Why does the american server assign a IP# that has no permission on the internet?

ulrikfriis

When connecting to a VPN server on the US westcoast i'm assign an IP number as 198.18.xx.xxx. And I can't access the american version of Netflix.

When I check the IP number I get the answer from IANA: Addresses starting with "198.18." or "198.19." are set aside for use in isolated laboratory networks used for benchmarking and performance testing. They should never appear on the Internet and if you see Internet traffic using these addresses, they are being used without permission.

Firmy

Hello @ulrikfriis

That is the internal IP within the VPN. The VPN creates a tunnel between the user's device and a VPN server, which encrypts all traffic passing through it.

Within this VPN tunnel, there are two private IP addresses: one for the user's device and one for the VPN server. These IP addresses are not visible outside of the tunnel and are only used to route traffic between the two endpoints.

When a user connects to a website or service through the VPN, the external site sees the public IP address of the VPN gateway, not the private IP address of the user's device or the VPN server.

If you want to check what public IP address you are using while connected to the VPN, you can go to a website like https://whatismyipaddress.com/ and see the VPN gateway's public IP address, which is the one that is visible to external sites.

However, some services, such as Netflix, try to prevent VPN users from accessing their content by blocking the public IP addresses of known VPN gateways. Therefore, even though your private IP address within the VPN tunnel is not visible outside of it, the public IP address of the VPN gateway can still be detected and blocked by services like Netflix Why can't I watch 3rd party streaming services with F-Secure FREEDOME VPN? - F-Secure Community

Kindly let me know if you have a further question and I would be happy to assist you.

Thank you and have a good day.

Firmy

Hello @ulrikfriis

Welcome to the F-Secure Community. Thank you for your post.

I'm happy to help you with your issue. Let me check with our team and I will get back to you.

In the meantime, please try turning off the VPN and then turning it back on to see if you can get a different IP address.

Thank you for reaching out to us, and please let me know if there's anything else I can do to assist you. Have a great day!