What Is an IP Address?
FRITZ!Box Fon 5124 – 7 Network Settings
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addresses so that they are available for assignment in local
IP networks. An IP address may only be assigned once within
the local network. A private IP address may exist in any num-
ber of other local networks.
Fixed IP Address
Fixed IP addresses are IP addresses which are permanently
assigned to a computer or another device like a network
printer.
Assigning fixed IP addresses makes sense in cases where a
local network has a sufficiently large pool of IP addresses
available, or when a computer is always supposed to be ac-
cessible at a certain address (such as a web server or e-mail
server).
Dynamic IP Address
A dynamic IP address is an IP address valid only for the dura-
tion of one Internet or network session.
Every computer participating in the Internet must have a
uniquely assigned public IP address. Since only a limited
number of such IP addresses is available, they must be used
sparingly. That is why most of the Internet participants who
dial in to the Internet receive a dynamic IP address. They are
called dynamic because every participant receives a new
public address that has not been assigned yet each time he
or she dials in to the Internet.
By contrast, dynamic addresses are usually used in local IP
networks because they are easy to handle, and because us-
ing them avoids incorrect IP address entries or unintentional
double assignments. The DHCP service is responsible for as-
signing unique dynamic IP addresses.
