Drizzle Internet NW-FAQ-What's an IP address?

What is an IP address? How about a static IP address? How many do I need?

(Warning: this is a very basic explanation. Hungry for more IP facts?)

An IP address (which looks something like this: 216.162.192.12) is a number that identifies each sender or receiver of information that is sent across the Internet. When you request a web page or send an e-mail, the Internet Protocol part of TCP/IP includes your IP address in the message and sends it to the IP address of the domain or e-mail recipient you are trying to reach.

IP addresses can be static or may be assigned dynamically. Drizzle provides its DSL subscribers with a static IP, which means that you always connect from the same address. Many other Internet Service Providers keep a pool of IP addresses that is smaller than their actual number of users, and dole out numbers randomly to each user as s/he logs on.

If you only have one computer, you probably only need one static IP address. If you want to network more than one computer/device, you may need more. For more information on that process, check out our DSL LAN page.