Private IP ranges

Private IP addresses are a range of IP addresses that are reserved for use on private networks, such as home or office networks, that are not directly connected to the Internet. Private IP addresses are not routable on the public Internet, meaning that they cannot be used to communicate directly with devices on the Internet.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has reserved three blocks of IP addresses for private networks, which are:

• 10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 (10.0.0.0/8)

• 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 (172.16.0.0/12)

• 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 (192.168.0.0/16)

Devices on private networks can be assigned IP addresses from these ranges, and communication between devices on the same private network can be established using these addresses. However, in order to communicate with devices outside of the private network, such as on the public Internet, a network address translation (NAT) device is needed to map the private IP addresses to a public IP address.

Using private IP addresses allows for efficient use of public IP addresses, as multiple devices on a private network can share a single public IP address. Private IP addresses are also useful for maintaining security, as devices on private networks are not directly accessible from the Internet, and can only communicate through a NAT device.

It is important to note that while private IP addresses are not routable on the public Internet, they can still cause conflicts if multiple networks use the same private IP address range. To avoid such conflicts, private networks should use unique IP addresses within their own private IP address range, and should not use IP addresses that are reserved for other private networks.

The Packet Squirrel uses the 172.16.32.x range of private IPs.

It is not uncommon for the Network port to also receive an IP address in the private network range, as many companies and home networks use private ranges for internal addressing as well.