Zen Broadband - can I get a dynamic IP?

Anyone know?

http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/broadband/home-offi...

"Choice of 1 or 8 static IP addresses"

I have been thinking of leaving my current ISP and signing up with Zen, but this is an issue for me, as I really do prefer a dynamic IP when I access the internet. I'm not really comfortable with the added potential for tracking that a static IP provides.

Thanks,
PJ.

Only ever seen those options.

Nefarious websites would just use cookie tracking anyway, since dynamic IP is so common, and dynamic can remain with you for weeks unless you are rebooting the modem every couple of hours.

Choose 8 static and cycle through them when you want.

His full name/company name will be associated with the block, available for anyone to lookup. Not great if he's interested in privacy.

Can't Zen hide that info? That's appalling

If that's true, then there's absolutely no way on this earth that I'm signing up with them. Even if their service is as good as people say it is.

I've been on the internet a long time now - certainly long enough to know that there are lots of people out there who believe that the way to deal with someone saying something they don't like on the internet is to find out where they live and cause problems for them in real life.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Only ever seen those options.

Nefarious websites would just use cookie tracking anyway, since dynamic IP is so common, and dynamic can remain with you for weeks unless you are rebooting the modem every couple of hours.

My current ISP allocates me with a different IP every time I log on (or disconnect/connect my box), FWIW. I'd like any new ISP I sign up for to also do this - but without the traffic shaping, which is the reason I was considering joining Zen...

I'd rather be 'one of ten thousand' (or whatever) on the internet than 'that guy'.

PJ.

I'm afraid that Zen don't offer the choice of a dynamic IP address on any of our services - as previously mentioned we only offer static IPs. As standard customers can choose to have 1, or 8 IPs. Anything more than this requires justification & a form to be completed.

With regards to customer details being shown, this is actually linked to terms and conditions from the RIPE policy & procedures. If the account is in the name of an individual, the default entry on the RIPE Database will be in the format of [firstname] [surname].

If you do not wish for your details to be shown on the RIPE database in this way, we are able to change this so that your name can show in one of the following ways;

[Firstname] [last-initial]
[First initial] [last-name]

If the account is in a business name, then the name of the business will be shown instead.

Your address details don't get published online, these are only stored with RIPE and not disclosed to the public.

I hope this helps explain the information posted earlier about having a range of IPs.

Would I be right in thinking, from what you say and from the earlier posts, that with the single fixed IP address only yourselves know the name and premises address?

As the enquirer seems only to be concerned about that becoming public, my view is that he would have to upset someone very seriously, (and very nasty), to provoke them into successfully hacking into your system to find it.

I would imagine even with a dynamic IP address, with any ISP, the risk of one's name and address being obtained would be almost identical. There has to be an IP address-customer history maintained for legal reasons, so such a hunter would only need a small number of recent IPs used by his target to trace him through that, if successful in hacking in.

Have been with my present isp for 5 years or more with a static ip. I have never encountered any problems with it, no one has tried to attack me in any way. My router, firewall and ant-virus tend to stop all nefarious stuff getting in (or out). It seems to be in the mind of the user that a fixed ip is a dangerous thing, in my exoperience, over many years, it is not as long as you have the right protection and browsing safety.