Apartment Wi-Fi Keeps Switching Ips

[pete66]

My apartment wi-fi system, apart from falling over all the time, also keep switching between multiple IP addresses.

This is a huge PITA to me because some sites I use consider this a security risk and hence log me out. I end up re-logging in about 6 times an hour, its driving me bonkers.

Can anyone recommend a service that will get me a fixed IP address? I don't care whether its in a proxy or VPN, in Thailand or Toronto, just soon long as my IP address doesn't keep changing every 10 minutes.

I'm on a Mac btw if that makes any difference to the recommendations.

tia,

pete

[Chicog]

Wouldn't it be easier to find out what's causing the problem and simply fix it?

[pete66]

Its the apartment owner's wifi system - not mine. Its crap. Its down half the time, they don't care. When I report it nothing happens. I'm leaving at the end of next month. Just looking for a solution until then.

[sumrit]

keep switching between multiple IP addresses.

I had this problem when having to use a mobile for internet access. I used a DTAC sim with 5gig of 3G per month. Every time I tried to log onto my UK bank to transfer some money the transaction kept getting stopped and cancelled. When I phoned the bank they told me it was because my IP address kept changing in the middle of the transaction so the cancelled every time for security reasons.

When I used an AIS internet connection I had no problems, they didn't switch IP addresses.

[Samaaw]

try downloading hotspotshield.com

[diz]

Is your computers IP changing or the condos router (WiFi)?

In first case you could setup your MAC's IP address manually. The IP would not change then but make sure to use a high number e.g. 192.168.1.250 in order to avoid a IP conflict (automatic IP are usually given out starting from .002 and go up to .254).

If the router changes the IP there is not much you can do if the owner refuses to improve things.

MAC or Windows is not much difference in setup. Can you post a more details of your network setup (e.g. IP addresses you get, provider etc.)?

[pete66]

I use a fixed IP address on my Mac, but websites don't know or care what you label your own machine as. Its where you are getting your internet services from they read. That's how people get tracked. So its the apartment blocks router, which bizarrely changes between 2 IP addresses. One in CM and one in BKK. I guess one is a "fallover" some idiot put in place because the main internet connection appears to disappear once every 10 minutes.

I would attempt to get them to fix the IP issue but the wi-fi generally has been getting worse and worse the last month (in the evenings you can't even ping their router half the time) just the Thai response "We are getting it fixed soon" ... which normally means never.

I'm over it now. Gonna suck it up for another month till the lease finishes then get a house to rent. I've been in various apartments for the last 4 years in CM and wi-fi has been on the whole, pretty terrible. Much better to get a broadband link.

[konfuzed]

the solution above works best - just get a TRUE / CAT HDPSA 3g air dongle and use that...

It does work on Mac OS X, i have one, or if youve got an iphone, then use that as your data connection...

just put it on a provider that has good data - in downtown, i've had best luck with True, but its not for all.

[Secondmouse]

try downloading hotspotshield.com

DON'T download HotSpotShield unless you want cookies and spam everyday...

Google 'What is HotSpotShield ?' and make an informed decision before you download....

[Rorri]

OP...in most cases, if the power fails and is then restored, to a modem, then a new IP address is issued, this is a dynamic IP address opposed to a, usually, more expensive "static" ip address.

[AlphMichaels]

The issue is with your provider...., little you can do without paying for a static IP. Are you using TOT? They seem to have a slew of problems this year.

[khunPer]

The Internet Service Provider presumably uses dynamic IPs, that's quite normal. The IP may change each 24 hours, sometimes more often. The WiFi router may also lease out dynamic local IPs to the users on the LAN (Local Area Network). IPs may change when users hook on and off.

The ISP can normally provide a static IP for an extra charge. However, may depend of the type of connection (fees paid) – some lines are shared between several users.

A PVN (Private Virtual Network) with an IP in his home country or the country he maily uses services from, may be a solution for the OP.

[pete66]

The issue is with your provider...., little you can do without paying for a static IP. Are you using TOT? They seem to have a slew of problems this year.

Maybe you haven't read any of my posts. I live in a typical Thai apartment block where wi-fi services are bundled. I have no choice except use their service or move. I cannot pay for a static IP. I have no idea whether the apartment block uses TOT or 3BB or A.N.Other. It makes no difference to me because I cannot affect what service they provide.

[pete66]

The Internet Service Provider presumably uses dynamic IPs, that's quite normal. The IP may change each 24 hours, sometimes more often. The WiFi router may also lease out dynamic local IPs to the users on the LAN (Local Area Network). IPs may change when users hook on and off.

The ISP can normally provide a static IP for an extra charge. However, may depend of the type of connection (fees paid) – some lines are shared between several users.

A PVN (Private Virtual Network) with an IP in his home country or the country he maily uses services from, may be a solution for the OP.

I thought PVN might be the answer but got this back yesterday from one VPN provider's support:

------------

As for your initial question, however, VPN connections require a constant, uninterrupted connection to be able to operate. As such, if your local IP is constantly changing, then this would cause the VPN to disconnect everytime it occurred, as it would have to rebind to the new IP every time. Using a VPN would cause your external IP to remain the same, if you used a manual setup option (which is available for MacOS), however without a stable base connection, the VPN would disconnect every time your IP changed (or anytime any form of disruption occurred to your local connection).

-------

So that's useless in my environment. I need a new environment.

[dansan]

I would take a look at HideMyAss VPN.

I use it for my business and it's pretty solid.

http://bit.ly/16opKM3

[pete66]

Their site appears to be blocked by the lovely Thai goverment. but you wouldn't know that because you are using a VPN ;-)

[pete66]

Can you still use torrent sites ok if you use HideMyAss?

[pete66]

I've found another VPN similar to HideMyAss which *isn't* currently blocked by lovely thai Gov so I'll trial that for 2 weeks

[mrfill]

I've found another VPN similar to HideMyAss which *isn't* currently blocked by lovely thai Gov so I'll trial that for 2 weeks

privateinternetaccess.com provide an excellent, reasonable priced VPN service which certainly works in Thailand.

It won't help though as has been stated before. It sounds like the router is dropping the line regularly and reconnecting - thus getting a new IP address every time. The problem is likely to be either a) noise on the line which needs an engineer to tweak the signal or a rubbish router which is clapped out. Both are outside your control so its a no-hoper.

A data SIM should at least give you a stable IP address. Use either in a smart phone with tethering or get a dongle. DTAC do a data bundle for about 700Bt/month and you get 3Gb allowance. I found their signal good enough to send high quality Skype video while on a train to Nong Khai and in the middle of nowhere. Other providors are available....

[pinball]

Hi,

The problem is your condo is using a load balancing router, this means your condo has two internet connections running together this is using a protocol called round robin, and it will switch IP's every so often.

Talk to the condo IT person to route all HTTPS traffic on on WAN 1 or WAN 2

[ben2203]

I ddoubt the problem is a load balancing router because they are hard to find in Thailand, I think the problem is they dont use an ADSL splitter to split the line so everytime the phone rings the signal drops. You could buy one and ask them to split the line, they are only about 50 baht.

Usually the ISP will reduce the bandwidth to numbers with high usage so the more people use it the more the line will eventually deteriate.

I recommend TRUE 3G over DTAC and AIS as they have more equipment available but ask local opinion first as it might be a different story where you live.

[asupeartea]

Whenever you use the internet, almost all ISPs disconnect you from the actual internet after 10-60 seconds, depending on their settings. All internet connections are really a series of connections -- computer >> router >> ISP >> gateway >> internet. The connections are not maintained all the way unless you DO something every 10 seconds or so, even if you have your own IP address. That way your ISP only has to pay for so many actual connections to the internet from their servers -- some are shared by many for a few seconds at a pop.

The way to beat this is to maintain constant internet traffic to-from your machine all the way to some website. The simplest, crudest way to do this is a live stream. Connect to your choice of streaming whatever and keep that stream coming throughout your online session, although this is counterintuitive it speeds up the connection because you not REconnecting ISP>>gateway>>net every time you click something -- hundreds of times per online session. If you're not in the mood to listen to the stream, just mute it while maintaining it

The more elegant way (old programmer lingo for efficient programming) is the Keepalive protocol. Macs are supposed to have that built into the system but it doesn't seem to work as advertised. Search Mac apps sites for keepalive, download an app to do it, play with it and/or get another one if it doesn't do what you want. Google lists a few. (That's the limit of my very stale Mac expertise.)

I know more about windows machine solutions. There used to be a tiny utility called Keepalive but I haven't been able to find it for a few years now. If you can find the real one, not the app that's hijacked the name, then use it. You turn it on and it pings a website every 10 seconds. Walla!, you don't have any more connectivity problems.

If you can't find the REAL utility, and *I* can't anymore, then it's up to a hack (the positive meaning of an innovative fix). support.microsoft. com has a registry modification that activates Keepalive as long as Internet Explorer remains open, not necessarily used if you prefer another browser -- I do this at work, keep IE open but actually use Chrome. BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE MODIFYING IT SINCE ONE ITTY BITTY ERROR WILL CAUSE YOUR COMPUTER TO COMPLETELY FAIL -- EITHER THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH or THE BLACK SCREEN.

The other less elegant way is to find, download, install and use an FTP client with the Keepalive protocol in it, connect to an ftp site and hope they don't force a disconnect once they've figured out what you're up to -- many ftp sites are already wise to this hack.

Android has à number of apps to do Keepalive. DL>>install>>activate is all you do. Check the permissions because you don't want them into your personal data. The one I'm using doesn't sneak into my stuff.

Finally, the first streaming solution is probably your best/easiest, just don't forget to crank it on when ever you want to maintain a constant connection, especially online banking since the high-level security protocols must be constantly maintained.

BTW, I used Keepalive to keep this reply open and active the entire time I was writing.

Edited May 18, 2013 by asupeartea