rdcmmnst said:
Don't they also change your ip address called like a subnet mask or something like that...
The subnet mask is another IP-length value that, when overlapped with your actual IP address, tells the network what part of your address is the network address and what part is your machine's address within that network. For example:
164.105.32.109 > Your IP.
255.255.0.0 > Your subnet mask.
Now those numbers might not mean much, but let's convert them to binary:
10100100.01101001.00100000.01101101 > Your IP.
11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 > Your subnet mask.
Now it might be a little more apparent to you. If you add the two addresses together, you get:
10100100.01101001.00000000.00000000
OR
164.105.0.0
That is your network address. Your personal address within that network would be the other portion:
0.0.32.109
Sorry if that confused you, but that's what a subnet mask is for. Just to tell network components what part of the IP is the NETWORK ADDRESS and what part is the LOCAL ADDRESS.