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Does mobile phone/cell phone get a private IP address or public IP address?

If the cell phone gets a private IP address, I assume that the telecom operator uses carrier grade Network Address Translation as traffic leaves the operator's network, is this correct?

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  • Only the carrier can answer for what the carrier does. Each carrier can do it differently. Unfortunately, your question is unanswerable, and questions about networks not under your direct control are off-topic here.
    – Ron Maupin ♦
    Commented Jul 7, 2018 at 20:39

3 Answers 3

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The Cell Phone get a Private IP address.They will do NAT as the packet leave out the Operator's network. They use Layer 2 PPP protocol to negotiate the IP for UEs.

Ifconfig output from my Mobile: enter image description here

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Does mobile phone/cell phone get a private IP address or public IP address?

Both scenarios are possible and in use.

If the cell phone gets a private IP address, I assume that the telecom operator uses carrier grade Network Address Translation as traffic leaves the operator's network.

With a private IPv4 address, NAT is required to connect to Internet nodes.

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In my case, using the TIM operator in Brazil my IP is public and is not even fixed. I believe they provide a range of ips from your AS for customers to pick up because they have 9,611,264 IPS v4. If not, yes, probably do src-nat to avoid v4 junk but I find it difficult.

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  • Out of curiosity..Did you checked the IP interface of the UE/Mobile or just did a what is my ip search?
    – Maverick
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 2:19
  • Only my ip search
    – Pedro Ferreira
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 3:20
  • myipsearch would give the Public IP address of the operator's gateway right? not the UE's IP address?
    – user34639
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 3:25
  • IP search will show you what ip you are going out for the internet. This could be an IP that the service provider provided only for you, or the IP address it uses for src-nat. On the phone I do not know how you see which ip is on the same cell phone it is possible to see when it enters some wi-fi network
    – Pedro Ferreira
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 3:34
  • IP search will only give you the exit node's IP, It is not your actual UE's IP. During the Attach procedure in GPRS/EDGE/HSPDA/LTE,UE will request for the IP with the APN towards the operator network.Then PGW will allocate the IP to the UE in the network( a private IP)The PGW acts as the interface between the network and other packet data networks, such as the Internet or SIP-based IMS networks.. The PGW serves as the anchor point . I will update my answer with a screenshot from UE's Ifconfig for OP
    – Maverick
    Commented Jul 3, 2018 at 3:46

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