{"id":10856,"date":"2021-09-13T05:26:37","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T05:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fastestvpn.com\/resources\/?p=10856"},"modified":"2025-05-22T15:13:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T15:13:28","slug":"what-is-an-ip-address-and-how-to-hide-online-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fastestvpn.com\/resources\/what-is-an-ip-address-and-how-to-hide-online-activities\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an IP Address – How to Hide Your Online Activities","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet, as we know it, is not made up of a central server giving out the <\/span>internet <\/span><\/i>to devices connected to it \u2013 it\u2019s billions of devices connected worldwide. Some devices are clients such as yourself who are visitors, and some computers are servers that host something on the internet (e.g, a website).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

The vastness of the internet is overwhelming. With so many devices, it needs some key identifiers to communicate with each other. An IP address provides the unique identifier required to communicate.<\/span><\/p>\n

IP address comprises of numerical and hexadecimal numbers. Every device on the internet has an IP address that serves as its unique identifier in the digital ocean. The device that you are currently using has one, and FastestVPN\u2019s website has one. So, you are able to connect to different servers and hosts on the internet with the correct IP address, just like the postman knows the right address on the street.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the end of our discussion. There are more things you need to know about IP addresses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Get FastestVPN <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n\n

How Does Internet Communication Work?<\/h3>\n

Now that you have understood how the IP address serves as a unique identifier let\u2019s take a look at how the process of communication unfolds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea that people will have to remember each IP address to visit their favorite websites is very inconvenient, if not completely unrealistic. It\u2019s why we have alphanumeric names. Instead of remembering the IP address for FastestVPN, we can simply write fastestvpn.com and be on the destination. Here, the name F<\/span>astestVPN<\/b>\u00a0serves as a mask for the actual IP address<\/a>, and <\/span>.com<\/b> defines the extension, which stands for commercial.<\/span><\/p>\n

The right address is determined by what\u2019s called a DNS server. It\u2019s an address book of the internet that keeps records of all domain names and their corresponding IP addresses. Internet service providers have\u00a0 DNS servers that handle DNS requests and route the user to the desired location.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you send a request to open fastestvpn.com, the request is pushed to the internet service provider. Then, the ISP looks up the DNS tables to determine the correct IP address and delivers the webpage back to the user.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Hide Online Activity<\/b><\/h2>\n