Question 1

Why is my IP location showing the wrong city?

Accepted Answer

IP geolocation is an estimate — it is not GPS. Your public IP address is assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and the location databases map that IP to the physical location of your ISP's nearest data center or routing hub, not your home address. If your ISP routes traffic through a regional hub in a different city, that city will appear as your location. VPNs, mobile data connections, and satellite internet can push this error even further. Geolocation accuracy is typically within 25–50 miles for most broadband connections.

Question 2

How do I find my router's public IP address?

Accepted Answer

Your router's public IP is the address the rest of the internet sees — not the 192.168.x.x address on your local network. The quickest way is to visit profilemyip.com: the IP shown at the top is your router's public IP. Alternatively, log into your router's admin panel (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 in your browser) and look for a "WAN IP" or "Internet" status section. Note that if your ISP uses CGNAT (carrier-grade NAT), even your router's WAN IP may be a private address shared with other customers.

Question 3

Is it safe to share my public IP address with others?

Accepted Answer

Sharing your public IP address carries some risk but is generally not catastrophic on its own. Anyone with your IP can estimate your rough geolocation (city-level), attempt to scan for open ports on your router, or include your IP in targeted DDoS attacks. That said, most home routers have firewalls that block unsolicited incoming connections. The bigger risks are if you share your IP with someone malicious who then correlates it with other personal data. When in doubt, use a VPN to mask your real IP, and avoid sharing it unnecessarily in online games, forums, or with strangers.

Question 4

What is the difference between a static and dynamic IP address?

Accepted Answer

A static IP address is permanently assigned to a device or account — it never changes. Businesses and servers typically use static IPs because they need a consistent, reliable address that others can always reach. A dynamic IP address is temporarily assigned from a pool each time you connect and may change when you restart your router or after a lease period expires. Most home internet plans use dynamic IPs. There is also a middle ground called sticky dynamic — where your ISP tends to give you the same IP repeatedly but makes no guarantee. You can check whether your IP has changed by revisiting this site after restarting your router.

Question 5

How can I tell if my IP address is being tracked?

Accepted Answer

Every website you visit records your IP address in its server logs — this is standard practice and unavoidable without a VPN or proxy. Beyond basic logging, ad networks and data brokers build behavioral profiles tied to your IP. Signs that your IP may be actively tracked or flagged include: CAPTCHAs appearing unusually often, being blocked by websites without reason, or receiving targeted ads that seem suspiciously specific to your location. You can check if your IP appears on spam or abuse blacklists using an IP reputation tool. The most effective countermeasure is a reputable VPN, which substitutes the VPN server's IP for yours.

Question 6

What is a DNS leak and why does it matter?

Accepted Answer

A DNS leak happens when your device sends DNS queries — the requests that translate domain names like 'example.com' into IP addresses — outside your VPN tunnel, through your regular ISP instead. This defeats a major purpose of using a VPN: even if your traffic is encrypted, your ISP can still see every website you visit through your unencrypted DNS requests. You can check for leaks using the DNS Leak Test on this site. If you see your ISP's DNS servers in the results while connected to a VPN, you have a leak. Fixing it usually means enabling your VPN's built-in DNS leak protection or configuring your OS to use the VPN's DNS servers exclusively.

Question 7

What is browser fingerprinting and how is it different from cookies?

Accepted Answer

Browser fingerprinting identifies you by collecting technical details about your browser and device — canvas rendering, installed fonts, screen resolution, WebGL capabilities, audio processing characteristics, and more. Unlike cookies, fingerprinting leaves nothing on your device and cannot be cleared by deleting browser data. Each combination of these details creates a near-unique 'fingerprint' that can track you across websites even in private/incognito mode. You can check your own fingerprint uniqueness using the Browser Fingerprint tool on this site. Countermeasures include using the Tor Browser (which standardizes fingerprint values) or browser extensions like Privacy Badger.

Question 8

Does using a VPN completely hide my identity online?

Accepted Answer

A VPN hides your real IP address and encrypts your traffic from your ISP, but it is not a complete anonymity solution. The VPN provider itself can see your traffic and real IP — so trust in the provider matters. Beyond IP, websites can still identify you via browser fingerprinting, cookies, logged-in accounts, and behavioral patterns. A VPN also does not prevent malware, phishing, or account-based tracking. For stronger anonymity, combine a VPN with a browser hardened for privacy (like Firefox with strict settings or Tor Browser), avoid logging into personal accounts, and regularly check your DNS and WebRTC leak status.

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