Network Inspector
Check your public IP, ISP and location instantly, and see if you are behind NAT, CGNAT or have a direct public IP. Free South African network tool.
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Network Inspector
Check whether you are behind NAT, CGNAT or a direct public IP, and see your IP address, network, location, latency and VPN status
IP Addresses
Public IPv4
Public IPv6
Local IPv4
Network Identity
Network (ASN)
The registered owner of your IP block.
This reflects infrastructure, not your retail ISP
or connection type.
This reflects infrastructure, not your retail ISP
or connection type.
Location
Timezone
Compares your device timezone to your IP's country.
A mismatch may mean a VPN is active.
A mismatch may mean a VPN is active.
VPN / Proxy
Performance
Latency
Average round-trip time to Cloudflare (1.1.1.1)
measured over 3 pings.
measured over 3 pings.
Analysing your connectionβ¦
What this means
Public IP address
The address the rest of the internet sees you as. With a direct public IP your device can be reached from outside, which matters if you want to host a server, reach a device at home remotely, or run some online games and apps.
NAT (Network Address Translation)
Your home or office router gives each device a private address such as 192.168.x.x and shares one public IP between all of them. This is the normal setup, and you can usually open ports yourself on your own router when something needs to be reachable.
CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT)
Your ISP puts many customers behind a single shared public IP, so you never get one of your own. It lets the ISP stretch a limited pool of IPv4 addresses, but because you do not control that shared IP, port forwarding will not work, and self hosting, security cameras, remote access and some online games can break even when your connection otherwise feels fine.
Why it matters
If you only browse, stream and use apps, NAT or CGNAT makes no real difference. It matters when you need a device or service at home to be reachable from outside, which needs either a direct public IP or ordinary NAT where you control the router. Behind CGNAT you may need to ask your ISP for a public IP, sometimes a paid add on, or use a workaround such as a VPN or a tunnel.