ISP with Variable IP ?
- Thread starter garywork
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What security will a dynamic IP address give you? Practically every ISP out there will give you a dynamic IP address - it's usually the ones who'll give you a static one without any hassle or much cost that's the difficult thing to figure out.
come on people - you can answer this !
I think we already have.
As already stated, when ISPs say Dynamic IP they generally aren't that dynamic - before I got a static one from Be my IP never changed once in about 4 months.
As also has already been stated if its security you're bothered by having a dynamic IP to be quite honest isn't really that much of a benefit.
If its to stay "anonymous" on the internet what are you trying to hide, you'd be better off using a proxy or a VPN service to route your web traffic over if that is your goal.
O2 give you a £10 discount/month if you are a mobile customer and give you pretty much the same service as Be (as they own it), and as a result are pretty much the best ISP in terms of unlimited usage in the UK and generally pretty reliable too.
But relatively useless as the OP seems to be quite insistent on having a dynamic IP - Be/O2's Dynamic IPs really aren't that dynamic at all.
master811
thanks for the info
the "why do you want variable IP " crowd
if i want variable thats upto me - if you dont see the point then fair enough
but dont waste your time turning me to your incorrect opinion
lifes too short to waste it bullying other people into your way of thinking
wej - if o2 ips are from their large pool that would do for my customers req.
but if you have any expert knowledge on this please share as i don't !
i'm all ears . . .
thanks for the info
the "why do you want variable IP " crowd
if i want variable thats upto me - if you dont see the point then fair enough
but dont waste your time turning me to your incorrect opinion
lifes too short to waste it bullying other people into your way of thinking
wej - if o2 ips are from their large pool that would do for my customers req.
but if you have any expert knowledge on this please share as i don't !
i'm all ears . . .
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Many ISPs, O2/Be included use sticky IPs, i.e. they don't change every time your modem reconnects (not truly dynamic), but they're not guaranteed to stay the same either (not static). Leave your modem disconnected for long enough or have your modem reconnect as a result of maintenance and you may end up with a different IP. Alternatively if your router allows it change the MAC address of its WAN port and it will be assigned a different IP.
It's not incorrect, ask any security expert they will tell you that it has at best minimal to no gains - security by obscurity is a very old concept.
It's not expert knowledge, its common knowledge - use google, read the dontbethere (Be unofficial forum) and you can easily find this. I also informed you of my own experiences of that ISP when I supposedly had a "dynamic" IP.
ISP's like TalkTalk and AOL probably offer a more dynamic address but how important is this to your customer compared to having a decent QOS?
Maybe you could try speaking to Zen directly and see if they can sort you out with some special arrangement, that way you can get both a good quality ISP and what you want.
wij
i realise dynamic isnt going to make you invisible - but variable is a main
concern of my customer and customer is king
you've written that as to suggest going that route could be linked with poor service which is a false angle - we wont be going talktalk for a free poor service
i'll ring o2 and zen
i'll look the forum up you mentioned so thanks for that
throwing google at people doesnt help - google only shows up pages in other peoples web sites like the forum you mentioned and the whole point of the Oc foums is to discuss here - not just type "google"
"before I got a static one from Be my IP never changed once in about 4 months." - so even if you turned your router off / on would you get the same IP during that time ? - Daegans comments sound as if it would be the same
my normal world of variable ip would say - router on/off gives you a new link
this sticky ip is a new thing to me
i realise dynamic isnt going to make you invisible - but variable is a main
concern of my customer and customer is king
you've written that as to suggest going that route could be linked with poor service which is a false angle - we wont be going talktalk for a free poor service
i'll ring o2 and zen
i'll look the forum up you mentioned so thanks for that
throwing google at people doesnt help - google only shows up pages in other peoples web sites like the forum you mentioned and the whole point of the Oc foums is to discuss here - not just type "google"
"before I got a static one from Be my IP never changed once in about 4 months." - so even if you turned your router off / on would you get the same IP during that time ? - Daegans comments sound as if it would be the same
my normal world of variable ip would say - router on/off gives you a new link
this sticky ip is a new thing to me
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Yes thats how most ISP's work with dynamic IP's
I've had the same IP now for 9months & it is meant to be dynamic, the modem has been left off for a week+ at some points as well & comes back with the same one.
I'm on virgin, been with them for years and regularly turn my router off. my IP *might* change once every 6 months or so, but generally I always get the same IP address. The only time it changed consistently between 2 different addresses was when I swapped my d-link DI604 router for a lynksys WRT54G. the d-link always seems to get the same IP and the lynksys always gets the same IP (but different to the d-link's)
As has been said above, I think you'll find majority if not all ISP's will be the same
As has been said above, I think you'll find majority if not all ISP's will be the same
Wouldn't bother wasting your time talking to O2, they may tell you what you want to hear but in reality their service uses long lease IP addresses.
I often go away from home for days at a time and generally switch off my electronic gear when away to save power - not once did I find that even after a couple of days away my IP had changed from the one I was first given.
Maybe I just had an unusual case but a read around would suggest that you need to leave the router powered off for days not hours to get it to change.
FWIW changing your routers WAN port MAC address on Be/O2 would result in you getting no connection for a few minutes as they record your MAC address and tie it to your line for a short period of time during which it won't issue a connection to any other device.
I wasn't suggesting that a dynamic IP was linked to a poor quality of service, what I was implying is that the majority of ISPs these days are using "sticky" IP addressing or just giving you a static one as default.
Yes by all means your customer is the most important thing, but if they are saying they want it this way for security (and for whatever reason you don't want to explain specifics - fair enough, its not our business) you may want to educate them a little bit and explain that a dynamic IP gives them little to no protection.
Cost is not important to you in this case so I'd talk to a proper business ISP such as Zen, or A&AISP and explain to them what you want and probably why you need a truely dynamic IP address and they will more than likely be able to sort you out with something.
I often go away from home for days at a time and generally switch off my electronic gear when away to save power - not once did I find that even after a couple of days away my IP had changed from the one I was first given.
Maybe I just had an unusual case but a read around would suggest that you need to leave the router powered off for days not hours to get it to change.
FWIW changing your routers WAN port MAC address on Be/O2 would result in you getting no connection for a few minutes as they record your MAC address and tie it to your line for a short period of time during which it won't issue a connection to any other device.
I wasn't suggesting that a dynamic IP was linked to a poor quality of service, what I was implying is that the majority of ISPs these days are using "sticky" IP addressing or just giving you a static one as default.
Yes by all means your customer is the most important thing, but if they are saying they want it this way for security (and for whatever reason you don't want to explain specifics - fair enough, its not our business) you may want to educate them a little bit and explain that a dynamic IP gives them little to no protection.
Cost is not important to you in this case so I'd talk to a proper business ISP such as Zen, or A&AISP and explain to them what you want and probably why you need a truely dynamic IP address and they will more than likely be able to sort you out with something.
If you are setting this up for a customer at least start calling it with the correct name..and also I think you are also obliged to inform this customer that using Dynamic IP addressing will not make his connection more secure...it's up to us geeks/experts what ever you want to call it to help people understand and explain things not fuel some misconstrued ideas on security.
(sorry don't know where this rant came from...but it almost felt good)
(sorry don't know where this rant came from...but it almost felt good)
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