[X4U] Possibly OT: Static IP, what have you done for me lately?

[Neil Laubenthal]

Depends on what the terms of service with BellSouth are.

Speakeasy for instance (my DSL provider) has no restrictions . . . so  
I run my own mail and web servers as well as connect via ssh to  
either my IP or the domain that resolves to my IP.

Usually though . . . phone company DSL lines TOS ban servers . . .  
and they usually back things up by blocking typical protocols. You  
can get around blocks by using some obscure ports of course . . . but  
their traffic logs will show the traffic and if they wanted to they  
can come back (assuming they bother to examine their logs, which may  
not happen unless there's a bandwidth hog or issue with something  
else) and cancel your service over it.

So . . . check your TOS and see.

Of course . . .even with a dynamic IP you can still run all of these  
servers . . . you simply use a service like dyndns.org to resolve  
your domain to your dynamically changing IP from the ISP. Most  
current routers have a dyndns client built in which reports your IP  
to dyndns.org whenever it changes so that tim.net or whatever domain  
you register will always point to your IP even though it's subject to  
change. Once that is done . . . servers still work. If your router  
doesn't have a built in client . . . there is a Mac client that gets  
your external IP from the router and then reports it back to dyndns.org.

Obscure protocols . . . sure, those work just like the mail and web  
protocols . . . you can point ssh (port 22) or timbuktu (487 I think)  
to your home domain or IP (either static or DHCP) and they will  
connect just fine.


On May 5, 2007, at 05:19, Tim Collier wrote:

> Dear List Members:
>
> I'm pretty certain that this is off-topic but other might learn  
> from your responses (especially me).  I'll start off by telling you  
> why we have a static IP now.  We've had Comcast as our ISP for  
> several years now and they go down occasionally.  Over the past  
> week, they were down more than up and I was getting frustrated.  My  
> wife and I talked it over and decided that we'd also sign up for  
> BellSouth DSL.  The price was good and was not going to be a real  
> burden just so if one goes down we still have the other.  OK, that  
> said, part of BellSouth's package includes a Static IP address, it  
> sounded like a good idea and I opted for it (it was free with my  
> plan).
> Now, we get to my question.  What can I actually do with it?  Can I  
> run a website in my home?  Can I use some of those obscure  
> protocols to connect to the house from outside?  Can any of you  
> suggest other ways I might use this?
> I'm at the point where I'm saying "cool, I have a static IP", but  
> what can I do with it?
>
> Tim
>
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