I have had the same IP address with Road Runner for about 4-5 years, and it was awesome and easy to remember. It was 24.210.X.X where the two “X”s were the same number! – was a number in the hundreds, ended in 0.
I installed a router 2 weeks ago and had to read a guide on setting up a static IP address so that I could port forward so I could still host my Vent, TeamSpeak, and game servers (such as Battlefield 2). I was able to set it up properly and got the port forwarding to work and all my servers remained online, steady, and with the same IP address I had had for years (the one mentioned above).
But then two days ago, I was browsing the web then suddenly lost connection and couldn’t get back on. Contacted Road Runner/Time Warner helpdesk and they said I had no connection because I no longer had an IP address. WTF!!?
He reset my modem and … then… my easy-to-remember IP address I’d had for so long was replaced with some hard-to-remember one with lots of odd numbers, something like .163.157 at the end.. It was because I had set my router up to use my original IP address set to static, which I suddenly no longer had for some reason, so it stopped working.
OK, whatever, I was mad because I thought I had a permanent IP address and thought I set up my “static IP” properly, since it had worked for almost 2 weeks with no problems (router was installed 2 weeks ago), but then I got a new crappy IP address, fine. That was two days ago.
Now, TODAY, it happened AGAIN, on the internet, suddenly lost connection – and I had a new weird odd-numbered IP address again!
So here are my two questions.
Is it just a fluke that I had the same IP address for so long? Do I really have a dynamic IP even though it was the same for years?
Does installing the ROUTER have anything to do with my IP address being constantly..violated? It has changed twice in the past 3 days!, but before that, like I said it stayed the same for about 4 years.
Thanks for any enlightenment in advance.
Router is a Netgear WGR614 v7
It sounds as though you had a dynamic address but the DNS servers at RR were assigning the same address to you at each renewal cycle. It may be that RR have changed their policy and moved to a true dynamic address system that may not have been enforced before.
You have two options.
1: Buy a static IP address… costly but the best solution
2: Use a dynamic DNS service to track your IP address. Use someone like DYNDNS.com. They give you a web address and a bit of client software updates their DNS database with your current IP address, you can then address your machines by the static web address rather than the dynamic IP address.
Choose a Dynamic IP address. This will get your new IP address. Many ISP’s rotate IP addresses on a regular basis for security purposes.