I have Wireless Internet with a USB modem and got what seems to be a Class A IP allocated (first byte is decimal 10).
ipconfig /all shows a subnet mask of 255.255.255.252. I know that the ones are for the network and the zeros are for the hosts but how many hosts are for 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111100?
Shouldn't the subnet mask be 255.0.0.0 for a class A network?
What is it that I am getting wrong?
I need a simplified answer, as I have difficulty understanding long and technical answers, due to a lack of computer knowledge.
Best Answer
Your question "how many hosts" is actually simple to answer.
You have 11111111.11111111.11111111.11111100(B) as the subnet mask, which leaves two bits for the host address, 2^2 is 4, so 4 possible addresses. Since you can't use all zeros (network id) and you can't use all 1s (broadcast message) you have (bits^2) - 2 => (2^2) - 2 => 2 usable addresses. This may or may not be cut down by your router, which would be one usable address for your computer. My guess is you're stuck with this because of this is how your ISP does things.
Part of your question is that you're confusing your subnet mask with what you read the default is for your class of address. Yes, 10.x.x.x is a class A network, and when interacting with other networks(*) it has a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0. But internally you're able to subnet as you see fit. You really don't want to have 16777214 (2^24 - 2) hosts on the same network segment. You really want to subdivide traffic on those 16 million hosts.
(*) 10.x.x.x/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.x.x/16 are non-routed IP addresses, meaning you should never see them on the great Internet, just on your local LAN. You need some kind of gateway, such as NAT, to actually have your traffic on the 'real' Internet. You can still route these internally though, say if you wanted your own second network.