Out of the box, when you connect a device to your home network with either Wi-Fi or Ethernet, its a**igned an IP address automatically. This system is ideal for most people, since it simplifies the connection process and generally works just fine with the services they use. If youre more interested in local networking, however, needing to look up an IP address before making a connection could make it more of a pain than its worth. While some people dont need static IPs at all, there are still several reasons someone setting up a local network should set dedicated IPs for at least some of their devices.