I don't know much about networking. I need to work remotely. My company will NOT give me a VPN. Instead, they want me to use a static IP which they will white list. So, I thought I'll use a static IP for my Netgear router as mentioned here. It worked fine for one day & after that, devices were not able to connect to the internet. When I switched back to dynamic IPs, the problem was solved. The other option is to get a business internet account for my ISP. But, I don't want to get that because I'll have to pay for it.
How can I get a reliable static IP for home which I can use for work ?
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64 Answers
What they would whitelist is your Internet (aka public) IP address. However, you can’t control that. To get a fixed IP address, you’d need a business Internet subscription, which is usually a lot more expensive.
So if you must work remotely, your company will give you VPN access – or your dismissal. It’s really as simple as that.
9There are various ways to get an unchanging IP address:
1: Control the address
Addresses originate from IANA, part of ICANN. IANA gives addresses to the RIRs.
The last time I looked into getting a block of IPv4 addresses from an RIR, there was a basic requirement of having two live Internet connections. This was intended to make sure that address blocks are just given out to entities who have sufficient need for addresses.
Usually RIRs give addresses to ISPs.
2: Get an address from an ISP
This is the normal route for individuals. Ask your ISP. If your ISP wants to charge you more (and classify it as a business connection), that is a somewhat-common practice I've heard of before. Either accept that offering, or seek elsewhere. I've heard of ISPs providing static IP addresses for free, upon request. I can distinctly remember of one example of such a company, local to where I live. Whether you have such an option where you live may be a different story. Check out the competition.
3: Use a static address provided by someone else
I have a friend who works at an ISP. He set up a computer, and gave away accounts. (Since then, we've been giving away accounts with far less frequency.)
If there is a computer out there with a static IP, and you can connect/VPN into that computer, then you may be able to send traffic from that computer's IP address, which your work could then whitelist.
To pursue this, I guess you may want to look up "free shell accounts". And you may need to learn a bit about things like port forwarding, VPNs, using a command line (in a UNIX-based platform), etc. (When I say VPN, I'm referring to using a VPN to the provider of the server you're using, which you then use to connect to work. I'm not suggesting using a VPN to connect from anywhere directly to work, because that requires setup/cooperation from the IT at work.)
Summary
For most professionals, option #2 is probably the most common way that is typically considered easiest. Really, if you can find a nice ISP, there may not really be significant drawbacks to this method.
1He didn't say that it has to be an IPv4 address. You can get IPv6 addresses for free and use a tunnel. See , for example (Not sure if safe, I just found it). But still, he might not accept Ipv6 addresses.
In that case you could also rent one and use a tunnel or get it trough your ISP. In these cases you probably will have to pay more, but not nescessarily. Some ISPs might offer a static IP in a normal package for non-business internet subscriptions.
You should inform yourself and also talk to the guy in case you have to buy something in order to get the IP. I'm not an expert on this but a VPN network would add a security layer as its usually encrypted. Give it a look:
VPN is the only reasonable solution imho.
That said, here is one more solution that needs no IT interventions or in cases extra money to your ISP and allows you to access it :
Get a url address that always maps to the right IP
You can map your ever-changing home IP address to a url address using your preferred DNS_hosting_service
Say you choose 'foobar.com'. You ll need to either run on your home pc a program, or set your router so that every time your ip changes, the DNS_hosting_service is notified (each service typically provides a file you can download and run).
Then, instead of using an ip to access your pc, you can find it using a cool name of your choice such as my_home.foobar.com. my_home.foobar.com will always point to the id of your pc. As a side note, most of those services also provide VPN services if you pay.
This won't work if the admin only whitelists (numeric) IP address, not domain names and might not be a solution that should be used professionally in large companies. Also, it might include some security risks. (You get what you pay for, and this is the only 'for free' way proposed.)
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