How to recognize if an IP address comes from a mobile phone or computer/laptop?

How to recognize if an IP address comes from a mobile phone or computer/laptop? I am particularly interested in this IP address 178.103.40.56, its ISP is T-mobile. I am wondering if it comes from a pc or mobile phone?|||Well, basically, you can't (with any actual certainty) tell what kind of device is in use from an IP address on the basis of an IP address, even a static one (in the instance of your question, it'll be a dynamic assigned one).





The IP you picked up, will be ISP issued and subsequently, it has no actual physical ties to the device it's acting as an wide area or local area network address.





If we assumed, say in the instance of a direct connection (which this wont be), where the primary network connection is direct between 'terminal' and the TNC (aka cable modem, dsl modem, cellular transceiver based modem) - then the ip only points to the point of connection of the primary connected device (i.e. the TNC/Terminal Node Controller aka the modem in most cases).





The actual 'terminal' could anything from a subsidary connection slaved off that primary connected device (through a router/hub/virtual connection sharing device on a computer). And this could be millions of layers deep, or one layer deep, or the immediate secondary IP protocol (but not always TCP/IP protocol) device following the node (TNC).





So the nearest you can essentially get to even get within a galaxy-wide proximity of positive ID of a device (unique to the device) by IP address, is it's network MAC.





But a MAC does not identify a device positively and uniquely. You can temporarily change a MAC address and substitute any compatible valid format MAC address to a device (which is lost if you cycle/reset the device or power it off) - so for example, i could make the Netgear N wifi adaptor i have in use currently look like any other device (MAC wise) by changing it's MAC address to another and reconnecting to the network.





The nearest thing you'll ever get to a positive ID of a device ,without actually catching it physically in the act of operation and communicating - this includes wired and wireless devices), is if it contains an interrogatable unique ID that's an hardware instance identifier or authorisation ID type 'device'.





A good example of that, is the IMEI of a cellular phone or cellular transceiver device (if we talk GSM/UTMS and similar systen telephony %26amp; telegraphy devices).





However, the equipment with such an ID (two parts in the case of a cellular device, IMEI %26amp; the indentity of the SIM), only really presents this info normally via interrogating it locally via a diagonstics command sequence, via a data bus request, or a particular authenticated packet request from the cellular provider (remember, not all cellular ISP's are actually the telcom).





So in the world of cold hard reality - unless you have the means to interrogate locally (in LAN terms) such as a telco would for it's subscriber connections, without highly illegal (in most cases, in many parts of the world) methods that more or less involve masquarading as part of the telco's security/metering systems (nowhere near as easy as common myths would entail it to be), your methods at best stop at finding the translation of the local area (nearest UBR or similar) location (serial number or coded name for the location) point of access as it would back-translate from it's wide area identity.





A common myth is that a connection, active, can be literally traced to a pin-point actual provable location %26amp; terminal and user in absolute terms - from anywhere else on the internet (sufficient to give the means that if you were physically caught in the act, and the results of means and methods and source could be unquestionably pinned on you), is simply not true.





Hopefully, that covers the question and associated factors etc - the scope of info on the subject that can be got (with cooperation) would fill a server or three, let alone a minimal text allowance on this Q%26amp;A site. I will not quote my sources for the security of others who legally provided me information and of the legal methods they used (under full legal authority) for security in IT %26amp; Telecoms.|||Yeah, Christopher gives the good answer, in a word, you can't tell whether an IP address comes from a mobile phone or computer/laptop, there are many varieties, for example, if you use one VPN on your mobile phone, when you get an IP address comes from that mobile phone, but in fact, that mobile phone had used VPN instead of its real