Why does my IP location show the wrong city?

IP geolocation maps IP addresses to locations based on registration data, which is often the ISP's regional data centre rather than your physical location. Accuracy at the city level ranges from 50–80% for residential IPs and is worse for mobile and CGNAT connections. See the guide at myipscan.net/learn/what-is-ip-geolocation/ for full details.

How do I check if my VPN changed my IP?

Open myipscan.net/what-is-my-ip without the VPN and note your IP. Then connect the VPN and open the same page again. If the IP is different and the ISP name shows your VPN provider rather than your home ISP, the VPN is active and working.

What does it mean if my public IP starts with 10. or 100.64?

A public IP starting with 10.x.x.x or in the 100.64–100.127 range is a private or shared IP, usually indicating your ISP uses Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT). You share this public IP with many other users. Your actual device has a private IP from your router and a CGNAT IP from your ISP before reaching the internet.

Can I change my IP address?

You can change the IP that websites see by connecting to a VPN, which replaces your visible IP with the VPN server's IP. You can sometimes change your ISP-assigned public IP by restarting your router (if your ISP uses dynamic IPs). You cannot change the IP your ISP has assigned to your account from the outside.

How to Check Your IP Address — Public, Private & VPN

Q: What is the difference between a public and private IP address?

A public IP address is assigned by your ISP and is visible to every server you connect to on the internet. A private IP address is assigned by your router within your local network (e.g. 192.168.1.x) and is only visible to devices on the same network. External websites never see your private IP.

Step 1 — Check your public IP in a browser

Open myipscan.net/what-is-my-ip in any browser. Your current public IP address is shown immediately — no account, no app, no installation required.

This is the IP that every website and server you connect to can see. It belongs to your ISP or, if you are on a VPN, to your VPN provider.

Step 2 — Read the result

Next to the IP address, the result typically shows:

ISP / Organization: The company that owns the IP block — your home ISP, mobile carrier, or VPN provider
ASN: The Autonomous System Number of the network — a unique identifier for the organisation's IP routing block
Country / Region: Geolocation estimate based on the IP's registration data — may not match your physical location
IP type: Residential, datacenter, or mobile — indicates what kind of connection the IP is associated with

If the ISP name matches your home internet provider, you are not using a VPN (or the VPN is not connected). If it shows your VPN provider's name, the VPN is active.

Step 3 — Find your private IP on Windows

Your private IP is the address your router assigned to your device on the local network. It is not visible to external websites.

Press Win + R, type cmd, and press Enter.
In the Command Prompt, type ipconfig and press Enter.
Find the active adapter section — Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter Ethernet.
The IPv4 Address line shows your private IP, typically 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x.

Step 4 — Find your private IP on macOS

Via System Settings:

Go to System Settings > Network.
Select your active connection (Wi-Fi or Ethernet).
Click Details. The IP address is shown on the TCP/IP tab.

Via Terminal:

ifconfig | grep "inet " | grep -v 127.0.0.1

The result shows your private IP on the active interface (en0 for Wi-Fi, en1 for Ethernet on older Macs).

Step 5 — Find your private IP on Linux

ip addr show

Look for the inet line under your active interface (eth0, wlan0, or enp3s0). The address before the / is your private IPv4. Alternatively:

hostname -I

Step 6 — Verify your VPN exit IP

If you are using a VPN and want to confirm it is routing your traffic correctly:

Without VPN: note your IP at myipscan.net/what-is-my-ip.
Connect the VPN.
With VPN: open the same page again.
The IP should now be different, and the ISP/ASN name should match your VPN provider, not your home ISP.

For a complete check including DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6, use the VPN Leak Test — it verifies all four vectors in one page.

Public vs private IP — summary

	Public IP	Private IP
Assigned by	Your ISP	Your router
Visible to websites	Yes	No
Typical range	Any routable address	192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16–31.x.x
Changed by VPN	Yes	No
How to check	myipscan.net/what-is-my-ip	ipconfig / ifconfig / ip addr

Related guides and tools

What Is My IPSee your current public IP instantly. VPN Leak TestVerify your VPN exit IP plus DNS, WebRTC, IPv6. IP Geolocation LookupSee the location estimate for any IP address. Fix a VPN LeakWhat to do if the IP shown is not your VPN's. What Is IP Geolocation?Why the shown location may not match yours. WHOIS LookupLook up any IP address owner and registration.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a public and private IP address?

A public IP is assigned by your ISP and is visible to every server you connect to on the internet. A private IP is assigned by your router within your local network (e.g. 192.168.1.x) and is only accessible by other devices on the same network. External websites never see your private IP — only your public one.

Can my IP address identify me personally?

An IP address identifies the network, not the individual. Your ISP knows which customer account was assigned a specific IP at a specific time, but that information is not public. Websites and advertisers see the IP but typically cannot link it to a person without help from the ISP, which generally requires a legal process.

Why does the location shown for my IP look wrong?

IP geolocation maps IP addresses to locations based on registration records, which often point to your ISP's regional office rather than your home. Accuracy at city level is typically 50–80% for residential IPs and significantly worse on mobile (carrier) IPs. See the full explanation at What Is IP Geolocation?

What does it mean if my IP starts with 100.64?

The 100.64–100.127 range is Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT) address space (RFC 6598). If your "public" IP is in this range, your ISP is using CGNAT and you share a real public IP with many other customers. You cannot directly receive inbound connections and port forwarding from a router is not possible without the ISP's cooperation.

How do I verify my VPN changed my IP?

Check your IP at myipscan.net/what-is-my-ip before and after connecting the VPN. The IP should change, and the ISP or ASN name next to it should reflect your VPN provider's network rather than your home ISP. For a complete check, use the VPN Leak Test.