Virgin Media IP changed full host table

plimsole · #1 05-03-2011

I am not an expert but I wondered if my experience today may be of help. I have been changing my Virgin media IP address a few times over the last 10 days. On three occasions I was sort of unable to get a new IP address. The third occasion happened today and the Virgin media support who tested everything couldn't find the problem and eventually contacted their second level of support and had to telephone me back. This situation had happende twice before too but i never discovered what was the cause till today. The problem was described as a “full host table”. It was explained that each account has a table of mac addresses and IP addresses issued to each customer and when this table is exceeded then it has to be cleared or reduced by Virgin. Once cleared today a new IP address arrived. The psticular IP address that came had also been issud to a to a different and previously used mac address which had a different IP address before. I wonder was my table cleared or some removed ? I asked how many addresses go into the host table but the support person did not know. Does any one have any knowledge of how many addresses are needed to fill the Host Table please ?

Vegeta · #2 05-03-2011

Please keep me updated on this if you can buddy, I've got virgin media and im about to change my ip again

stealthmaster · #3 05-03-2011

Doesn't "Virgin Media" internet connection have an "Generic" IP instead of a "Dynamic" one like sky broadband have?

Stealth Master

stillselling · #4 05-04-2011

You can calculate the size of the block from the subnet mask. If you can't handle the math, google it.

If you just went "huh?" Call Virgin up next time you can't get an IP.

plimsole · #5 05-06-2011

Hi Stillselling thank for for your reply. I am grateful for you to justifyingly pointing out to me my lack of knowledge on these matters. I think buying the ebay Stealth Book was the best thing i have bought for a long time. Being on this forum and coupled with the invaluable knowledge in the ebay Stealth Book i have learned so muchin such a short time and enjoyed the process. My subnet mask is 255.255.255.000 I suppose if it was 255.255.255.255 and I subtract one from the other that would give me 256 locations. My enquiry was to try and discover how many IP addresses does Virgin media (in the UK ) permit on the host tables and the allowance for each customer. Reading further on the ebay suspension forum 3 or 4 addresses seem to be allowed but if any person can assist and discuss ill be more than happy. I imagine that before long I may fill my host table again. I have disconnected my router and connect directly into the virgin media modem. I wonder if more than 4 computers are connected to my modem over time then the host table may fill again and stop. If this is the case I will contact Virgin Media support who are always as polite and helpful as I am to them and they will assist me i'm sure.

ShadyOne · #6 05-06-2011

^^ Your Wan IP address is assigned to your modem, not your local devices such as computers, so changing your modem may force a new IP address.

This is why people change the MAC address of their modem. To get a new IP address.

However I have heard that virgin media is very 'stuborn' with its IP addresses. So to me it would make no sense trying to get around something that can be simply solved by changing ISP or buying a mobile broadband connection etc

plimsole · #7 05-06-2011

Shadyone yes I agree my previous 2 situations with the full host table was me thinking there was a genuine problem. I cannot think of any reason to muddy the waters now with Virgin media so il'l be avoiding getting a full host table. The Ebay Stealth Book and this group has certainly helped me. I have opened stealth a/cs on Eb and PP and intend to open some more shortly to age and be on standby. Today I have been tethering my mobile phone and it worked good enough to log on to the internet for no extra cost to me and with a different IP adress which i record before logging on to eB and PP. Last week I bought 2 prepaid cards for £10 which was then added to the cards when I topped up with £10 costing me nothing and I paid £5 extra for a Lebara sim card which comes with free internet access till the 14th of may. Today I managed to tether the lebara on a mobile and got internet access for free as well. Im not asking whether tethering is allowed and as i only intend to browse and log on to EB and PP i hope to keep under the radar. I think from the 14th of may you will get 10Mb each day and 15p per Mb after that I have the £5 credit which was the £5 purchase price when the sim card was bought. I believe Lebara use the Vodafone network. It seems a good deal so far. For my landlines I use an unlocked Linksys p2p which plugs into my router and 2 phones each with their own geographical number from Sipgate which work very well indeed without a pc being switched on.