Key Takeaways
- Static IPs provide a stable address for remote access to your home network, helpful for activities like running home servers.
- Static IPs cost a little extra on top of your regular internet service fees, but the additional cost is usually minimal.
- Static IPs can make you more vulnerable to IP bans and pose security and privacy risks, with alternatives like DDNS potentially being a better option.
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may offer you the option to have a “static IP,” but what does this mean and should you go for it? I’ll clear up what this option means for you as simply as possible.
What Is a Static IP?
An IP address works just like the address for your home. It’s a unique combination of numbers that identify a specific device on a computer network. For example, all of the devices connected to your home router have an IP address, so that the router will never mix up any of the devices. Your router has two IP addresses. There’s an internal address which devices on your home network can all see. Then there’s your router’s “public” IP address, which all the internet can see.
When someone says they can see your IP address, it’s this public address assigned to your router (or other internet gateway device) that they’re talking about. This is also why using a VPN hides your real IP address, because to other computers on the internet, only the VPN server’s public address is visible.
Most people have a “dynamic” IP address. This means that your public IP address changes from time to time. For example, your ISP might change it when your router reboots, or at certain intervals. There are only so many available IP addresses, and the ISP will assign them as needed.
A “static” IP address is one that never changes. If you get one from your ISP, that address is reserved for you, and won’t be assigned to anyone else, no matter what. That’s the only difference between the dynamic addresses most people have and a static one. So why is that a big deal?
Static IPs Are Useful for Remote Access to Your Home
The benefit of a static IP address is that it gives your home network (via your router) a stable address on the internet. So, no matter where in the world you are, you can use that IP address to access your home network. That’s useful for remote desktop access to your computer or for running things like personal web or file servers at your house. It’s also useful for people who do things like set up custom home automation, and it’s basically essential if you want to roll your own VPN tunnel.
Perhaps most importantly, having a static IP cuts off the need to use a third-party cloud service. This is where the device or software running on your home network and your remote computer both connect to a third-party server to manage the connection. All this server does most of the time is pass information between the remote and local devices. If you have a static IP, that’s not necessary.
The bottom line is that if you want to do anything that relies on knowing what your public IP address is, then the simplest and most reliable solution is to use a static IP.
You probably already know this if you’ve seen ads or offers from your ISP, but a static IP address is a paid extra. Usually this was something bundled with business internet packages, but these days you can bolt the option on to most home services, depending on the specific ISP in question. It might not be very expensive, all things considered. Usually it’s only a few dollars extra per month, but that depends on factors like who your ISP is and what tier of internet package you have.
You’ll Be More Vulnerable to IP Bans
You may have run into a situation where you try to access a website and get a message saying your IP address has been banned. This happens because bad actors on sites or who try to maliciously access these sites get banned, and then their dynamic IPs are recycled to other people who have nothing to do with the ban. The good news is that you can usually just reset your internet connection, which forces the dynamic IP to change. Though you may have to disconnect for 30 minutes or so in some cases.
If you have a static IP, well that’s it. You’ll remain banned from that site unless you can get in touch with the website admin and ask for your IP to be unbanned. That decision is completely in their hands. If they refuse or ignore you, you can also ask your ISP to give you a new static IP, but that’s going to mess up anything you’ve set up using your existing IP and will likely have cost implications.
Your Security and Privacy Are at Higher Risk With a Static IP
If your IP address never changes, and someone discovers what your IP address is, it’s possible to be targeted more easily than with a dynamic IP. At the very least, you can suffer a DDoS attack, which we usually only associate with web servers. It also aids in surveillance, since your static IP is now associated on record with a specific person and location. Although, on that last point, you can still just use a VPN to hide your IP address if you wish.
A DDNS Could Be a Better Solution
Apart from the workarounds I’ve already mentioned, another alternative to a static IP is a DDNS or Dynamic Domain Name System. By setting up a DDNS on your router, and usually paying for the service, you get a memorable host name for your home network, and its public IP will always be updated whenever your ISP changes it. The main downside is that every time an IP update happens, your connection to your home network will drop until the new IP is registered.
Static IPs are a cheap and affordable option that most ISPs offer, but unless you have very specific services you want to run over your internet connection that work best with an IP address that never changes, it’s fine to just stick with the same dynamic IP addresses everyone else uses.
