A fixed IP address means a permanent IP address, as opposed to dynamic IP addresses that change from time to time. It allows our customers' servers and routers to always be available at the same address, thereby creating the possibility for our customers to run FTP, web, and mail services on their servers, and to easily access their servers remotely.
An IP address is a unique network identifier used to identify each other by computers communicating using the Internet Protocol. Every computer connected to the Internet has an IP address.
The public addresses are available from the Internet. The IP addressing system was designed during the Internet's heyday. Unfortunately, the IP addresses that can be allocated publicly have been used up, service providers no longer have the opportunity to request a new domain. The introduction of new generation IPv6 addresses will provide a definitive solution to this problem in the future, but this is progressing very slowly worldwide; the full transition may still take years. To bridge the transition period, a technology called Carrier-Grade NAT (CGN for short) was created, typically for Internet service providers.
You definitely need a public IP address if:
- Connected to your own modem, it operates some kind of web, game, file server,
- You have a camera system or alarm that you want to access directly from the Internet (The newer, so-called cloud-based systems do not require the public address.),
- You want to connect to your computer remotely using SSH, VNC, MS Remote Desktop. Some remote access programs (e.g. TeamViewer) do not require a direct connection.
You may need a public IP address if:
- You play an online game where you need to establish a direct connection from the Internet,
- You are using a torrent client that cannot upload in active mode,
- You are using a VOIP telephone system (not all systems require the public address).