Mobile Phone Or Work's Isp?

[SurreyGuy]

I've never understood ISPs, i.e. does a piece of equipment (laptop, mobile phone, etc) have an ISP or is the ISP related to the server/router that I'm accessing the internet through?

So.....................

When I connect my mobile phone to wi-fi at work in order to send e-mails or post on internet forums, is the ISP address that is attributed to my activity that of my mobile phone or of my work’s server?

Does the same "theory" apply when I use my home router?

[mccfluff]

ISP stands for internet service provider so simply put the company that is providing your internet service at the time.

so if you contact to your works wifi, you will be using their ISP.

Are you thinking of IP addresses which identifies who and the where you are emailing from so if you sent a personal email from work on their network it would track back to your work, assuming they are not masking their IP addresses - same if you were at home

That's about as good as i get, im not that techie - there will be someone else about who can expand i'm sure

[mikey4444]

mccfluf...you have it in one !

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks mccfluff.

TBH, I'm now not sure what I'm talking about! :o) It may well be IP rather than ISP.

From what you've said (and with my non-techie knowledge, I can't see what the difference is, so can somepone please be gentle with me and explain?

[Guilbert53]

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a bit like a phone number.

Every phone that connects to the phone system has a unique phone number.

In the same way every device that connects to the internet has an IP address (actually it is a bit more complex than that - your ROUTER has a unique IP address - but any device like a PC or laptop which is attached to your router has a sort of "common" IP address. If we did not do that we would soon run out of IP addresses.

An IP address is normally 4 sets of numbers - like 66.101.75.140

In fact every web site also has an IP address. We only give it a "name" like google.co.uk to make it easier for humans to work with.

So for example we know the web site google.co.uk.

But it can also be reached using IP address 216.58.206.67 (think of this as its "phone number")

So if you went to your browser and typed in 216.58.206.67 in the address area (not the search area) it will display google.co.uk.

So an IP and an ISP are two totally different things.

An ISP is a bit like a phone COMPANY (say BT or TalkTalk) and your IP address is your "phone number" to connect to that ISP.

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks Guilbert53.

[SurreyGuy]

So, if I send an e-mail or go on a forum via 4G (which I believe eats into my data allowance?), will it just be my phone's IP address that will show?

[Guilbert53]

To be honest I am not sure how it works when you use your data connection (3G or 4G) to then connect to the internet.

But you are right in saying that if you use your 3G or 4G rather than wi fi then it IS using your data allowance.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick here, but it sounds to me that you are trying to use the internet in a way that it cant be traced back to you (sorry if I am mistaken).

If so then be aware that a combination of your phone company and whatever ISP you use will have a track of everything you do on your phone and on the internet so nothing is truly private.

If you want to use the internet at home without being traced I believe you can use something called a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

However I have never setup or used a VPN so will leave it to others to explain if that is what you need and how they work.

An intro to VPN here (there are other web sites that explain it all )

https://www.bestvpn.com/vpns-beginners-need-know/

[SurreyGuy]

Thanks again Guilbert53.

I'm trying to post on an employer review website. I'm currently in the middle of a divorce (my wife went off with my best friend) and I've left my work (where they both work) and want to post on the review website. OK, it may get deleted, but at least I'll have got it off my chest!