How to Change My IP Address

This is one of the most common questions. People want to change their public IP address for a variety of reasons. For example, most p2p sharing networks such as rapidshare impose download limits  and restrict downloads allowing only a limited number of downloads within a given period of time per IP. They require a certain passage of time to allow another download. Another reason would be bans by certain game servers, etc. on the basis of IP addresses. So, users of such sites want to change their IP address to circumvent such time restrictions, or to bypass bans.

If you have a static public (or WAN)  IP address, the only way to change your IP is to contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider), and submit a formal request for IP change. Therefore, what follows here applies only to changing  dynamic public (or WAN) IP addresses, or your private (LAN) IP addresses. If any of them does not work, you can ask our Q&A Board where other users can answer your questions.

A Practical Way to Change Your IP

Provided that your IP is a dynamic one, perhaps the most practical way is to switch off your modem/router for a couple of minutes (in most cases, just 10-20 seconds would be enough), and switch it on again. When you switch off your modem/router, your ISP returns it to its pool of available IP addresses, and may dynamically allocate it to another user. When you re-connect to Internet, your ISP allocates you an IP that is available in its pool of IP addresses at that moment. And since there are literally hundreds of thousands of IPs available in its pool, the chances of getting the same IP address when reconnecting is very low, say one out of  100,000. So, the chance of getting a different IP after switching off/on of your modem/router is very high. But if that does not change your IP address, repeat the process for longer periods of time. For example, switching off your cable/DSL modem overnight, and switching it on the next day may result in IP address change.If this fails, you can try the following procedures to change your IP address: