same IP address using two computers?

Hi james, the conflict may be indicated when one accesses on both systems the same website through login, I guess. It is therefore better to avoid logging into same website by the same user ID.

Actually, Jamesnitp, the error message you describe is more likely to be an internal error associated with your network. IP addresses are like a postal service. An external website 'sees' your Internet connection as a unique IP, assigned by your ISP. Only your router knows about individual computers on your network and it assigns an IP address to each computer. If it is wrongly configured, it may assign the same IP address to two computers and then it doesn't know which one to pass on the messages to. Imagine a postal address of a company with several people in the building. The mail man will deliver all the mail for that address into the same box but then your internal mail man collects the mail and gives it to the correct person. If two people in the building have the same name, there will be confusion. Sometimes a router is configured so that it assigns an internal IP to every computer which logs on to the network and it will do this dynamically, so that the first one which logs on gets the first IP in the list. Another way of doing it is to have it assign a specific IP to a specific computer, regardless of whether it is logged on or not. There are situations where the router may use a mixture of the two methods: some computers may be assigned a specific IP and others may be given the first available IP on the list when they log on. If it happens that the first computer to log on is dynamically assigned and the next one to log on is a fixed assignment, it can happen that the fixed one is supposed to have the same IP as the one which is already logged on and you will get a conflict. You need to configure your router so that it assigns a different and unique IP to each computer. You can either do this by making sure that each computer (identified by its name or MAC address) always has the same internal IP or by setting it so that all computers get an internal IP address from the list depending on which logs on first.

Yes, Coldfire0423, if you use any kind of VPN or virtual router, you are seen as having the same IP address, so you will be banned or disallowed from any site which requires (and checks for) a unique combination of IP address and logon. Airport is a WiFi router, so whether you use it as a connection in its own right or as a VPN to control your laptop, it is the external IP address of the router itself, not the internal (masked) address used by the local network, which is seen by outside websites.

so the external IP address is what the sites sees to my computer? not the internal IP? so if both my computers is Online and I will visit a same site that site will see that they are the same IP address?

yah using the built- in router of my iMac computer,,, thanks,

Oh thanks,, ^_^