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IP Addresses.
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[Deleted User]
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Hi, can someone help me here please.
I'm a mod on another forum and we're struggling to clarify something.
Can two people have the exact same IP address? We have a member who says you can but we just want to make sure
I'm a mod on another forum and we're struggling to clarify something.
Can two people have the exact same IP address? We have a member who says you can but we just want to make sure
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Apparently not..an admin has found that they have 2 members who have the exact same IP address but one the member is denying that both accounts belong to them and says there must be another person somewhere in the country with the same.
The only way I know of where two different computers can present the same IP address to the web is if they share connection to a router connected to the same broadband connection. The WAN side of the router will acquire a single IP address from the ISP which all computers on the LAN side appear to have when they connect to web sites.
I've just done this with my desktop and laptop computers on my connection. Point each one at different websites that display your IP Address and they both show the same one. And if you think about it two separate internet connections from separate locations must have separate IP addresses otherwise it would screw up the routing of data to and from each of them.
*Actually if the IP address is assigned manually then it is possible to give two devices the same address but that should throw up a warning when both try to connect.
If they had the same IP address but at different times then it is plausible they could be different people. If they share an ISP then under DHCP it is possible for person A to log off completely and person B to log on and get the IP address previously given to person A. Would be a remarkable coincidence that they both sign in to the same forum however.
But in the main if two people have the same IP address then chances are they either are one real person or two people sharing an internet connection. Especially if they are both using the forum at the exact same time with a single IP address between them.
I'll bear that in mind Telly thanks.
What we do know is that the admin of a forum has banned a member and found, at the same time that the person they're querying has the identical IP. On being questioned they say it isn't them, their IP isn't static and they have said their iP address can put them in different locations in the country because of it. It just seems more like to win the lottery than have the same IP on the same forum but we're wanting to make sure.
But in the case presented here it would be fairly simple to check. Assuming the forum member in question is being honest (s)he could quite easily confirm if they were using a work connection and there could be another employee using the same connection that they were not aware of.
We're suspicious..the problem is on another forum but it may come to ours and that's why we need to know. I don't understand how an IP address can sometimes put someone in, for eg, Yorkshire, then Lancashire, then the Midlands, etc, but they have said this is what happens.
Ah right..I'm confused though as to how the IP can show different counties of the country. But if this is the case you mentioned here, that could be the reason.
Mind you I have just tried a couple of random IP Address tracing sites returned by a bit of googling and apparently at this precise moment I am in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales somewhere north of Skipton. Or I could be in the Irish sea just off Douglas on the Isle of Man
Geolocation software is not always 100% accurate. E.g. Virgin use a block of IP and sometimes addresses in these blocks move around as they re-segment their network.
In answer to your first question, it HIGHLY unlike that two people have the same IP address unless they share their internet connection, e.g. same house, same wifi hotspot, same work or school or they are using the same proxy/vpn service.
The way most DHCP servers work, unless the ISP has seriously over allocated the number of users to each subnet or a ISP resegments their network, DHCP servers generally remember MAC address (of your modem/router) to which they allocate a IP to and will keep giving that MAC the same IP.
so the 2 members are both connected on the same connection, either 2 computers in the house or if the wireless has been hacked unknowingly
Aye a MAC address will "reserve" an ip address on a single subnet and that same ip address should not be given to another MAC address (obviously not talking about manually assigning addresses here).
I would tend to disagree. Many people in an office will discuss the sites they visit and often frequent the same forums etc. Seen it in many places of work. That may also explain why the forum is reporting the same ip.
OP to help solve your problem it would help to ask how this poster is accessing the forum via this ip. If it's a home connection then they are the same person, using the same connection, or (and this being extremely unlikely) using the same VPN or proxy service. The last option in my mind would mean they most likely know each other at any rate.
There was some issues of IP addresses being banned which affects loads of customers, not just one.
I think the whole act of banning/monitoring IP addresses is too risky with issues such as dynamic IPs, companies with thousands of computers sharing one internet connection, etc.
I would generally agree with this, people talk about the forums at work and multiple people sign up. The main exception is if they want to bitch about their work colleagues, lol
If some is using a public VPN or proxy service I would have to wonder why. I can understand people do it for anonimity but in a situation like this where there is some doubt, I would difiniately ask them to make a connect directly to confirm the details.
TBH, if you have lost confidence in this member, then do you really want them on your board anymore. Its not like they can turn around and sue you for banning them, its not a service they are paying for. The way I see it, the board is 'owned' by the mods, not the posters and the mods word is final.
Virgin have used these in the past but with separate IP addresses. AOL was well known for presenting a single IP address to websites because of proxies, used to cause people on forums lots of problems.