How to change public IP without VPN

I have been looking up some methods on how to change my public IP and I've only found solutions like using a VPN for a non-permanent different IP, or disconnecting the modem for a few hours, which didn't work for me.

I also saw some other guides on how to change IP through the windows networking settings but I've realized that that method is only for changing your local IP.

So I wanted to ask here, do you guys know of any way I can get a different permanent public IP?

EDIT: I do have access to my modem's settings page, I suppose I could change the IP from there if I had a little guidance.

 

You can't change the IP as it's assigned by the ISP, so modem settings won't be very useful (this does not apply do ADSL but you're surely not using it). You could use the release/renew button to do that (if the modem has such a setting) but for ISPs that have permanent IPs this does not work.

Such ISPs assign either permanent or semi-permanent IP to the MAC address of the modem. If it's permanent, you can't do anything - it will stick until they do some maintenance on their end - rebooting a few things might change all of the assigned IPs (except for those that are assigned on purpose to customers that pay to have a permanent IP).

The second option (semi-permanent) is different - it's technically a dynamic IP but it's the ISP that starts and ends the session and it's also assigned by the MAC address of your modem. This will most likely change if the modem os switched off for long enough - but we're not talking a few hours here.
In my case that takes more than a day - this depends on how long does the lease last but you won't know that because your modem will most likely show incorrect values - this is really set by the ISP on their end. Once your modem is offline when the lease ends, you're in the clear - you will most likely get a new IP once you switch it on.

You may see it the lease time is shown somewhere and will it work if you switch it off before the lease expires and switch it back on again once it's expired. Switching modem off and then on during the same lease will not do a thing.

 

If I turn off my router for 10 minutes then turn it on, I get a new public IP

 

Hello again, sorry for the late reply, I had tried once again to unplug my modem last night and leave it off for an even longer period of hours, still now change.

I did some research to see if I have a static or dynamic IP, and according to "ipconfig /all", I got "DHCP Enabled" set to No, so it should be dynamic, although it seems to never change.

Regarding the "lease", are we talking about the end of the monthly contract? Where would the lease time be shown?
If I can't see it anywhere, I guess I could ask my landlord when is the actual start of the month for the internet contract and try to unplug it the night it ends... if that's what we're talking about. Otherwise I don't really understand this about the lease.

Another thing, I tried in the command prompt to do "ipconfig /release" and then "ipconfig /renew", but it didn't change, plus it gave me a message saying that no operations could be performed while the media was disconnected, but I think that's a normal error message. But either way this method didn't work neither, I don't know why.

 

Hello @ignorant.

With ipconfig you won't achieve what you're after. Please read a bit on what it does. It's basically a command line tool to control local network connections and DNS parameters.

While I don't know your end goal to this, if you only want to change it once, calling your ISP and ask ing them to do it, might do the job. Other than that, @downloads answer provides useful information that might work in your case.

You can read more here about the lease @downloads referred to. Nothing to do with your home.

 

Hi @katalin_2003 , my goal is to get a new permanent public IP, I mean not just for a few minutes while using a VPN.

Thanks about that article about the lease, I read it, but while it explains the process of requesting, and obtaining a lease, it doesn't really explain to me what a "lease" really is. So I still don't really know about it and I don't know how to tell when it expires.

Anyways, I have found a hole on the modem with "reset" written below it, so I assume if I use a pin to press it that will reset the modem. I just remember though that once, in another apartment, on another modem, I held that reset button down for like 5 seconds and apparently I reset it to factory-state and that messed things up and the company had to come fix things. But I'm guessing if I only press it once without holding it down for a few seconds, that will only reset the modem without breaking anything, right?

 

@ignorant

There is no point explaining what a "lease" is as it is exactly what the word implies - the time-frame you are "given" (leased actually) this particular IP to use by your ISP. It the lease is 24h than in 24h you will be given a new one. But within that time-frame it's yours. If the lease is for example 30 days and IP is assigned by MAC address, you won't be able to do anything to change it.

As for the reset button - it's pointless what you're trying to do - you achieve the same result by unplugging the modem. You've already done that and it did not help so don't play around with the reset button.

Please don't be offended but you have virtually no idea what you're dealing with, so maybe start with Katalin's advice and call your ISP.

 

@downloads

I am not offended at all, as my username suggests I consider myself pretty ignorant in many things I don't know much about -- at the same time though perhaps you guys overestimate my ignorance. I might be far less knowledgeable than you guys (that's why I come here to ask for help), but saying that I have virtually no idea what I'm dealing with, it's an exaggeration.

For example, regarding the lease, of course I know what a "lease" is in general, I just wasn't 100% sure of what it meant in terms of IP and such. If you see my reply to you after you first mentioned the lease (and you said "You may see it the lease time is shown somewhere"), I asked

But that wasn't cleared up, so yeah. If the lease is just the lease of the IP then I guess it goes along with the monthly contract of the internet... I'm guessing.

Anyways, yep okay, if you say that unplugging and pressing the reset button would normally have the same behaviour, and since unplugging didn't work yet, I guess I can skip pressing the reset button.

 

No it doesn't - monthly contract and IP lease have nothing to do with one another.

That's why I would suggest you contact your ISP and possibly google for solutions suggested by the clients of your ISP that have the same modems.

The for the second advice (although I realize that sensing anyone to google something is rude in general) is that there is no way of knowing what your ISPs settings regarding IP lease are. In some cases - like Phoenix's all you need to do is to reboot the router, in other cases you can use "release IP" button in modem settings (some modem do have it some don't), but in other cases lease time is long and IP is assigned by MAC address of the modem and there is almost nothing you can do. Yet in other cases new IP is assigned if a modem is absent (switched off) for a certain time and/or misses a certain deadline (is not switched on at that time).

We have no way of knowing what settings your ISP is using as there is no correct way do do it - whatever they feel like is correct in this case. Which is why you could save yourself some time looking for any cases of fellow-clients of your ISP who already bothered to investigate it.

BTW what modem do you have?

 

Okay, I see. Thanks for explaining it.
My modem appears to be an Alcatel Lucent (I couldn not see any serial numbers on it, although it's attached to the wall above the door frame, and I could not check it on all 6 sides), while the router is a Totolink A2004NS.

The modem is almost identical to this one, although mine has only 5 light indicators, not 6, and they have slightly different labels.



You can see there's that little locked compartment in one of the corners, it says "Laser Lock" near a hole, not sure if it's a screw hole.

 

@ignorant You wrote that you have access to your modem's settings page - check the model number there.

 

I meant the router, sorry. I have access to the router's settings page.

 

Well that leaves us with the two sort-of resolutions I proposed earlier + some experimenting you can do on your own.
If you can see what happens if you leave the modem off overnight. In my case nothing does (still gets the same IP), but if I leave it off when leaving for a weekend I get a new IP - this is literally the only way I can change my public IP.

 

The thing is that I share this connection with another neighbor, I could disconnect the modem at night because I know he sleeps, but I couldn't do it for an entire weekend...

Anyways thanks for all the help. I'll see what else I can find about this...

Actually, is there a modem's settings page, in addition to router's settings page? If I put my public IP into the address bar of a browser, I'm taken to the router's settings page. Is there a separate settings page for the modem too? And how would I access that?

And I definitely cannot do anything from the router's settings page? There's a lot of settings in there.

 

Probably not although to be sure, we would have to know if we are dealing with a modem-only and a router or a combo device and if the latter if the modem is actually working as a router while the router is working as an AP, or was the modem bridged and actual routing is done by the router.
I know it sounds nonsensical but let's just not go there - see what happens if you reboot both devices at the same time.

 

Yeah I got lost in there haha.
Reboot both at the same time, sure. Reset button? Unplug?

 

Unplug.

 

Is a quick unplug/plug back enough or do they have to be off for a while?

 

Quick one is OK.

 

Hi @downloads , sorry for the late reply, I wasn't at home for two days. I just disconnected all cables from both router and modem at the same time, for about 10 seconds. Still nothing. Additionally my landlord told me that while I was away we were actually without electricity for a day or so, so that should have affected the modem and router too, even if those are placed outside in a common area. Either way, still nothing

I'll ask him to contact the ISP and see if we can get it changed. Thanks for all the help!