Discover how Static IP Anywhere keeps your business connected without IP changes—even during failover. Learn why static IPs matter, the problems with dynamic IPs, and how Big Network solves continuity challenges.
Big Network offers its Virtual Network Operator (VNO) and Internet Service Provider (ISP) clients a platform for delivering Static IP Anywhere - a connectivity resilience offering built on top of our Edge devices, Cloud Networks, and advanced network engineering.
Today’s Internet uses two different IP addressing schemes:
IP addresses can be segmented into two general types: Public Routable and Private.
IP addresses can be assigned to devices in several ways, each with its characteristics:
Static IP addresses were commonplace offerings in Business-grade ISP services until IPv4 consumption spiked and available address space declined.
There is another key way to access Static IP addresses: obtain your own IP address space, assign it as needed, and run BGP routing with your ISP. For users seeking a high degree of control over their network addressing, obtaining and managing your own IP address space with Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing is a viable option. This method allows you to independently assign IP addresses within your allocated block, providing flexibility that might not be available through standard ISP-assigned static IPs. By running BGP routing with your Internet Service Provider, you advertise your IP address space to the broader internet, ensuring that traffic destined for your assigned addresses is routed directly to your network. This approach is typically employed by larger organizations or those with specific networking requirements that necessitate direct management of their IP address infrastructure.
Running BGP routing is expensive, complex, and requires expert-level network engineers on staff, as well as enterprise-grade ISP connections.
A static IP address is an IP address that remains fixed and doesn’t change each time a router reconnects to the Internet. In contrast, most consumer connections use dynamic addressing where the public IP changes periodically to enable management within an ISP's IP address pools. For businesses, a fixed IP is critical because remote workers, VPN gateways and application servers rely on a consistent address to establish and maintain sessions. In many industries, compliance frameworks and security appliances require whitelisted source addresses; a changing IP can block remote access or disrupt device management. A static IP also simplifies DNS management for hosted websites and email servers since the resource records point to a stable address, boosting reliability and reputation.
Availability of Static IP Addresses is often considered a product differentiating factor between “Broadband” and “Business Grade” internet services. Going one step further, “Dedicated INternet Access” is the general tier of product required with Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
Consumer broadband connections typically use shared infrastructure and dynamic IP addressing with no guarantees about uptime. These "best effort" services work for web browsing and streaming but are unsuitable for hosting, remote management or mission‑critical applications. Business‑grade internet, by contrast, offers dedicated or prioritized bandwidth, higher upstream speeds, robust service‑level agreements and proactive support.
A key differentiator between consumer and business plans is the inclusion of one or more static IP addresses. Having a fixed address allows organizations to host websites, email servers and VPN gateways directly over their broadband connection rather than paying for expensive enterprise circuits. It also supports business‑critical systems such as point‑of‑sale terminals, IoT gateways and unified communications platforms that need to maintain consistent inbound and outbound sessions. Without a Static IP, businesses may have to resort to costly workarounds or risk service interruptions when the IP changes.
Website, Zoom calls, and VOIP all use IP protocols like TCP and UDP (and above that, HTTP, TLS, and RTC). Sessions are created in web servers, meeting servers, and VOIP servers using various IP header elements, often including the remote IP address. When a server observes a session having its remote address changed, it can think there is an attempt to attack, hack, or bypass security, or it simply loses knowledge of the sesssion, and resets the connection. That reset is what causes sites to break, calls to hiccup, and VOIP calls to drop - the client is essentially establishing a fresh connection.
For example, cloud applications often associate a user session with a specific IP address for security purposes. If that address changes mid‑session, the application invalidates the token and forces the user to sign in again. VoIP phones and SIP trunks must re‑register with the call server when the public IP changes, causing inbound calls to go unanswered during the transition. IPSec and SSL VPN tunnels collapse because the security association is bound to the old peer address. Even a few seconds of disconnect can interrupt credit‑card transactions, remote desktop sessions, or connections. Avoid these problems because the outside world always sees the same source address, so sessions persist even when traffic moves between links.
As mentioned above, there are limited numbers of IPv4 addresses available, so providers use techniques like carrier‑grade Network Address Translation (CGNAT) to share a single public address among many customers. Assigning a fixed, routable IP to every residential or mobile subscriber would exhaust the address pool and require costly infrastructure upgrades. As a result, static IP addresses are reserved for premium tiers or enterprise circuits, and most consumer and mobile plans assign dynamic addresses that change whenever the modem reconnects.
Mobile and satellite networks present additional challenges. In these architectures, user traffic is anchored to specific gateway routers in the provider’s core network. As a device moves between cell towers or beams, the gateway changes, and the public IP would normally change with it. Maintaining a static address across that mobility requires an overlay tunnel back to a fixed gateway or external gateway, which increases complexity and overhead. Because few retail customers need a permanent address, operators avoid offering static IPs on LTE, 5G, and low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellite connections unless the customer is willing to pay for a business service with special provisioning.
IT managers frequently waste time and money dealing with dynamic IP addresses due to several critical issues. One significant problem is the failure of business applications when cloud firewalls lack the correct IP address, leading to service disruptions and frustrating downtime.
Furthermore, suppose an application requires a static IP, options such as LTE or LEO satellite for backup internet become unusable. In that case, this limitation restricts flexibility and can compromise business continuity during primary internet outages.
Remote monitoring and troubleshooting also become more challenging with dynamic IPs, hindering prompt problem resolution and increasing the burden on IT staff. Consequently, businesses are often forced to implement more complex and costly networking solutions to circumvent these issues, further contributing to wasted resources.
Imagine this: you have a flower shop with a cloud-powered point of sale (POS) system and a business VoIP telephone system. You have business-grade cable internet from one of the big guys (Comcast, Charter, Cox) with a Static IP address.
And BANG! A car slams into a telephone pole down the street from your shop, taking your Cable ISP down.
An investment in LTE backup provides a crucial second Internet connection, which can ensure business continuity during an outage of the primary wired connection (like cable or fiber). When the primary connection fails, the LTE modem takes over, enabling devices to maintain basic internet access for tasks such as web browsing, email, and cloud application usage. This addresses the need for an additional internet connection.
However, an LTE backup solution typically assigns a dynamic public IP address to the business, just as most consumer-grade internet services do. This means that when the failover occurs from the primary wired connection to the LTE backup, the public IP address of the business changes.
This change in IP address creates several problems for the scenario you described:
In essence, while LTE backup provides an additional path to the internet, it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of needing a consistent, unchanging public IP address for mission-critical applications and services that rely on IP whitelisting and session continuity. The business continues to experience disruptions and administrative overhead due to the dynamic IP address provided by the LTE connection.
Static IP Anywhere decouples your public IP address from any specific carrier circuit. Instead of binding your business to an IP address from any ISP, Static IP Anywhere enables ISPs and VNOs to allocate public IP address space that they control to their customers, regardless of the underlying ISP.
By essentially decoupling the flower shop’s public IP address from any specific ISP, traffic is free to slow over any ISP connection, all while maintaining a Static Public IP address.
We do this by “hosting” the IP assignment in a cloud "headend" and then tunneling traffic between the client's premises and that gateway over multiple broadband, mobile, or satellite links. The on-premise Edge establishes encrypted Cloud Networks to the headend across every available WAN link. Inbound connections are routed through the cloud headend to the router, and outbound traffic from the network appears to originate from the same static IP regardless of which underlying link is active. Because the IP endpoint is anchored in the headend and the traffic is carried over an overlay network, application sessions, VPNs, and voice calls stay up even when the underlying circuit fails and traffic is rerouted through a different ISP.
Traditional WAN failover keeps you online by switching traffic to a backup connection when your primary circuit goes down, but it does nothing to preserve your public identity. When a router fails over from a cable circuit to a 5 G modem, the IP address facing the internet changes. Cloud services treat the new source IP as a different client and reset your sessions. As a result, VoIP phones must re-register, VPN tunnels collapse, and remote desktop connections are dropped. Even if the transition occurs quickly, users experience disruptions, and administrators must update firewalls and whitelists to reflect the new address.
Static IP Anywhere eliminates this problem by anchoring your public IP at the Cloud headend. During a failover event, the CPE simply moves its tunnels to the backup link; the headend continues to present the same IP to the internet, so servers, PBXs, and VPN gateways see no change. Users remain connected throughout outages, and security rules, DNS records, and access lists stay valid. In other words, WAN failover ensures connectivity, while Static IP Anywhere ensures continuity.
Static IP Anywhere by Big Network is the essential solution for businesses that demand uninterrupted connectivity and consistent application performance, regardless of their underlying internet service. It eliminates the headaches of changing IP addresses, ensuring your critical business applications, remote access, and security systems remain fully operational even during ISP outages. Don't let dynamic IPs dictate your business's uptime; choose Static IP Anywhere for proper business continuity and peace of mind.
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