IP Type Checker

How the class is decided

Every public IP address sits inside a routed prefix, and every prefix is announced to the rest of the internet by an autonomous system with its own number, the ASN. The checker asks RIPEstat's network-info endpoint for the prefix and the announcing ASN, then asks its as-overview endpoint for the name the ASN is registered under. Both answers come from RIPE NCC routing collectors and registry data, not from a commercial IP database.

The ASN is then compared with lists we keep by hand:

• Mobile carrier networks. ASNs used by an operator's cellular network, such as T-Mobile US (AS21928) or Three UK (AS206067). Phones, mobile data and fixed wireless on the carrier's radio network all appear here.
• Carriers with mobile and fixed customers. Operators such as Vodafone Germany (AS3209) or Orange France (AS3215) announce home broadband and mobile data from the same ASN, so an address there can be either.
• Hosting, cloud and CDN networks. Cloud platforms, VPS hosts and CDNs, including the networks that many VPN services rent their servers from.

We started the carrier lists with the carriers sold in the Coronium catalog and then added major operators in other markets. Each entry was checked against its RIPEstat holder record on October 30, 2026, and every listed ASN was announcing routes that day. The full lists are at the end of this page.

When an ASN is on none of the lists, the checker reads its holder name for words such as mobile, wireless or cellular, or hosting, cloud or server, and tells you when that weaker match is all it has. Everything else is reported as an ISP or mixed network.

Commercial databases go further than routing data. MaxMind's connection type data sorts addresses into classes such as Cellular, Cable/DSL and Corporate, and the IP2Location usage type field separates Mobile ISP from Fixed Line ISP and Data Center. Sites that score traffic usually license one of these, which is why two checkers can disagree about the same address.

Why a mobile IP can show as hosting

If a mobile proxy shows up as hosting or datacenter, one of these is usually the reason.

• You checked the entry, not the exit. A proxy has an address you connect to and an address websites see. The connect address is often a server that forwards traffic to the phone line, so it sits on a hosting network. Only the exit address says anything about the line.
• Traffic leaves through a tunnel. iCloud Private Relay, VPN apps and corporate security gateways send traffic out through cloud or CDN networks. The site then sees the tunnel operator, not the carrier.
• The database is behind. Address blocks move between operators through sales, mergers and transfers, and IP databases catch up at different speeds. An example from our own checks: AS10507, registered to Sprint Personal Communications Systems, still carries that name in RIPEstat but announced no routes on October 30, 2026. A list frozen before the network was merged into another operator would still call it mobile.
• The operator announces everything from one ASN. On a mixed ASN, a fixed broadband line and a phone look the same at the routing level.

Why a mobile proxy shows as datacenter walks through each case with a fix. For how carriers put many phones behind one public address, read CGNAT and IPv6 on mobile networks and what CGNAT is.

Check the exit address of a proxy

Open this page in a browser that is set to use the proxy and press Check my IP, or send one request through the proxy to an address echo and paste the result into the form. Our own endpoint returns the caller's address and edge location as JSON:

curl -x http://LOGIN:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT https://www.coronium.io/api/whoami
curl -x socks5h://LOGIN:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT https://www.coronium.io/api/whoami

The first line is for an HTTP proxy, the second for SOCKS5 with DNS resolved on the proxy side. If the proxy rotates on every request, the address can change between the echo and the lookup. On a dedicated mobile proxy you change the address yourself, from the dashboard, through the API, with a rotation link or on a timer, so the address you check is the one you keep using.

What this cannot tell you

The class describes a network. It does not describe your session or your standing with any site.

• It is not a fraud score. It says nothing about whether an address has been abused. For that, look at the IP reputation feeds and the public DNS blocklists.
• It is not VPN or proxy detection. A VPN on a hosting network shows as hosting, and so does an ordinary cloud server. A proxy on a home or mobile connection looks like any other customer of that network.
• It does not show how many people share the address. Carriers commonly put many subscribers behind one public IPv4 address with carrier-grade NAT. RFC 6598 set aside 100.64.0.0/10 for the inside of those NATs, and RFC 6888 lists what carrier NATs must do.
• It is not a location. The country an ASN is registered in and the country of the user can differ. Use What is my IP or the IP and timezone check for location questions.

For the raw routing record without any classification, use the ASN lookup.