Posted by J.H. on March 15, 1999 at 10:46:16 {MWKQmDRkic4cM}:
In Reply to: *Curious About IPs posted by JWGenXer on March 15, 1999 at 10:03:23:
: Aren't the IP tags generated by the Login name and password you use to post? I think this is the case. So that wherever in the world you post from, as long as you're using the login name and password, you will receive the same IP tag. I may be wrong though.
Misleading. It may be right in some few instances, but not usually.
The IP (Internet Protocol) address identifies any one machine on the Internet with a unique number, like 130.67.198.108 (my current IP). You must have an IP to interact with any other machine on the Internet. This number is not random. Machines are pooled in segments; e.g. all machines in the same C segment share the first three of the four numbers. An Internet Provider has a certain supply of IP numbers.
When you dial into your ISP (Internet Service Provider), the host machine automatically assigns a free IP address to your machine. Your machine then assumes this IP for the rest of the session, and this, or the easier-to-remember corresponding machine name (including domain name), is (almost always) the code that is encoded into something like "MW4zi8a/O2iPg" by Rick's neat little Crypt() script.
You can have a fixed IP address with your ISP. This will mean your machine always has the same IP once it connects to the Net through this ISP, and then -- and only then -- is this identificantion based on Username/password ID. This is something you have to pay extra for, since this means the ISP has one less IP address to give to other users. There are typically many more users with an ISP than there are ISPs or modems/phone lines.
What has happened in your case is either blind luck (you hit the same IP by accident), or that your ISP connects through a proxy. This is a machine, sometimes for security purposes, that handles the traffic between your machine and the outside world. Then it will be only the Proxy IP address the world (H2O hosts) see, and your own IP will not really be an Internet but an "Intranet" IP address. There are a few limitations with Proxy connections, so as far as I know few ISPs make it mandatory for their users, but a lot of businesses allow their employees Internet access only through a Proxy which is part of a "firewall," for security reasons.