How to Change Your IP Address: 4 Ways and When to Use Each

Your IP address is assigned by your internet provider, and that is what websites see. There are several ways to change it, but the result differs: some give you another address in the same city, others an address in another country. Let us go through them.

1. Restart the router

Most home providers assign dynamic addresses: after reconnecting, the router may get a different one. Switch it off for a few minutes and turn it back on. It costs nothing, but the address stays in the same city with the same provider, and for some people it does not change at all.

2. Switch to mobile data

Share the connection from your phone or turn Wi-Fi off on it — the address will come from the mobile carrier. Toggling airplane mode on and off often gives a new one. The country and the carrier stay the same.

3. Turn on a VPN

A VPN routes all of the device’s traffic through its own server, so websites see that server’s address. This is handy for protecting the connection on an open network. It is less handy when you need many different addresses: every app and account gets the same one. More in Proxy vs VPN.

4. Use a proxy

A proxy is set in a specific app: a browser, an antidetect tool, a script. Each can have its own address, and you pick the country and city yourself. This is the option for work: several accounts, checking search results from another country, collecting data.

• Rotation — a new address on every request. Good for data collection and checks.
• Sticky IP — the same address for 1 to 120 minutes. Good for logging in to an account and working in it.

How to check the address has changed

Open What is my IP before and after: the page shows the address, country and provider. If you work through a proxy, you can test the connection line itself with the proxy checker.

Which one to choose

• you just need a different address once — restart the router or switch to mobile data;
• you need to protect the whole device’s connection — a VPN;
• you need addresses in a specific country, many addresses, or a separate address per account — a proxy.

Static or dynamic: which address you have

The type of address decides whether the simplest method will work. A dynamic address is given out by your internet provider for a limited time and may be replaced on a new connection. A static one is assigned to you: restarting the router will not change it, however long you wait.

It is easy to check: open My IP, write down the address, turn the router off for a few minutes and check again. If the address is the same after two or three attempts, it is static, or your internet provider keeps it assigned to you for a long time.

There is one more case: many mobile and some home internet providers put many subscribers behind a single external address. Then "your" IP is in fact shared, and sites see requests from many people coming from it.

How to change the IP on a phone

• Mobile internet. Turn on airplane mode for 10-15 seconds and turn it off. The phone will reconnect to the network and will often get a different address from the same carrier.
• Wi-Fi. The address is determined by the router, not the phone. It changes the same way as on a computer: by restarting the router or switching to another network.
• An address in another country. You need a VPN or a proxy. Setting a proxy in the Wi-Fi settings is described in the guides for Android and iPhone.

Why a site recognizes you even with a new address

The IP is only one of the signs that identify a visitor. If after changing the address the site shows the same recommendations or asks you to confirm the login, it is relying on the rest:

• Cookies. The site stores them in the browser and reads them on every visit. A new address does not erase them.
• Account. Once you have signed in to your account, the site knows who you are from any address.
• Browser fingerprint. The combination of version, fonts, screen and settings is rare enough to recognize the device.
• WebRTC. Through it the browser can reveal your real address, bypassing the proxy. You can check this in the WebRTC leak test.

For a site to treat you as a new visitor, people change everything at once: the address, the browser profile and the account. This is exactly what antidetect browsers were made for: each profile has its own cookies, its own fingerprint and its own proxy.

Common mistakes when changing the IP

• Checking the address in a different browser rather than the one where the proxy is set up. Each program goes online in its own way.
• Expecting an address in another country from restarting the router. An internet provider gives out addresses only from its own network.
• Changing the address in the middle of working in an account. For the site this is a login from a new place, and it may ask for confirmation.
• Assuming that incognito mode changes the IP. It does not save history and cookies, but the address stays the same.

With Prokso you set the country, city and rotation mode in the generator and pay per GB with no expiry: residential, mobile and datacenter IPs are available in one dashboard.