[LINK] RFI: Dynamic IP-Addresses on Consumer Broadband

[Kim Holburn]

In 1998 I was doing network consulting for a branch of a company  
inside China.  The Internet in China was, as you might expect,  
largely although somewhat chaotically controlled by the government.   
The company needed a fixed IP but not for a server.  A fixed IP cost  
a huge amount more than a dynamic one as well as paperwork describing  
what was the content of your website.  In my recollection it was  
something like RMB10,000 per month and it was just dialup.  Looking  
back on it, the cost was the equivalent of a person to monitor the  
website ;-).

I would think that there are 2 factors here.  One is that it does  
annoy people running sites with unsupervised content to change their  
IP numbers around although I would have thought that dynamic DNS  
would enable people to get around that.  The other is that China has  
a huge network which is growing very fast and not nearly as good  
access to IP space as the west especially the US with it's A- 
classes.  So it could in part be technical rearrangements of IP space.

On 2007/Oct/19, at 10:09 AM, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Maybe someone can help with an oddity that's arisen with my MSc 
> (ECOM) candidates up here in Hong Kong.
>
> One of the slides in the session on IP distinguishes static and  
> dynamic IP-addresses.  I referred to dial-up as one extreme, major  
> servers as the other;  and consumer ADSL/cable as in-between, but  
> increasingly static.
>
> (Since the bad old days of ADSL instability, mine lasts months at a  
> time without either end falling over and having to be re- 
> initialised with, pretty inevitably, a different IP-address from  
> before).
>
> Contributions to the Discussion Boards make clear that both HK and  
> mainland China ISPs are making frequent changes to consumers' IP- 
> addresses.  [Which presumably makes censorship even harder, but  
> that's no bad thing!]
>
> I floated the cause as perhaps old or low-quality network software  
> resulting in relatively frequent dropouts.
>
> Several candidates (these are mostly 26-40 year-olds, many with at  
> least one postgrad qual, half in CS/IT) suggest that the main  
> factor is to prevent people signing consumer contracts and running  
> servers. (We went through that phase 3-4 years ago in Oz!).
>
> Any insights much appreciated.
>
> -- 
> Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/ 
> Roger.Clarke/
>
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611  
> AUSTRALIA
>                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http:// 
> www.xamax.com.au/
>
> Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National  
> University
> Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong  
> Kong
> Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni  
> of NSW
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--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961