Static IP

[donataz]

hello, im still uncertain when it comes to Static IP adress. Does EE provide me with one if I asked? As I see other broadband providers do. Having a small home server I need access to a static IP, have been with EE for some years now really loved the service up to this point, will be a shame if I have to move on. I saw the option on the router, but not sure if it works

[SwearyMark22]

The information you are providing is not accurate full stop. BT DO NOT offer their residential customers static IPv4 addresses whatsoever! There is no business class clause, as it is a residential package.

Sky's gamer profile is not a static IP. It is simply to reduce latency in games, this is by setting up port forwarding in the router to direct traffic over certain UDP/TCP ports to specific internal IP addresses directly to avoid lag. The internal IP can be static by reserving it on the router or by setting it as static on the console/PC/laptop. This is not a public static IP.

Working as an area manager in the retail department does not give you the back end technical knowledge needed as you would have been more of a sales person and given marketing type wording to gain customers.

You cannot get a static IP with EE. I dont agree with this but until everything goes IPv6 this will not change as there are not enough IPv4 addresses to do this.

Please stop providing wrong information.

[XRaySpeX]

The upshot of this lengthy thread about what or what not other ISPs might do, is that EE will not supply static public IPs.

[joel_wraight]

I think most of this thread is a few of us trying to battle misinformation tbh

[PM4]

So trying to find a way around the problem!  Another hurdle.

I'm trying to use A&A's L2TP service to bypass a CGNAT connection with EE's 4G network, to enable me to view IP cams remotely. My current router a TpLink MR600 does not appear to support a VPN Client and pure L2TP connectivity and I'm struggling to find an affordable 4G router which does. Can anyone help please?

[IT-4BusyPeople]

>My current router a TpLink MR600 does not appear to support a VPN Client and pure L2TP connectivity

From the specifications: Archer MR600 | 4G+ Cat6 AC1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router | TP-Link United Kingdom it seems to have the necessary. However, looking through the user guide, it only actually supports pass-through...

For my purposes I used a Draytek 2860n (*1) I had spare and brought a Huawei E3372h-153(*2) LTE USB stick, as at that time Draytek were not shipping a router with an embedded 4G LTE modem. (I note there are plenty of Draytek routers for sale on ebay.co.uk.) I also purchased a 35dBi gain 4G LTE antenna which improved 4G connection stability and data transfer.

(*1) Practically all Draytek desktop/branch routers running DrayOS support the creation of an outbound L2TP VPN.

(*2) There is also an E3372s-153 which is reported to work with more routers than the 'h' variant. Draytek kindly publish a compatibility list.

USB 4G/3G/LTE Modem Support List (draytek.co.uk)

and the setting necessary to connect:

3G / 4G Dongle Setup 

Plus they have a number of guides/whitepapers on setting up the L2TP service.

[PM4]

Thanks again.  Coincidentally the Draytek Vigor2620Ln (which now does have integrated 4G) was the main option I was looking at, but when I contacted Draytek tech they said:

"Thank you for contacting technical support. Following your call about support for PPTP connection on LTE. Before you get the router I suggest you check with Andrews&Arnolds if it is a VPN connection or it is a WAN PPTP connection. On my previous experience with A&A this was not VPN but it was WAN PPTP connection. If the connection is VPN then vigor 2620 connected through LTE it should work fine. If it is a WAN PPTP connection then, I do not see a settings for PPTP on LTE interface. This could work if you have a 4G router from the Mobile provider connected to the Ethernet WAN of the draytek"

and when I put this to A&A tech they said:

"The device does not seem to support L2TP Connections so we would
recommend against it, it would need to support setting up a second
connection with L2TP and then making that the primary connection.

We don't ourselves have any recommendations for this but it might be
worth popping into our IRC chat and asking our other customers what they
use - https://www.aa.net.uk/etc/live-chat/"

I went back to them because I don't think this was correct, but no reply.  They of course also verbally suggested their Firebrick, but this is very expensive and only connects to 4G via a dongle, and I am concerned that this would reduce speeds etc.

I've managed to connect to L2TP on my laptop as the Win10 set up is simple and it's possible to remove the 'with IPSec' default.  So I am not sure that the Draytek tech's concerns about it not being a VPN are valid, and it seems that you are correct that this model of router can act as a VPN client for pure L2TP. 

I also went to the Live Chat for A&A and they suggested that I was unnecessarily complicating things!  The suggestion was to abandon L2TP and the configuration of a router and leave a 'spare' server/laptop at the remote location of the cameras, then use an app like TeamViewer, AnyDesk or Parsec to access the remote local network and the IPCams while working away.  I haven't tried this yet, and whether or not it would yield sufficient quality of image I have no idea.

Thanks also for your links to the Draytek info, especially the L2TP set up which for a tech incompetent like me, will be very helpful. 

N.B. I also looked at aerials, but we now have an EE mast about 500m away and get speeds of around 60-110Mps, so probably no longer necessary.