Ifconfig.co – Hacker-friendly “What is my IP address”

I wonder how much more it will take before the answer to "What is my IP address?" will simply be "Look in the settings" or "Just type ip addr in the terminal".

We are so used to NAT that we don't realize how crazy it is that you essentially have to ask a stranger what's your address. It's really difficult to explain this to someone with no networking knowledge. Nothing else works this way: phone numbers, emails or postal addresses.

Phone numbers do work that way.

Are you referring to country code prefixes?

Their point is that you can always give your number to anyone and they can directly use it to contact you. It's never unclear what number to give someone so they can reach you. Yeah calls have to be routed, but routes are implicit, not something you have to worry about as src or dest.

No, your own phone number.

Say you're at home, you have a landline, and you don't know what your own phone number is. How do you get it? You call someone with caller ID, and ask them to tell you what number you called from.

There are numbers one can call for ANI / ANAC info from a landline. They vary by carrier and sometimes region. MCI has a well-known line that reads back your number.

Of course, I haven't had a land line in years and my cell phones tell me their numbers in the settings.