why you'd want to - and when you shouldn't There are two main types of IP addresses -- static and dynamic. I'll explain them both -- and why you would choose one over the other. Simply put ...

When a computer, smartphone, tablet, printer, scanner, TV or any other network-connected device is turned on for the first time, it is assigned the next available IP address by the DHCP protocol ...

A lot of routers can report their IP address to a dynamic DNS server. That used to be great, but now it seems like many of them hound you to upgrade or constantly renew so you can see their ads.

To avoid confusion and issues with users reaching their websites, public-facing Web servers must have non-changing IP addresses. See dynamic IP address and IP address. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR ...