Your public IP address is the same for all of your devices simply because your ISP (Internet Service Provider) assigns one IP address per router. They can’t possibly assign every device that you own a unique IP address because IP addresses are limited, and it would also be inconvenient to have your internet service provider assign you a unique IP address every time you get a new device.
Therefore, the simple reason as to why every device in your home does not have its own unique address is that there are limited IPv4 addresses. And since there are less than 4.2 billion addresses available, Internet Service Providers typically stick to assigning one IP address per router. Given that all your devices use the same router, they, therefore, end up sharing the IP address.
However, in order to ensure that every device has a unique address, your router then assigns your devices their own unique private addresses. This ensures that your devices can communicate with each other and that requests and responses get to the right devices. It is important to note that these addresses are private and as such cannot be accessed directly by another person on the internet.
Can your IP Address Change?
Since your Internet Service Provider is the one who assigns you your IP address, they can also change it. This typically happens when for one reason or the other, you request them to change it for you.
The IP address that you are using can also change in cases where you use public Wi-Fi or another network. This is because you will be using a different network from your home network, and since the new network has its own Internet Service Provider and thus its own unique address, your device will be using that IP address to access the internet.
If you are concerned about your privacy and security, you can also change the address that your devices use to access the internet by using a proxy server. A proxy service will make their servers available to you such that you can use them to make requests and receive responses. This way, the target website will see the proxy server’s address instead of yours.
VPN services are also great at allowing you to change the IP address that you use to access the internet. Like proxy servers, VPNs come in between you and the content that you want to access. They allow you to use any of their geographically distributed servers to access the internet. In so doing, they allow for ultimate internet freedom and anonymity. . For example, if you want to access all the content that is accessible to people who are located in Sweden, all you have to do is to select Sweden in the drop-down list of server locations, and doing so will be enough to change your IP to Sweden. And as far as anyone else on the internet is concerned, they will assume that you are located in Sweden simply because you are accessing the internet using IP addresses located in the country.
However, using VPNs differs from using proxy servers since VPNs tend to offer better security since they encrypt both incoming and outgoing traffic. And since VPNs typically offer better faster connection speeds, they tend to be the preferred choice for people who want to bypass internet restrictions and enhance their privacy protections.
Why Would You Want to Use Different IP Addresses on Your Devices?
When you are using the same IP address for all your online activity, it makes it easier to track you. Tech companies can easily track your location and activity. Hackers will also have an easier way of compromising your privacy and stealing your data. Furthermore, in terms of internet freedom, accessing the internet using your public IP address will mean that you will be subject to the geo-restrictions that tech companies and content providers impose. And if your IP address is blacklisted for any reason, you will also experience less internet freedom.
Using different IP addresses makes it harder for anyone to track your activity. This is so because when you use tools like VPNs, your IP address will be effectively hidden from the wider internet. Therefore, it will be harder for anyone to trace specific requests to your IP address. Accessing content that has been restricted by content providers will also be easier if you use a good VPN or proxy service. This is so mainly because once you connect your devices to a VPN, you can change your location of access by simply selecting one of their servers
