Have you ever wondered how come a web page is able to display every visitor's IP related data? Well let me explain you how things work. IP (Internet Protocol) is a number of conventions that manage connection and communication between computers over a network. To identify a certain computer in a network it must have a unique characteristic. This identity is given by the IP address. Not only computers have addresses but every device that takes part in a network (printers, Internet fax machines, routers, etc.). When two or more computers use, over the Internet, the same address, they may be using a multiple client device which can be translated as a router, a virtual hosting web server, a proxy server (the address is usually hidden)or it involves an ISP (Internet Service Provider).

Public IP addresses are unique "ID"'s that fortunately one cannot choose. They are allocated and registered by the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). The IANA assigns super-blocks to Regional Internet Registries (RIR), who further allocate smaller blocks to ISP's and organizations. There are 5 operational RIRs that that oversee the allocation and registration of Internet number resources all over the world: American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) for North America, Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry (LACNIC) for Latin America and the Caribbean region, Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) for Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) for Asia and the Pacific region and African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) for Africa.

Starting from base level, IP addresses are allocated due to the number of demands from each ISP or company. Because there are different requirements, IP address spaces are divided in different classes taking into account the size of the network they are allocated to. Using a number formula, it was able to differentiate a number of 5 network classes: Class A (/8 Prefixes), Class B (/16 Prefixes), Class C (/24 Prefixes) and another two special classes: Class D (multicast or many-to-many communication) and Class E (reserved).

IP 2 Country is a small application designed to find the country to which the given IP address is allocated. It has a built in "calculator" that transforms the 8-bit address into a decimal number. Decimal numbers are the actual codes or values that are allocated to a country. Each country is assigned a series of such values and that is the way a web page, including this application, is able to show you the country from where you are accessing it. There are several applications that are able to recognize even your ISP and its location but, of course, they are shareware applications.

The IP addresses we are used to are actually 32-bit ones which, due to a standard (doted decimal notation), it was simplified to be more easily to read. This decimal notation is the basis that IP 2 Country relies on. It has a data base with the decimal values that are specific to a country. For example the decimal value 1347716159 refers to the IP address 80.84.132.63 specific to United Kingdom.

When a non allocated IP address is given to the application, when clicking the Find button, in the Country window you will be answered "UNKNOWN". It is also possible that in the program's data base, this IP address, though real, doesn't exist. That is why you are advised to update it regularly in order to get accurate results.

Unfortunately, the application doesn't have a live update possibility, that is why, the only solution to keep the software up to date is by visiting the official site and download a .zip archived data base. The program also lacks a direct link to the developers site. At least the title bar is equipped with the needed address. For a freeware application it looks good and taking into account its task, it does a good job.

The Good

It is a simple but a nice looking application, and it has a single feature, that is matching a country to an IP address, and it does it good.

The Bad

The data base needs to be updated and it doesn't have an Update feature or at list a link to the updated file location. Be careful not to introduce host names for the application becomes erratic and will give you, besides the UNKNOWN answer, several other countries that don't match reality.

The Truth

There are web sites and free softwares that offer far more information based on your IP address. The reliability of the application is questionable because the same IP address that IP 2 Country connected to United Kingdom, was tested on two other softwares and the country that matched was Lebanon and a web site assigned it to Spain. Due to advancing to IPv6 the developer should implement support for these new addressing system.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: