NAT
Sharing one public address between many devices, which is how commercial VPN servers put hundreds of users behind a single IP.
Glossary
Dedicated IP
A VPN address assigned to you alone rather than shared with other subscribers.
Why it matters
It stops you being blocked because of what other users on a shared address did, which matters for banking, business services and any site that treats shared VPN ranges as suspicious.
What most explanations leave out
It is a privacy downgrade sold as an upgrade. A unique address that only you use is, by definition, an identifier, and the provider has to record that it is yours in order to assign it. Buy it for access, not for anonymity.
Related terms
Shared IP
A VPN address used simultaneously by many subscribers.
Referenced from
Terms are defined here because they appear in our scoring rubric or in provider reviews, not to fill a glossary.