I’ve been using Spectrum with a static IP and an ASUS router configured with port forwarding to expose my two sites using two different ports. Frustrated with the frequent outages with Spectrum, I canceled my account yesterday after trying out the Ting home internet product. Ting doesn’t offer static IPs. I’ve been reading online that this sort of thing may still be possible by plugging in a router to the Ting router. I tried that, and, using the same router with same configuration I had before, I get the same WIFI networks I had before, but, of course, now, the WAN address is a local address from the Ting router.
I also use a service, freedns.afraid.org to forward traffic. With Spectrum, I entered the static IP in the configuration there. With no static IP with Ting, that is not going to work. Is there anything else I can do? One reason I set it up this way is to get notifications of outages. The FA notification is not as frequent as I would like, so I use uptimerobot.com that notifies me if an outage lasts 5 minutes.
I will probably be signing up for google fiber at some point, and I see they also don’t offer static IP so maybe port forwarding is not possible with them either. Any suggestions?
You probably want to use one of the services like dyndns.org (just an example, not a recommendation).
These services register a domain for you - something like ExCalbr.dyndns.org, and they monitor your non-static IP address and update their records when it changes.
Here is their description: automatically update a domain name with your changing public IP address, allowing consistent remote access to home networks, servers, or security cameras. It bridges the gap between dynamic IP assignment by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the need for a fixed address to connect remotely
In practice, say your ISP gives you 123.234.5.101. The service ties that to the ExCalbr.dyndns.org url. From the internet, you can now access your router using that domain name (rather than using the IP directly). When your IP changes to 123.234.5.102, the service updates their link so that the same url still points to you.
As I recall, different services (and/or different service LEVELS) have different update frequencies, so you might be able to choose between every hour, every four hours, once a day, etc.
That said, there is a possibility that you might need to get a little tricky to make it work, or it may not work at all. With my current ISP, if you don’t have (aren’t paying extra for) a static IP, they block most inbound connections. It might be worth taking a look at the ShieldsUP test at grc.com to see if the ports you need are even getting through before putting a bunch of work into it.
This is not a static/dynamic IP problem. Dynamic IP just means it changes from time to time. You can use a service to keep dymanic dns up to date with that.
The problem you have is that you are behind some form of CGNAT, which means the IP address you are allocated is an internal one on your ISP’s network, and the external IP address is shared by multiple subscribers. This is similar to how your home router works with multiple devices in your house sharing the same IP address.
The reason for this is that newer ISPs can’t get sufficient IPv4 addresses to allocate to their subscribers, so have to use bodges like CGNAT.
There are ways around it, but they involve more work than just setting up port forwarding.
Phone your ISP and see if they can offer you a real IPv4 address. Some will do this if you complain and tell them you need external access to your network, but others won’t or will charge extra for it. Worth a try, as it gives you the best result and would work exactly like before.
Use a service like zerotier or tailscale. This sets up a VPN like tunnel between your internal device and the one you are using externally, but requires software running on both devices.
Use a cloudflare tunnel. This is free and requires running a service on the local machine, but it gives you access externally without messing about with software on the client.
Use a VPS with a VPN set up to traverse the CGNAT. This works a bit like the cloudflare tunnel but is more complicated to set up and requires renting a VPS from a provider (which can be very cheap for a low traffic/demand site) and installing something like wireguard on it. You also need that running on the local machine. This gives you more control than other options, but you need more knowledge to get it up and running and to maintain it.
Use IPv6 if your ISP has it properly set up. This should give you direct access like before, but your local router needs to have it enabled as well as your ISP and local devices.
I don’t think that’s my problem (see post by caius). My service with freedns.afraid.org does that (well not really - I have to do the update manually myself). After the update, it didn’t work.
I use Spectrum Internet services and have done so for more than 25 years with very few problems ever. Have you had a tech out to check your signal levels at your house entrance and also at your end devices. If your signal levels at your end devices are marginal then it will look like Spectrum is having a issue on their end while in fact they are delivering a good signal level to your home but it is being possibly being degraded by splitters and creative networking practices. I am not saying that is your case, but far too many people blame Spectrum or their ISP for poor service when it is truly not the case. I expect you have a good understanding of proper networking practices in your home and this isn’t likely an issue with your service but I serve it up as only food for thought.
When I first moved in here, I had spotty service by Spectrum (before it was called Spectrum). I complained and complained until someone finally climbed up the pole and found squirrel damage. After that, service has generally been very good. The problem lately has been not one where the signal fades. What happens is that it goes completely out. My router sometimes displays a message that I should connect the cable. The outage generally lasts about two minutes and then comes back again. I’ve gone days and even weeks without an outage. On the other hand, I’ve had days like yesterday, where these outages happened multiple times. I don’t know what the cause is, but I’m tired of it and choose not to deal with it anymore.
I have a feeling that some of their equipment upstream is periodically doing some sort of reset.
Anyway, I signed up for Ting home internet a few months ago on a trial basis. It was stable and reliable enough that I changed my work computer to use it instead of Spectrum, which would disconnect me randomly during a meeting. That was no big deal because I was always able to reconnect in about 2 minutes. But it was really annoying. Not one single issue with Ting after I switched to it, except that I lost having a static IP address.
Edit: it’s also possible the problem is with my modem. Also, no splitters, not TV. It’s only internet, and the cable goes directly to the modem. Can’t get much simpler than that.
