--- title: "Private IP Addresses in VoIP Networks Considered Harmful: - ECG" description: Over the past few years, it's become very common for VoIP carriers (i.e., telephone companies using VoIP) to use private (RFC 1918) IP addresses in their i --- [![ECG](https://www.ecg.co/hubfs/lp/cloud-migration/logo-vector.svg)](https://www.ecg.co) - Who We Are Company [**About ECG** Learn about the team behind the networks and services that solve real problems.](https://www.ecg.co/about) [**Careers** Join a fun, collaborative, engineer-owned company.](https://www.ecg.co/careers) Industries We Serve [**Enterprises** Optimize multi-site voice networks while meeting compliance requirements.](https://www.ecg.co/sectors/enterprise) [**Universities** Professional services designed for the unique needs of campus networks.](https://www.ecg.co/sectors/universities) [**Government** Engineering services built for government agency voice challenges.](https://www.ecg.co/sectors/government) [**Service Providers** Deep voice expertise to maintain compliance and keep customers connected.](https://www.ecg.co/sectors/service-providers) - Technologies **Carrier & Trunking Services** SIP trunking, resilience & carrier interconnect **Compliance & Call Authentication** STIR/SHAKEN, 603+ & secure signaling **Unified Communications & Collaboration** UC capabilities & platform expertise **Platform Reliability & Security** Infrastructure, capture & network fundamentals ### Carrier & Trunking Services Design, harden, and secure the carrier side of your voice network — from SIP trunking to encrypted media and compliant recording. 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These have IPs like 192.168.0.1 or 10.0.0.1. This practice has been promoted by many of the hardware vendors. It reflects the setup many of them use in their labs. There are a number of problems this creates. One of the biggest problems is really a human problem: people aren't nearly as careful with private IP address space as they are with public Internet IP addresses. So in several cases, including some very large firms, they've accidentally re-used the same IP addresses on two different networks. The result is that the two different networks can't reach each other; nor can you route through one of them to the other.  Every technical problem is, in a way, a human problem. The human part of this is just outright sloppiness and laziness. In this case, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the private IPs -- it's the way the people are using them. Private IPs are traditionally used in home networks and small-office networks. They're used very informally. In many cases, a home or office network of private IP addresses can be re-numbered easily by changing the DHCP server. In VoIP networks, though -- as in all server networks -- renumbering is a big deal. DNS should aid in renumbering. But many VoIP devices don't really use DNS to find each other -- they use IP addresses, and don't support DNS lookups. (The reasons for this appear to be a lack of faith in reliable DNS operation, and a tradition of using numeric point codes in the SS7 network.) VoIP is hard enough as it is. Carrier VoIP is harder than enterprise VoIP. Bringing along the whole mentality of slap-'em-on-there private IPs just doesn't help anybody. ![](https://www.ecg.co/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/missing-image-Mar-25-2024-07-07-22-4234-AM.png?width=1&height=1&name=missing-image-Mar-25-2024-07-07-22-4234-AM.png) ## Similar posts [![ECG Completes Major BroadWorks Upgrade at Centennial Puerto Rico](https://www.ecg.co/hubfs/ecg-site/blog-listing-placeholder.jpg)](https://www.ecg.co/blog/2-ecg-completes-major-broadworks-upgrade-at-centennial-puerto-rico) ### [ECG Completes Major BroadWorks Upgrade at Centennial Puerto Rico](https://www.ecg.co/blog/2-ecg-completes-major-broadworks-upgrade-at-centennial-puerto-rico) [![Nothing sells VoIP like a woman on a telephone](https://www.ecg.co/hubfs/ecg-site/blog-listing-placeholder.jpg)](https://www.ecg.co/blog/41-nothing-sells-voip-like-a-woman-on-a-telephone) ### [Nothing sells VoIP like a woman on a telephone](https://www.ecg.co/blog/41-nothing-sells-voip-like-a-woman-on-a-telephone) [![ECG Drives Down Cost of VoIP Expertise](https://www.ecg.co/hubfs/ecg-site/blog-listing-placeholder.jpg)](https://www.ecg.co/blog/12-ecg-drives-down-cost-of-voip-expertise) ### [ECG Drives Down Cost of VoIP Expertise](https://www.ecg.co/blog/12-ecg-drives-down-cost-of-voip-expertise) ## Need Help With Your Network or AI Project? 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