Being blocked online can be frustrating, whether it’s a forum lockout, a game ban, or a temporary IP restriction. The good news is that you don’t always need a VPN to get around these restrictions. A hotspot on your phone can give you a new IP in an instant.
Why do I need to change my IP?
Changing your IP doesn't always involve hiding or changing your location. It can be as simple as needing to reset after being banned from a forum, banned from a game, or having your speed limited when collecting data for research purposes.
These cases don't require you to be in another country, nor do they require military-grade encryption. You simply replace your current IP address with a new one.
Luckily, your smartphone already has what you need to quickly change your IP address without a VPN. All you need to do is turn on your mobile hotspot and you can connect to your computer with your new IP address.
How do mobile hotspots (and CGNAT) hide in the crowd?
Cellular carriers use a technology called Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT). Instead of giving each phone its own public IP address , carriers route hundreds or even thousands of users through a single address. When you browse the web over a cellular connection, websites only see your shared public IP, not your individual device identifier.
This creates a degree of natural anonymity. The IP address you are using is probably being used by dozens of other people in the city. When you turn on airplane mode and get a new IP, you are not only changing your address, you are also joining a completely different group of users.
Cellular networks also route traffic through multiple layers. First, your laptop communicates with your phone. The phone translates that connection through its own internal network. Then, the carrier’s CGNAT system re-translates that connection before connecting to the Internet. Each layer adds another level of separation between you and the websites you visit.
At first glance, it may seem like the carriers are protecting your privacy, but that’s not the goal. CGNAT is built to stretch the dwindling supply of IPv4 addresses , not to protect your identity. Any anonymity you gain is just a side effect of being lost in a shared infrastructure.
How to change IP address using mobile hotspot
The easiest way to change your IP is to use your phone's hotspot. Just connect your computer to the network, turn on and off airplane mode, and you'll get a new IP instantly.
Note : Turning on airplane mode usually gives you a new IP, but sometimes carriers give you the same IP. If that happens, just repeat the steps - the network will eventually assign you a different address.
Every time you disconnect and reconnect to your cellular network, your carrier assigns you a new IP from their pool. Carriers have thousands of IP addresses and they rotate them between users constantly. You just have to force the rotation on demand.
This works because mobile carriers use dynamic IP allocation. Unlike home internet, which can keep the same IP for weeks, mobile connections will take whatever IP is available from the pool.
So by turning on your mobile hotspot, you can quickly switch between different IP addresses from the same provider without a VPN. This is perfect for testing, researching, or getting around temporary restrictions – just don’t expect it to fool anyone who looks closely.
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Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
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If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
