Home Networking / Router / & WiFi Gateway Help

[keith250]

I have one device on my home network that I need to connect to remotely - I work away from home most of the time. I set this all up fine using port forwarding on my Netgear router which is connected to my Comcast modem.  I got my public IP address from the router and could connect to it fine.  One day it stopped working.  my guess was that maybe my public IP address had changed

I tried calling comacast and wasn't able to explain what I needed or they could not understand what I needed as i was totally unable  to get an IP address out of them that worked (i think at one point they gave me the address for the modem)

As there is nobody IT literate in the house I can't get somebody to get it for me.  I have now managed to get somebody to go there and it as I expected it had changed to something completely different.  it used to start with 174 and now starts with 69.

Anybody got any suggestions about exactly what I should ask comcast when I call them up if this happens again.

[ComcastNick]

Our public IP addresses are dynamically configured and have a 7 day lease.  So they will be renewed every 7 days.  Most of the time you end up with the same IP address you had the week before, but sometimes that address will change.

The only way to get a static IP address is for you to sign up with business class service.

[EG]

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ComcastNick wrote:

Our public IP addresses are dynamically configured and have a 7 day lease.  So they will be renewed every 7 days. 

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FWIW, and sorry for the "off topic", but the IP lease lengths typically renew at a 7 day *half life* which is 3-4 days.

[keith250]

Thanks for the reply. I don't really need a static asonly I use it but I do need to find out what it has changed to if it changes. This must be something that is accessible by comcast.

[keith250]

Also meant to say that this doesn't seem to happen often as it stayed the same for 2 months since I set it up.

[EG]

See if this service will meet your needs. It used to be free.;

http://dyn.com/dns/dyndns-pro-free-trial/

[kevj]

You don't *need* a static...you need a Dynamic DNS service such as no-ip.com. You set up a hostname with their free service (or one of the paid options, if you so choose), the install their client on your Windows or Linux machine, and it detects when your public IP changes....and updates their DNS records and associates the new IP with the hostname you selected. You never have to remember your public IP again, only the easy to remember hostname you selected.

[EG]

Darned echoes....... HehHeh !!!    

[kevj]

.... at least the information is consistent....

[EG]

HEAR HEAR !!!

[keith250]

unfonrtunately the box I need to connect to is a "black box appliance" so I don't have the ability to install additional software on it hence the reason I just need to find out what the address is if it changes

[kevj]

You don't have another PC that stays on all the time?

Your router may also have support for Dynamic DNS, so that it can send updates to the service if your public IP changes...

[Baric]

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keith250 wrote:
unfonrtunately the box I need to connect to is a "black box appliance" so I don't have the ability to install additional software on it hence the reason I just need to find out what the address is if it changes

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As kevj points out, the router many have built in support for several different dynamic DNS clients, its a very common feature on mainstream routers from Linksys, Netgear, etc.  And even if your router does not support such a client (or you have no access to it), most of these dynamic DNS services have PC/Mac/Linux clients that run BEHIND the router on your computer, bypassing the router entirely.

[JamesR]

Looks like you have about four options.

1.  use a computer with a dialup modem on a phone line so that you can dial in access your router remotely to read out the new public IP address.

2.  Train a family member to read it out for you.

3.  Set up a script or batch file on a local machine to log in to the router to look for a change and send you an email when a change occurs.

4.  use the dynamic DNS functionality in your routerr and a dynamic dns service as mentioned before

[EG]

Dead thread closed.