How do I know the type of connection from the IP Address?

Question

The website GameFAQs uses the IP Address to know the type of connection and decide the level of a new user.

See image: https://i.stack.imgur.com/dplIa.png

How does it determine the type of connection using only the IP Address?

NOTE: If possible, please give a practical example.

This is not related to Home and end-user computing question nor related to development, testing and development tools. So I can't ask this question on SuperUser or Stack Overflow. Where do I ask this question? — abhisekp, Feb 07 '15 at 05:55

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 04 '15 at 12:37

2

Basically, they cannot. They can identify the country and the ISP of the originating IP address (you can do this for example using https://apps.db.ripe.net/search/query.html, the API also can be used to add some automation level), but not the type of connection.

Some ISP do indicate the type of connection in the reverse-lookup DNS records, but this isn't a strict rule, or even a general one - noone is obliged to do this.

So, I can say that everything that is written on the screenshot supplied is an assumption. You can even experiment with this - by changing your own DNS reverse-record and looking for a change in your level. Consider adding the following patterns: fiber, 10G, 40g+, tier-one or something like. :)

answered Feb 04 '15 at 12:37

drookie

8,625
1
19
29

Could you please elaborate about the site Ripe.net. What's their work? How do they work? – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 12:42
It's European Internet Registry, the organization intended to support the internet infrastructure. Consider reading wikipedia. You can also use the American Registry for the same purpose (especially if you are in America). Basically, registries are the primary source of information about IP addresses, because they manage their allocation and assignment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Internet_registry – drookie Feb 04 '15 at 12:46
My ISP shows that my IP is connected using Cable Modem but when I registered in their website, it gave me a provision level 10. But my friend registered there using his college network (in India) but was given level 14. – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 12:47
Post your IP address and your friend IP address and we will probably be able to make some more assumptions about the technique this site is using. – drookie Feb 04 '15 at 12:48
Most IP addresses in India given are dynamic. So they're not the ones I registered with. I don't have my friend's IP because he registered there two years back and he is out of college now. For my current connection IP: 113.19.215.185 – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 12:52
1

Your IP doesn't resolve, I mean it's not even NXDOMAIN - the resolver just loops up when trying to resolve your IP. May be this is just for me. But if not - if this is reproducible for others - this may be the reason you are given low points and this is definitely the reason to ask your ISP technical support. – drookie Feb 04 '15 at 12:55
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/20831/discussion-between-abhisekp-and-drookie). – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 13:00

Ricardo · Answer 2 · 2015-02-04T12:39:30.077

0

The only way one can guess at it is to check its reverse DNS entry.

For example if the server detects a connection from

72.152.177.40

it might do a DNS query like this:

# dig +short -x 72.152.177.40
adsl-72-152-177-40.asm.bellsouth.net.

The first word in the DNS entry clearly says its a DSL connection. That would be an example of an easy one.

Another example:

# dig +short -x 201.233.163.82
cable201-233-163-82.epm.net.co

That one tells you its a Cable Modem connection.

edited Feb 04 '15 at 12:39

answered Feb 04 '15 at 12:33

Ricardo

739
5
6

It's not always the case. The hostname might not be resolved sometimes. – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 12:40
Thats right, thats why I said its just a guess. – Ricardo Feb 04 '15 at 13:14
Is there any way to spoof it into resolving it into something more appropriate that would show the site that the IP is from one of the categories? – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 13:34

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 04 '15 at 12:33

0

They can use whois domain name information, see this example:

http://who.is/whois-ip/ip-address/96.240.128.185

You can search any IP address there.

It is available as a unix/linux command (whois) and you can also get it for Windows.

answered Feb 04 '15 at 12:33

pgr

459
5
16

There are many such online services such as ip-score.com which provide very detailed information about the IP Address. But my question is how do they know the type of connection i.e. Cable Modem user or University user, etc? No such things are mentioned in the whois. – abhisekp Feb 04 '15 at 12:38

How do I know the type of connection from the IP Address?

3 Answers3