Thursday, November 08, 2012

No-IP Free

A few months ago I began using the No-IP Free service in order to be able to access my home network using a hostname or  fixed IP address. This worked well until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting the error "no host". I logged in to No-IP and could find no reference to my account. So I recreated it with the same details and it is working fine again.

I vaguely recall seeing something to the effect that to keep the free account active you are supposed to log in once a month. The trouble is I find it hard enough remembering what day of the week it is never mind something like that. Previously I had used the DynDNS free service but that didn't like the frequency with which my broadband changes IP address. My broadband provider says that I can only have a fixed IP address if I have a business account. It would be cheaper to stump up $20 a year for the No-IP Enhanced account. But being a dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate I'd like to avoid doing that. Any recommendations for free IP services that stay working as long as you want?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Julian,

I'd recommend the (German) registrar RegFish - http://regfish.de
You can register your domain g4ilo.com with them and have full control on the entire DNS setup.

This includes a free DynDNS service, which is running as long as your domain is registered with them.

I've been using their services for several years now and didn't regret choosing them a single day.

A .com domain is 15 EUR per year.

73 de Dirk DB6EDR

Unknown said...

Dont you use a software to register the ip?

Eric sa5bke

Anonymous said...

My router handles the updates: whenever the Internet IP is changed,, it fires a simple HTTP request to RegFish's servers.
These update the DynDNS entries accordingly.

Tregonsee said...

It might be easier to address the login problem. Most mail clients have calendar features. You can create a recurring notice for say the 1st of the month to check your NO-IP account. If you don't use a client, there are any number of stand along calendar programs which will do the same.

Unknown said...

http://freedns.afraid.org/

Been around for years. No-nonsense and works great.