Why such variation in ISP Functioning?

[Saurabhdua]

Hi Geeks!

I wonder,  why some  ISPs offer only "Fixed IP Address" to their subscribers whereas others rely on "Dynamic Scheme" of IP dispersion!?

Where does this difference lies in the Architecture & is this trend specific to Cable BB Service providers allotting 'Fixed IP' whereas ADSL providers relying on 'Dynamic IP Addressing'? 

[Zylstra]

A fixed or "Static" IP Address is simply an IP Address that you have assigned to you every time you connect to the internet.
This means that your ISP's DHCP server (Dynamic host configuration protocol) will give you the same address.

A dynamic address is an address that usually changes each time you log in.
The biggest problem with dynamic addresses seems to be mainly for people who have servers in their homes, since the address to their servers may change.


Dial-up users almost always have a dynamic IP address. I have found that most DSL subscribers have dynamic addresses which change every so often, but not every day.

[Geek-9pm]

An IP address costs money. If you do not use it all the time the provider might 'loan' it to someone else until you need it again. And many web services 'share' one  IP number so that several servers appear to have the same address.

Example:
http://geek9pm.com is on
74.55.90.178
But  if you goto :
http://74.55.90.178            <== Not recommended!
You will get some other site.
Check http://Network-Tools.com to verify this.
It says:

IP address: 74.55.90.178
Host name: geek9pm.com
Alias:
geek9pm.com
74.55.90.178 is from United States(US) in region North America

If you want to know more about IP and DNS, go get a book at the library. No joke. They write books about that kind of stuff. Good for  insomnia.

[Zylstra]

Geek-9pm: Do you use a service like Dyndns?
I was thinking about setting up a second server over at my dads house to host part of an IRC network and to do more webhosting (my server is currently set up on an extremely fast connection, however, it has limited bandwidth)... but its a dynamic address.

[Geek-9pm]

No, I use the cheapest service I can get. Many hosting companies do not want you to use IRC cause it sucks bandwidth real bad.
On and impulse I bought some super cheap deb space with fair bandwidth. It is one of those companies that oversells is service knowing that lots of dummies like me will never use that much bandwidth.   

[Zylstra]

IRC doesn't use much bandwidth at all... its all text, though quite a lot of text, it doesn't really add up.
I think my IRC server uses less than 7MB a day, however, I would have to check this out again... my bandwidth logging isn't working right.
I think their biggest problem is the fact that its an open datastream, constantly running, and on weird ports.