What websites can see about you right now
Checking your connection…
- Your public IP address
- Internet provider (ISP)
- —
- Location of the address
- —
- Teal VPN
- —
Read from this one request and shown back to you. Nothing is looked up elsewhere and nothing is stored. What Teal VPN keeps.
That is the whole of what a normal website learns from your connection before you type anything: an address, the network it belongs to, and the place that network is registered. It is enough to recognise you the next time, to show you local prices, and to guess your language.
What an IP address is
An IP address is the number your connection uses on the internet, the way a phone number works for calls. Your home or mobile provider assigns it; at home it usually stays the same for weeks, on mobile it can change every day. Most addresses are IPv4 (four numbers, like 203.0.113.7); newer connections also have a longer IPv6 address.
Devices on your home Wi‑Fi share one public address. The private addresses inside the network (192.168.x.x) never leave the router, so a website cannot tell your laptop from your phone by address alone.
Your ISP, and what it sees
The provider line above comes from the public registry of which company owns which address block. On a home connection it is your broadband company; on a phone it is your carrier; on café Wi‑Fi it is whoever sells the café its internet.
Your provider sees more than websites do: every domain your device asks for and every server it connects to, in the clear, even when the pages themselves are encrypted. That record is what a VPN takes away from the network you are on. What a VPN hides, and what it does not.
Changing what websites see
Connect a VPN and the box above changes: websites see the VPN server’s address and provider, and your own provider sees one encrypted connection to that server. Your real address is still used between your device and the VPN server; nothing can remove it from that one hop.
Restarting a router or switching to mobile data gives you a different address from the same provider, which changes the number but not what it reveals. A VPN is the only everyday way to change the provider and the location a site sees.
Get Teal VPN free with 500 MB every day, no card.
Questions
What is my ISP?
Your ISP (internet service provider) is the company whose network your connection leaves through: your home broadband company, your mobile carrier, or the owner of the Wi‑Fi you joined. The box at the top of this page names the network your current address belongs to.
Who is my internet provider on public Wi‑Fi?
The café, hotel or airport is buying internet from a provider, and websites see that provider’s address, not yours. The name shown above is the provider of the network you are on, which may not be the company you pay.
Is my IP address private information?
It is not secret: every website you open receives it, and it points to your provider and roughly to your city. It does not reveal your name or your exact address by itself, but it is a stable label for your connection that sites use to recognise and track you.
Why does the city look wrong?
Location databases map an address to where the provider registered it, which can be the provider’s hub rather than your town. Mobile networks are often shown in another city entirely.
How do I hide my IP address?
Connect through a VPN. Websites then see the VPN server’s address, and your provider sees one encrypted connection instead of the sites you visit. Teal VPN does this in one tap and has a free plan with 500 MB every day.