AT&T Southeast → Why is My IP suddently changing so often?

My IP address often remains the same for weeks. During the past two days, though, it has been changing several times a day.

This indicates to me that I am losing my connection often.

Should I be concerned?

Alan

Since BellSouth doesnt have lease times on our IPs there can only be three reasons for your IP changing.
1. BellSouth is doing maintenance and brings down your PPPoE session.(not likely given the frequency of the disconnects)
2. You are physically losing synch.
3. A configuration on your router or modem ends your PPPoE session after a certain time.
Since you haven't made any changes to your router or modem recently I would suspect you are losing synch. Even if you dont notice it. Try verifying your synch at the NID and see if this gives some direction to getting the issue resolved. »AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ »How to check modem stats, synch rates & speeds from test jack at the NID.

BSIS
ASG

Hummm, two weeks is really a long time to still have the same IP address. I just checked my log, and it is about everyday my IP address changes.

Installed any new phones lately? I had a similar issue quite some time ago (on DirecTV DSL). Ended up being a new telephone handset I had, would loose sync every time it went off hook. Noticed this purely by accident, my wife answered the phone and modem lights started to blink.

I installed a home run and made a crude "splitter" from a 2Wire filter. Seems to work OK but as I am getting more phone extensions I have convinced myself that I need a real slimline splitter that will fit into the NID.

Jarmo

I've had IP's last months for me.. the only times I've had new IP are when I reboot my cayman.. so far the current IP I have probably has lasted me about 2 weeks already..

My IP address changes every 13 seconds but everything is working fine so I'm leaving it alone.

Every 13 seconds? I would be worried if I were you. I keep the same IP for weeks at a time.

said by kingofdsl:

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My IP address changes every 13 seconds but everything is working fine so I'm leaving it alone.

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You DO have a problem. Sorry.

1. It could be your line.

2. It could be your modem.

3. It could be your router, if you have one.

Dan

Hummm, I checked my log and had a change at 3am and then 7am this morning. I did some changes in a software setting, but I will have to see.

I will post my hardware setup this afternoon when I get home. I am at work and I do not have everything written down so you guys can possibly also help me.

later,

I started this thread. My IP has not changed now for three days. Things appear stable again.

Typically, my IP changes only when I unplug the router, which I only do when a storm threatens the area.

Alan

i am a new bsfa cusotmer with a netgear router.

i had the same problem, until i set the idle timeout setting on the router to 0.

my ip address has stayed the same since last night.

I did not get to do anything when I got home yesterday. My 8 month old daughter took up my time.

Anyway, I am definately having a problem. It seems that now my IP is being changed every 4 hours which is really annoying.

I have the Alcatel SpeedTouch Home Modem connected to a LinkSys BEFSR41 router. I do not know the firmware in the Speedtouch because frankly, I plugged it and it worked from the get-go. The router has been upgraded to 1.43.3. Any thoughts on how I can solve this?

Thanks

If it is changing at exact 4 hr intervals, that would seem to imply that the problem lies in the router settings. My .02.

Dan

To pop this back up to the top:

This morning it reset around midnight, but has not changed yet. I am still not sure.

I have heard that a build up of heat can cause problems with either the modem or router. Could this cause this problem?

Now I might be way off base here, but does BellSouth check for web servers (eg Port 80)? I always had the suspicion that if they found port 80 open they dropped your pppoe session. I guess it does not make sense, because if they knew who was running servers they would just terminate their service.

The only reason I brought this up was one day I was playing with IIS and had it open to the web just for some testing. While port 80 was exposed I was getting connection drops every 4 hours or so. It just seems suspicious to me.

PS. I’m not accusing you of running a server. Just putting out my 2 cents.

FYI: I'm running a Netgear router, with the connecton timeout to zero, and have a healthly set-up insomuch as speed and stability in the line.

However, IP changes are frequent at most to a week strech, but most often within 48 hours. It has been this way since I signed up a long time ago.

I have an application set-up to email me when my IP changes, and I get plenty of emails

I also get e-mails of my IP changes and it seems to be slowing down a bit. Now I am down to 2 or 3 changes a day.

I kind of expect IP changes. Luckily it is rather transparent. I think the delay is less than 30 seconds when it changes.

I like the port 80 theory, but would BellSouth really waste CPU time probing their IP addresses all day?

They wasted the time to develope and implement a policy restricting usage of their lines at the level they have.

What is some CPU time compared to legal, marketing, and planning costs that they have already accumulated?

UPDATE

I think I have found the problem.

First, like a lot of people, my router was sitting on top of the DSL modem. When I first posted about my problem, I asked about this, but no one followed up. So...

Yesterday morning, I unstacked them and unplugged the router. When I got home at about 5:30pm, I plugged the router back in. As of this writing, no ip changes since yesterday at 5:30. I am wondering if the router (which gets hot anyway), was overheating and reseting itself.

I will keep an eye on it and if I don't see any changes in the next few days, I will add a followup post.

The next day and I still have the same IP. I am figuring that my solution was the correct one. I will stop posting in this thread. If someday someone starts a new one and has the same problem, I will offer my solution.

Happy surfing!