You know those little sign pictures that people often have in their signatures that tell you your IP/net provider/browser? I had gotten used to them, but a few minutes ago I took a look at one, and my IP was COMPLETELY different from what it usually is. I opened up my network connections, and sure enough, it just changed completely out of the blue. I don't have a dynamic IP address, my IP has only changed one other time since I got my computer, and that was when I had to get a new modem because the old one had crapped out. And even then, the first 2 digits of my IP remained the same, but now the entire thing is COMPLETELY different. Obviously I'm not going to post my IP address, but I would assume staff members can check IP addresses on any given post, so just compare my current IP to the one I had a few days ago, and you'll see that it's WAY different. Is it normal for a static IP to just randomly change like that? *Edit* Well, I just did a lookup on my "new" IP, and it's still registered with the same details as my old one, but that's odd. Maybe Cox Communications (my net provider) reworked something, lol.
Your ISP may have accidentally given out your IP to another customer and changed yours. Nothing to fret over.
I figured as much, my ISP has been offering a lot of new stuff lately so they probably changed their whole IP span.
Probably bought new IP blocks and are making use of them. With Charter, I can either end up with 71.*.*.* or 24.*.*.* due to those being the blocks they own and use. Anyways, unless you're paying extra for static, you have a dynamic IP. But nowadays, with people having broadband and routers on 24/7 constantly renewing the IP lease from the DHCP server, it's rare for an IP to actually change. When the lease comes close to expiring, the router (the device that gets the IP) will tell your ISPs DHCP server to renew the lease. 99.9999% of the time, the DHCP will just renew the lease and you keep the same IP. It's those rare occasions when DHCP assigns a new IP rather than renew your current one that it changes.
Really depends on what ISP you have signed up to. My ISP changes my IP every time I re-connect. But yes you are right mate... most Internet providers just renew the old IP.