AT&T is switching to dynamic IP

[Slugbait]

Just found out about it last night. No warning from them, and I did a search here, too. Personally, I really enjoy having a static IP. I suppose if there is any reason to switch to DSL or satellite, this is it...

 

[andalas]

I use AT&T broadband and it always set to DHCP, but they rarely change my IP. They usually change my IP every 8 months.

 

[LordUnum]

...what he said.

 

[Slugbait]

Oh...'k. It's just that for my neighborhood, I had to buy a second IP address for the wife's machine. Been using the same two IP addresses for over two years, and need to know what they are in order to remotely access my home network. I suppose I'll just stick with my current settings, and not run the executable or re-register my machines...

 

[TunaBoo]

I have had @home for like 3 years. Every time I called for support, they would yell at me for having it set as static, and not using DHCP. They were always planning to in the future switch to DHCP only. But this never happened, nor will it (I think/hope).

 

[office boy]

If my router is always on, and using the IP that they gave me, It should be pretty hard for them to take it then eh?

And I would be ok if they did go dynamic, but they sure better raise my damn 128kb caps.

 

[codehack2]

<< If my router is always on, and using the IP that they gave me, It should be pretty hard for them to take it then eh? >>



Not really.. they just set the lease to expire, and your router has to renew upon expiration.

CH2

 

[Stark]

I wonder how much Code Red has to do with it. @home should disconnect anyone with the worm, but forcing dynamic ip may help as well.

 

[salsal]

I've had @home for some time now and have always used DHCP. Call me ignorant but what are the advantages of static or dynamic IP? Why would one prefer one over the other?

 

[Davegod75]

with static you can have servers set up. With DHCP it is near impossible or completely impossible because your ip is different each time you connect.

 

[volfan]

Well, static IP's are good for running your own web site (even though @home frowns upon this) and for running network game servers, which I don't do, so don't know much about. I've always had DHCP, but seem to keep the same IP address. So I'm not sure what's going on here. I would say to go and change all their users Network settings would be a major pain!

 

[Slugbait]

The primary benefit of static IP for me is NetMeeting. I have RDS running, so that I can logon to my home machine from anywhere in the world. Also, I have NM speeddials to my machine on all of my family members' machines so they can easily call me and share out an app they're having problems with.

I remember when @Home capped upload speeds, and their reason was because too many static IP users abused the system by creating web servers on their home machines. I figure if we all have to go dynamic, they no longer have a reason to cap upload rates.

Another thing I'm curious about...if we are all forced to go dynamic, how would they ascertain how many machines in my house are logged on? AT&amp;T doesn't know how many televisions I have hooked up to cable. I assume I could cancel the second account, save $5 a month, and hook up five machines or more...

 

[bozo1]

<< if we are all forced to go dynamic, how would they ascertain how many machines in my house are logged on >>


If you are using a Cable/DSL router, they won't be able to tell. Your router will handle DHCP for you and it will be assigned the 1 IP address @home gives you and then handle communications for your internal network. If you don't have a cable/dsl router, you'll they'll have to enable the MAC addresses of each of your PC's on their DHCP, and they'll charge you for it.


Edit: or you'll have to put 2 NIC's in one PC, have it on all the time if other computers want net access, and use MS's Internet Sharing software or a program like Sygate.

 

[EvlG]

<< Just found out about it last night. No warning from them, and I did a search here, too. Personally, I really enjoy having a static IP. I suppose if there is any reason to switch to DSL or satellite, this is it... >>



I don't believe this, personally. That site you linked just tells you HOW to change to DHCP. It doesn't say they are changing everyone.

AT&amp;T wouldn't DREAM of doing this without notifying all the customers first. Could you IMAGINE the number of tech support calls they would get the instant they made the switch? There would have to be a significant user education program first before they could implement this.

This is especially true because the techs on the phone often ask you to assign the IP statically to try to fix a problem. So there must be a lot of people with static IPs out there as a result of the tech asking them to. These people would all be screwed by the change, and fast.

This has been rumored for @home for the past 2 years. It was then, and I suspect now, paranoia, and nothing more.

That is, unless someone can post definitive links/info that states to the contrary...

 

[bozo1]

It would be stupid for them not to do DHCP. It's just like a corporate network - if you have permanant IP addresses assigned on your PC's, it's a nightmare when you change things on your network, decide to use a different block of IP address, etc. You CAN do DHCP with a static IP address assigned for each user at the server which is what AT&amp;T does in some areas. They do DHCP with a dynamic IP address pulled from a pool at other locations. Whether they do dynamic or static doesn't matter but they should have DHCP in the picture. I know people don't like this because they want to run servers, etc., I'm just saying that for technical reasons, not doing DHCP is a dumb move for any ISP or corporation.

 

[LordFortius]

Instead of using the ip address of your computer, why dont you use the host name on the @home network? That never changes. You know, something like cxxxxxx-x.home.com or whatever your address is. I had a friend that was trying to host a website off his cable modem, and @home got smart about it and started changing his IP address like every hour. So, he just put in his hostname and that seemed to do the trick. The only problem was that when you went to his website it displayed his hostname as the url, not the url of the website. I'm sure there are ways you could work around that though.

 

[userpete]

My mediaone/ATT cable is set the same way and has never changed.....hummmm!!!

Pete

 

[Slugbait]

bozo1, I wouldn't be able to use a router...those things prevent Internet-aware apps (like NetMeeting) from functioning.

But you say they would have to enable my MAC address on their DHCP...so their downloadable executable will do this? But this also means that if I upgrade or change my NIC (or buy a new machine), I would have to go thru the pain of re-registering my machine again...what are the chances that they'll screw up my account info? Or if I want to access with my laptop just for today in order to download Windows updates or whatever, the answer would be a guaranteed &quot;no&quot;, because I, personally, am no longer their &quot;account&quot; or &quot;subscriber&quot;...a specific machine is now the account, and the only machine allowed to access the 'net. I pay for a service, and that's what they should provide, not restricting my capabilities to what they deem is acceptable.

EvlG, my wife spent an hour in AT&amp;T tech chat last night...the guy assured her it's already happening, and that everyone will eventually be dynamic. There were one or two other links he pushed concerning the switch to DHCP. Here's some excerpts from the chat:
&quot;No, all of our customers are now using dynamic IP addresses.&quot;
&quot;...that may be, but eventually your IP address will change, and you will need to find out what your new one is.&quot;
&quot;...the IP address can change at any time. You will not be notified, because we have informed all of our customers that they are to be set up dynamically&quot;
(the last quote was a lie...I didn't find out until this chat happened)
&quot;If you choose to have static settings, then you will eventually run into a little trouble with your connection.&quot;

He pushed this link. I found this link on my own. Also, DHCP is listed first for computer setup here. And I found the following quote here:

<< Please note that the AT&amp;T Broadband Cable Internet Service Agreement requires use of a DHCP TCP/IP client on the AT&amp;T Broadband network. Customers who violate this provision and configure for a static IP in the Network Settings will now experience IP address conflicts and failure to establish a network connection. In order to avoid any IP address conflict, and possible loss and/or interruption of your service, your TCP/IP setting must be set to obtain an IP address from a DHCP server >>

LordFortius, using the machine name to place a NetMeeting call only works on corporate LANs, not the Internet...so that wouldn't work for me.

 

[tasslex]

<< LordFortius, using the machine name to place a NetMeeting call only works on corporate LANs, not the Internet...so that wouldn't work for me. >>


Use dyndns or some other dynamic dns service - you can set it up to change what your dyndns domain name points to whenever your IP changes.

 

[ViRGE]

For anyone that's a non-believer, at AT&amp;T has definately switched to some sort of quasi-dyIP system, in conjunction with DHCP. To make a long story short, a month after I got an email(and a peice of snail mail too) from AT&amp;T about the DHCP thing(I have allways been on DHCP since day one, never had my IP change at that time), my IP was changed from being 24.9.xxx.xxx(You don't think I'm really going to tell you) to the 24.7.xxx.xxx. Ever since that change, it's been the same, and I don't anticipating that to change. However, at the very least, AT&amp;T is doing this for easier resource management, for cases like mine when they need to do a switch.

 

[Parstron]

I have the @home cable modem and use the DHCP. My Ip hasn't change for the past year.