How Sticky are Skinny Public IP Adresses?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › How Sticky are Skinny Public IP Adresses?

Earbanean

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

#306874 29-Aug-2023 19:21

I'm with Voyager and have a static IP address for using a Smart DNS service. However, Voyager is putting up their monthly cost (again!), so I'm looking to move. We have mobiles with Skinny, so can get a good 300/100 price. They don't do static IP addresses but do have dynamic public IP addresses. That'll definitely be OK, as long as the addresses are reasonably sticky. We almost never need to reboot our router. Does anyone have a feel for the stickiness of the IP addresses at Skinny?

Escapist

12 posts

Geek

ID Verified

#3121694 29-Aug-2023 19:36

They'll stick as long as your PPPoE session stays up. If your router reboots you will get a new IP pretty much 100% guaranteed, it is a proper public IP though and I've never had any trouble accessing it via dynamic dns.

Also note:

No IPv6
PPPoE only (no DHCP)

I've been with Skinny for about 2 years, and highly recommend them. I've sat back and watched several Vocus outages, and deteriorating 2Degrees user experience, and never once had an issue like that on Skinny.

MarkM536

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3121698 29-Aug-2023 19:42

I feel I can answer this well as I have Home Assistant monitoring my public IP.

It varies. Longest period I have had is over 4 months when I first signed up last year, then I needed to reboot the router and it changed.

In the past 7 times:

15-8-2023 - 06 Days
09-8-2023 - 40 Days
31-6-2023 - 02 Days
29-6-2023 - 27 Days
02-6-2023 - 96 Days
25-3-2023 - 54 Days
30-1-2023 - Oldest record I have.

Earbanean

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3121706 29-Aug-2023 20:16

Escapist:

Also note:

No IPv6
PPPoE only (no DHCP)

Thanks, I think I'm fine with both of those - at least for the time being.

Earbanean

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3121707 29-Aug-2023 20:34

MarkM536:

In the past 7 times:

15-8-2023 - 06 Days
09-8-2023 - 40 Days
31-6-2023 - 02 Days
29-6-2023 - 27 Days
02-6-2023 - 96 Days
25-3-2023 - 54 Days
30-1-2023 - Oldest record I have.

Were these all ended by router reboots, or spontaneously?

MarkM536

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3121710 29-Aug-2023 20:59

Earbanean:

Were these all ended by router reboots, or spontaneously?

Two reboots in that, my router is on a UPS. The reset are unknown.

I believe those two are:

31-6-2023
29-6-2023

29-6, was 2 days before I mucked up changes and reverted state. 2 days later I updated the firmware.

I don't find the IP changes too annoying.

I use Home Assistant to email me the changed IP and enter that into my phone's VPN server (who needs a DDNS? 😄).

michaelmurfy

meow
13247 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

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Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3121714 29-Aug-2023 21:59

So just note that basically all providers are putting up their prices. I've not seen any that have been immune to this. Spark still might, so if you move then factor this in.

But on another note check out Quic also. Quic is another ISP that is mostly self managed but pretty cheap also (also has very sticky Dynamic IP addresses or a one off cost for a Static) - given you're on Voyager then I'd say Quic would be your closest contender for an ISP.

Parents are on Skinny VDSL and find that their IP only changes if their connection is re-established:

2023-07-09 19:15:01 - Old IP: 122.57.12.6, New IP: 122.57.11.92
2023-07-11 02:30:03 - Old IP: 122.57.11.92, New IP: 122.57.8.80
2023-08-25 02:45:03 - Old IP: 122.57.8.80, New IP: 122.58.234.xxx

Script for tracking this if you're interested (run every 5mins or so):

#!/bin/bash

# Configuration
IP_FILE="current_ip.txt"
LOG_FILE="ip_history.log"

# Function to get the external IP address
function get_external_ip() {
local ip=$(curl -s https://ipinfo.io/ip)
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
echo $ip
else
echo ""
fi
}

# Check if the IP has changed
function check_ip_change() {
local current_ip=$(get_external_ip)

# Check if the IP retrieval was successful
if [ -z "$current_ip" ]; then
echo "Failed to get the external IP address. Exiting."
exit 1
fi

# If the IP file doesn't exist, create it and store the IP
if [ ! -f "$IP_FILE" ]; then
echo "IP file not found. Creating a new one."
echo "$current_ip" > "$IP_FILE"
exit 0
fi

# Check if the IP has changed
local old_ip=$(cat "$IP_FILE")
if [ "$current_ip" != "$old_ip" ]; then
local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
echo "IP address has changed. Logging the change."
echo "$timestamp - Old IP: $old_ip, New IP: $current_ip" >> "$LOG_FILE"
echo "$current_ip" > "$IP_FILE"
fi
}

# Main function
function main() {
# Create the log file if it doesn't exist
if [ ! -f "$LOG_FILE" ]; then
touch "$LOG_FILE"
fi
check_ip_change
}

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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Earbanean

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3121809 30-Aug-2023 10:43

michaelmurfy:

But on another note check out Quic also. Quic is another ISP that is mostly self managed but pretty cheap also (also has very sticky Dynamic IP addresses or a one off cost for a Static) - given you're on Voyager then I'd say Quic would be your closest contender for an ISP.

Thanks, yeah Quic is one I'm considering. I think the extra $10 off with Skinny due to mobiles probably swings it. That's assuming I don't need a static IP - which I don't think I do. I also don't need Ipv6 etc (for now). I currently need a reasonably configurable router (ERL for now), but I think a very vanilla ISP will do.

Also, for me personally, I'm not 100% sure about the self service support. Having said that, for the whole time I have been with Voyager, I've never once needed support. Kind of ironic really, that quality support was one of the reasons I went with Voyager, but I never actually used it.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

KiwiSurfer

1453 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3121933 30-Aug-2023 15:45

MarkM536:

I feel I can answer this well as I have Home Assistant monitoring my public IP.

It varies. Longest period I have had is over 4 months when I first signed up last year, then I needed to reboot the router and it changed.

In the past 7 times:

15-8-2023 - 06 Days
09-8-2023 - 40 Days
31-6-2023 - 02 Days
29-6-2023 - 27 Days
02-6-2023 - 96 Days
25-3-2023 - 54 Days
30-1-2023 - Oldest record I have.

That's fairly frequent compared to Vocus. Rebooting my router almost always releases the same IP back. I think I've managed to get >12 months use of an IP address. I used to hardcode some of my DNS entries to an IP address and never had to touch it. I'm not 100% sure but I think it is the same behaviour on both PPPoE and DHCP.

Not that I recommend Vocus given the recent issues they are having though! But food for thought.

allan

2043 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3121964 30-Aug-2023 17:01

@Earbanean Just a suggestion regarding your SmartDNS service. Rather than entering your IP address directly into it, why not use a DDNS service (e.g. noip.com) with a local agent installed and enter the resolved DDNS hostname into your SmartDNS service instead. That way you don't have to worry about your IP address changing as the DDNS service will just keep track of it for you.

Earbanean

943 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3122086 31-Aug-2023 08:49

allan:

@Earbanean Just a suggestion regarding your SmartDNS service. Rather than entering your IP address directly into it, why not use a DDNS service (e.g. noip.com) with a local agent installed and enter the resolved DDNS hostname into your SmartDNS service instead. That way you don't have to worry about your IP address changing as the DDNS service will just keep track of it for you.

Thanks, good point. That's a route I've never gone down, due to always having had either a static IP (with one-off charge) or an extremely sticky dynamic IP. I guess I can have that option in the back pocket if I end up with an IP not as sticky as I'd like.

Nate001

644 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3122141 31-Aug-2023 10:46

Following this for the same reasons as you re Voyager, I'm conflicted as the service has been great and still have the static IP for the one off payment when I joined, but it feels like I'm paying for the static IP through the higher prices now. I know Michael says other ISPs may raise prices but they seem to be consistently higher than others lately. If I commit to skinny for 12months I'd be saving $240 for a year which is a lot.