Thread: Mobile IP's, I am just guessing but am I right?

When a person goes on the internet, from their mobile, am I correct in thinking the IP they're given is from the nearest tower which their mobile is receiving a signal from, therefore anyone else also using their mobile to browse the net at that SAME time from the same tower would therefore have the same IP?

Is this how it works? Are the towers assigned an IP?

Each mobile device would have to have it's own unique identifier.
I don't know if IPs are handed out directly to mobile devices or if some other translated method it used.
They may even be assigned private IP addresses and not public IPs.

In any event, each device would need a unique address of some kind so that the device gets back the proper packets of information. Otherwise, if you and I were browsing from different devices, you might receive a web page that I requested. Imagine how embarrassing it would be for me when I go looking for birth control pills and they show up on your screen. mg:

Originally Posted by Zap

Each mobile device would have to have it's own unique identifier.
I don't know if IPs are handed out directly to mobile devices or if some other translated method it used.
They may even be assigned private IP addresses and not public IPs.

In any event, each device would need a unique address of some kind so that the device gets back the proper packets of information. Otherwise, if you and I were browsing from different devices, you might receive a web page that I requested. Imagine how embarrassing it would be for me when I go looking for birth control pills and they show up on your screen. mg:

Ok, but are the IP's recycled like how AOL does it so someone later down the road can have the same IP? I am mainly focused on t-mobile.

What you are stating C as in the IP you technically see on a server log could be.

Even though each device has it's own IP as in 'private' the public IP 'what you see in records' could be the same if that's how the towers work.

For example, all of my computers will show the same IP if they browse WTF even though they all have different private internal IP's the IP that will show is my ISP's IP given to me.

Ok, I should have been more clear, that's that IP I mean, the one in my logs, I am having some issues with a member and trying to explain how towers and IP's work when it comes to mobile but as I have never browsed the net with a mobile device I am unsure.

We have her and someone else posting at various times with the same t-mobile IP... we're all confused cause the one says she never even posts from her t-mobile as it's too hard to type.

Originally Posted by GRIM

What you are stating C as in the IP you technically see on a server log could be.

Even though each device has it's own IP as in 'private' the public IP 'what you see in records' could be the same if that's how the towers work.

For example, all of my computers will show the same IP if they browse WTF even though they all have different private internal IP's the IP that will show is my ISP's IP given to me.

Bingo.

And, to answer your question, Colleen, yes. And, "somewhere down the road" could be a minute or two.
I'm not exactly sure how mobile devices accessing from a tower are handled and they could be handled differently by different providers.
Either way, it would look to WTF like one single IP for multiple users (in the case of many private IPs being shared on one public IP.
Or, a new public IP is given to each device when it connects, but the number of connections each day that one tower would see would be so high that the IPs would cycle through pretty quickly and repeat sooner rather than later.

Zap added 1 Minutes and 40 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by Colleen

Ok, I should have been more clear, that's that IP I mean, the one in my logs, I am having some issues with a member and trying to explain how towers and IP's work when it comes to mobile but as I have never browsed the net with a mobile device I am unsure.

We have her and someone else posting at various times with the same t-mobile IP... we're all confused cause the one says she never even posts from her t-mobile as it's too hard to type.

Does T-Mobile provide standard wired internet access? That would explain it outright.

Zap added 1 Minutes and 29 Seconds later...

BTW, I have browsed WTF from my phone and I don't even know whether or not I was given an IP (public or private) or some other method was used.

Thanks again. I am not sure about T-Mobile at all, but I think the two ladies are nowhere near each other.

it could also be the towers route back to some form of internet access completely separate from the towers themselves.