Does HughesNet provide a public IP address?

[bradleys]

The salesman on the phone says they provide a dynamic public address.

Their website says it's a NAT address (which to me implies non-public).

They do offer a static address, which implies public, but only for the more expensive plans.

Thanks.

 

[grohgreg]

I'm not sure what you want here. The title of your topic asks a question, but you seem to answer it within your subsequent text. As far as I know, a static IP is available as a $10/mo option with any rate plan. At least, it used to be.

//greg//

 

[bradleys]

I guess I'm asking who is correct - the phone rep (public IP - yes) or the web site - (public IP - probably no).

If I can get a dynamic pubic IP address included in the plan, then I don't need to pay $10 for a static public IP address.

To the folks out there who have HughesNet - what kind of IP address does your computer see?

Thanks.

 

[grohgreg]

I see the IP address of my gateway server, but I don't think that's actually what you want to know. What others see when connected with me, is a HughesNet NAT server IP address. No such thing as a HughesNet "dynamic public" IP address that I know of. Default configuration of consumer accounts includes a dynamic private IP, optional is a static (public) IP.

//greg//

 

[poorboy08]

Ipchicken.com

Your IP addy is a public address but could change if you recomission or change transponders/channel IDs.

 

[grohgreg]

Ipchicken.com

Your IP addy is a public address but could change if you recomission or change transponders/channel IDs.

Nope. That site (IPChicken.com) only reflects the public address of my Hughes NAT server. So does WHATSMYIP and WHOIS. That's all anybody will ever see when using normal means to follow my packets

We consumer grade customers on the private side of the Hughes NAT servers only get dynamic IP addresses - unless/until we pony up the extra $10/month for the static option.

//greg//

 

[poorboy08]

what is your lan1 ip addy....should be a 6x.xxx.xxx.xxx

 

[grohgreg]

what is your lan1 ip addy....should be a 6x.xxx.xxx.xxx

Not even close. It's the default 192.168.0.1.

My NAT IP address however is 66.82.187.xxx, and my gateway server address (what Hughes calls Router) is 66.82.25.xxx. Pretty sure that - if you see a 66.82.xxx.xxx as LAN1 on a consumer grade (home or SOHO) account - it's a static IP adddress.

To Bradleys - it appears HughesNet is in the process of revamping their websites again. I went looking for a web page to document the availability of static IP addresses. But the sales links to options like PowerPack, extra email accounts, static IP addresses, etc seems to be currently - hopefully only temporarily - unavailable.

//greg//

 

[HCI]

under a basic home plan you will have a ip address just like a router which will be 192.168.0.1

you can chose to go under a business class plan and get a static IP which will start with something like 66 or 72

OP what are you planing on doing with the system. That would be more helpful in concluding if you need a static from Hughes.

 

[poorboy08]

Not even close. It's the default 192.168.0.1.

My NAT IP address however is 66.82.187.xxx, and my gateway server address (what Hughes calls Router) is 66.82.25.xxx. Pretty sure that - if you see a 66.82.xxx.xxx as LAN1 on a consumer grade (home or SOHO) account - it's a static IP adddress.

To Bradleys - it appears HughesNet is in the process of revamping their websites again. I went looking for a web page to document the availability of static IP addresses. But the sales links to options like PowerPack, extra email accounts, static IP addresses, etc seems to be currently - hopefully only temporarily - unavailable.

//greg//

The NATed address your talking about is a public address...it's just not static.

 

[grohgreg]

The NATed address your talking about is a public address...it's just not static.

Sure it's public, but it's not mine !! It's the address of the HughesNet NAT server through which my packets are translated for any given connection. The last octet changes regularly. What we as consumer grade customers get is what might be considered a "dynamic lease"; a temporary IP address between us and the NOC/NAT, that only lasts as long as the connection remains active. As such, it's considered a dynamic (or private) IP address. You don't have a clue what my "address" is behind the NAT server. Matter of fact, you might even liken the NAT server to a psuedo-firewall.

More to the point, packets between (consumer grade) customers and their assigned gateway servers are actually identified by the customer modem serial number (in hex) which is included in each packet header. The gateway server by the way, is not public - won't even respond to PINGs (from either direction). The gateway server is between the customer and the NAT server. By the time packets get to the NAT server, things get "public". But as I've repeated ad nauseum, the address at that point is no longer that of the customer. It's merely a means by which the NAT server knows through which gateway server the responding packets are routed back to the customer.

But this has strayed far afield from the original question. So once again - for the benefit of the OP - the default HughesNet residential/consumer grade (Home/SOHO) configuration provides the equivalent of a dynamic IP address in the price of the package. And - unless things change after their website reconfiguration - you should be able to order an optional static IP address for an additional $10/month.

//greg//

 

[poorboy08]

Excellent reply...although I was simply trying to address the way in which "Public" is being used. IMHO any address which is registered through IANA is considered public, where as IPs such as 192.168.xxx.xxx and 172.18.xxx.xxx would be considered private. Whether or not it's pingable or "static" makes no difference.

 

[bradleys]

OK, here's how it works. I just had a static IP address added yesterday.

I was using "private" to describe the "10", "172.16-31", and "192.168.0-255" ranges, which are also called "non-routed".

Without a static address, your PCs only see the 192.168.0.something address that is supplied via NAT from the modem. The modem has a public address that is dynamic. In my case, the public address was 97.something.

With a static address, your PC or router will see the public address. In my case the static address is 174.something.

It is not supported to have the modem pass through (bridge) the public address unless you buy a static IP address. This is different than both of my other internet services. In those other cases, I have a dynamic address that is assigned directly to the computer or router which is attached to the modem. Since my other two internet services DO allow public addresses to be passed even though they're dynamic, I suspect this is a marketing way for HughesNet to bump us up two plans, and get ten bucks for a static address.

I also had a previous wireless internet service where the IP address that I saw was a 10.something address. They were NAT-ing many users through a single DSL upstream connection.

So, to summarize - unless you rent a static IP address, the HughesNet modem will only operate in NAT mode, and your computers will not have visibility to the public address.

The reason I cared, and the reason this is important, is that it's much easier (at least for me) to set up inbound routing for cameras and computer services directly, rather than with doubled NAT.