Static IP or dynamic & other questions

[FishPolice]

Hi there

Thinking about changing ISPs & currently looking at BE. Is there any advantage to having a static IP over dynamic?
I'm currently using a DG834G with Zen Internet & have to set up port forwarding on certain applications -would having a dynamic IP be an issue here or is port forwarding dependent on router type rather than applications etc?

Also, I know I have no chance in hell of 24mb download as I'm right at the boundary of my Exchange's coverage -is there a way to calculate from my current line stats roughly what sort of speed I would be able to attain with BE? To be honest, as long as it's higher than my current 1mb ceiling I would be happy.

Thanks in advance

 

[Cyber-Mav]

static ip is best to use if you have a ftp/web server running. if not then use dynamic ip.

i run a fpt server with my router updating a dns provider, its more secure since i don;t like hanging on to one ip address for longer than i have to. and disconnections are very rare, usually around once every month or so. more than acceptable since a reconnection happens instantly and my ip address changes to a new one.

 

[Xenoxide]

The type of IP address or router has nothing to do with it I'm afraid.

No matter what type of router you have, nearly all home and small office routers use NAT (Network Address Translation) in order to connect your home network to your ISP. Essentially it is a method of allowing more than one host to use the same IP address on the internet.

As Cyber-Mav said, a static IP is only really a bonus if you're hosting a server in your house, such as a web server, ftp server, etc. Go with the dynamic IP if you don't have a need for these.

You'll need to use port forwarding anyway, as it is needed on routers with NAT to allow inbound connections.

 

[Teal]

its more secure since i don;t like hanging on to one ip address for longer than i have to.

Still not sure why people seem to believe that a dynamic IP is 'more secure'.

At least with a static IP you know where it has been and what it has been used for.

With a dynamic IP you could be inheriting one that the last person used to visit every dodgy website around, got banned on IRC and to used to pick fights with the script kiddies

 

[Xenoxide]

This is true.

Also, if your router is updating a DNS provider with your current IP address, it voids any potential security benefit gained by having a dynamic IP. Since someone just has to type in "mydns.com" instead of "your.dynamic.ip.here" to reach you.

Essentially, instead of having a static IP, you now have a static domain. And since domains are easier to remember than IP addresses...

 

[Cyber-Mav]

yea both have thier advantages and disadvantages, but if the static ip address was free then thats what i would use all the time.

 

[FishPolice]

Cheers for the replies people. Helpful & informative as ever

 

[Curiosityx]

Dynamic and Static addresses have no differences specially not concerning security thats just nonsense.

Static benefits businesses and people by making its simpler to run hosted services behind there firewall accesible from external resources and for VPN site-site or client connections.

Dynamic addresses are useful for consumer customers because it makes the ISP's job easier, by using Dynamic addresses and utilising DHCP IP information can be obtained automatically without user intervention which for most users would cause problems if there had to manually configure it.

If you use static addressing and are stupid enough to warrent you becomming a target then you deal with it or buy a hardware firewall.