This topic

Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:54:49 GMT

I am attempting to install Plex media server app. Having downloaded it the installation dialogue box contains the following message.

‘SECURITY ALERT’

‘Another device is attempting to sign in to your Plex account. You should only continue if you know this device and intend to grant it access

31.49.56.217 ( Braintree, England, Essex, United Kingdom)’

Having looked up the IP address it would seem to be a BT address. But is it?? The physical address seems to make no sense and makes me suspicious. If it is legitimate why would BT wish to have access to my Media Server?

Any observations or answere would be appreciated. Thanks John

Re: Scary IP address

WSH — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:30:12 GMT

What's the public IP on your router presently? (The address often changes when the hub does a 14 day reboot and 31 is not unheard of. I get a 31 myself at times. The location also takes time to update).

Re: Scary IP address

licquorice — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:39:08 GMT

Indeed, I suspect it is your IP address.

Re: Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:16:32 GMT

Thank you for the response. My router and al the items on the network begin with numbers starting 192.168. ….

Re: Scary IP address

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:30:01 GMT

https://whatismyipaddress.com/

Re: Scary IP address

licquorice — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:40:41 GMT

@JohnGJ they are your private addresses on your LAN, not your public IP address.

Re: Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:57:16 GMT

Thank you. The responses demonstrate my naivety in this area!! I will go and look. John

Re: Scary IP address

WSH — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:00:18 GMT

There are two types of address.

The 192.168.X.X are internal to your network and known as private address. (Private not so much in the sense of security but because they are internal to you network).

There is also your connection to the outside world. This is your public address. In my experience BT’s can start with any of 31, 81, 86 or 109.

Assuming you have a Smart Hub 2, if you go into Advanced settings > Broadband, it is one of the addresses near the bottom, listed as “Broadband IP Address”.

Re: Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:48:21 GMT

Thank you. It seems I have a list of 4.

Broadband IP address begins with 109.247. ……..

Default gateway begins 172.16. ….

Broadband primary DNS and the secondary DNS both begin with 81.139. ….

None look like the address I am concerned about.

The Dynamic DNS is marked as ‘OFF’

John

Re: Scary IP address

licquorice — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:57:46 GMT

A few things, your public IP address is the 109 address which would gave been revealed by the link @Anonymous posted.

It won't be BT attempting to connect, it will be a BT customer having that address as their public IP address.

Do you have a BT mobile connected to 4/5G rather than WiFi that might have that address?

Re: Scary IP address

WSH — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:32:47 GMT

It could also be a left-over from the address you had before the last reboot of the router.

(By the way, default gateway is basically BT’s address at the other end of the connection and DNS is like the phone directory for looking up the IP addresses of the web sites you are trying to connect to).

Re: Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 20:28:59 GMT

@licquorice Yes you are correct the link @Anonymous kindly provided was indeed my Broadband IP, thanks. I did not realise that they were the same. But as I mentioned they appear totally different from the one in the warning. I will look into the iPhone connection.

John

Re: Scary IP address

WSH — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 20:36:21 GMT

I wouldn’t worry about it.

31 doesn’t come up very often in my experience. My own logs show I had a 31 address on the reboot on 17th Match 2024 and then not again until the reboot on the 28th Jan this year.

Re: Scary IP address

gowthamsundar — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 07:14:16 GMT

That IP address (31.49.56.217) is likely just a general BT-assigned IP. It could even be your own device if you're on BT Internet. Sometimes, Plex routes sign-ins through the cloud or another network layer, and it might look a bit strange. If you're setting up Plex and logging in from your own home Wi-Fi, it's probably fine.

But if you’re unsure, deny it for now, then go into your Plex account settings and check recent devices or enable 2FA for extra safety. Better to be cautious, but it doesn’t instantly scream “hacker.”

Re: Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:22:26 GMT

Many thanks to all for taking the trouble to reply. Oddly I have downloaded the app. again on another computer and this time the alert shows, what I now know to be my external IP address, and it shows my York location rather than Braintree! Going back to the original computer brings about the same result. i.e my own external IP and location. The way the physical address is structured still seems odd as does the Braintree address.
I will only ever be logging in from my home computer so perhaps I am being a bit paranoid.

Thanks once again for all the comments. John

Re: Scary IP address

WSH — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:24:53 GMT

As I said, BT’s system takes a while to catch up with itself when the public IP changes & the location is approx. at best. There are also differing formats for the address, depending on what it is being used for.

When you say looks odd, is it something like: host109-154-xx-xx.range109-154.btcentralplus.com?

If it is being taken from DNS as a reverse lookup it may have a format something like: 0.154.109.in-addr.arpa

Both are normal and nothing to worry about.

Re: Scary IP address

JohnGJ — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:09:13 GMT

What I ment by the address looking odd I was referring to the location address and how it was written. Braintree, England, Essex, United Kingdom

I have searched for the IP address in my original post and it does indeed come up as owned by BT central plus.