Static IP Addresses 
Imagine for a moment that you are a postman with the US Postal Service charged with delivering a letter to a certain address. When you go to deliver the letter, however, the address of the home keeps changing and you can’t find the right house. This would start to get more than a little frustrating after a while. This is what happens to your computer every time you log on to the internet, and if someone is trying to share information with you, your computers address changes with each new connection. Like the postman trying to deliver a letter to an ever changing street address, you will begin to be frustrated with the inability to share information with colleagues and friends. You see, each time you log on to the internet the internet service provider automatically assigns your computer what is called an IP address. This IP address is known as a dynamic IP address and can change each time you connect to that particular network. This might not be an issue for everyday use, but if your job requires you to log in remotely to your companies network, or you host a website, or you need to share a lot of files with people a dynamic IP address won’t allow you to do these things. If this is you, you will want to get a fixed IP address. | A fixed IP address, or static IP address, stays the same unlike a dynamic IP address. Static IP addresses make activities like logging in remotely to a network or file sharing much easier to do. If you are outside the United States you can buy a USA IP address that’s fixed so you can use services websites like PayPal and Amazon. How to get a fixed IP address is not as difficult as it might seem, but it can be expensive. Most broadband providers don’t like giving out static IP addresses, so they tend to charge a lot for providing one. The main reason for this is that a static IP address has to be manually assigned and configured. If this isn’t done correctly it can lead to log on errors. There are third party services, however, that will create a static IP address for you at a cheaper rate than your internet service provider. Another reason broadband service providers are hesitant to provide fixed IP addresses is security issues. An IP address that changes a lot makes hacking more challenging, but a static IP never changes. To combat this you can use a router called pfsense. Pfsense is an external firewall for your computer. They are easy to install, but if you run into difficulty you can watch a pfsense tutorial online to help you out. Don’t make your virtual postman search and search for your address. If you need to log in remotely to a network on a regular basis, or share massive amounts of data, consider getting a static IP address. It will make easier for you to do your job. |
