x.x) stay inside your home network and aren’t visible online. Your router converts them to a public IP when you go online.
• The role of IANA: The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority manages IP address blocks, assigning them to regional groups that pass them on to ISPs and companies.
• IPv6 is the future: Designed to solve the shortage of IPv4 addresses, IPv6 offers vastly more unique identifiers and is essential for the internet’s long-term growth.

Understanding how IP addresses work helps you see how the internet actually functions—and how your data moves behind the scenes. It’s not just tech trivia. It’s a foundation for staying aware of how your online activity is tracked and shared.