good utility for keeping your ISP connection

[reefboy]

I was hoping someone here could point me to a good reputable program with minimal CPU useage I could run on my PC so that I keep my IP address or IP connectivity. Seems as though during the day I can't log into GBPVR due to inactivity on my home network. If my wife happens to be home and using one of the other computers in the house to surf the web then I can connect just fine.

I guess I could run ping plotter and set a time of every 20 minutes or so for a ping?

Thanks!

[bgowland]

What sort of connection do you have? I assume it's something permanent (e.g., DSL of some flavour) - a 'paid for' dialup would be a bit expensive to keep alive.

Sounds to me as if you have some sort of power management in the system which is putting something into standby/hibernate etc. If that's the case then just adjust the settings.

[reefboy]

I have DSL. I'm guessing that after so many minutes of inactivity that connection is lost with my router or the modem. From home this is not noticable... but when using dyndns.org or other services it does not trace back correctly as the IP address is no longer used.

There are a number of programs to use, usually along the lines of Keepalive, stayalive, tickle, etc. The problem is that I couldn't find one off of cnet downloads or any with much user reviews. I want to stay away from shady apps. I was just hoping a few users could point me to a program they use and have had good experience with.

[LilY0da]

Your dyndns updater could update dyndns whenever your IP changes... I have mine set to detect IP changes every 5 minutes, and update dyndns if necessary

[daphatty]

You could install a bit torrent client...

[reefboy]

I have a netgear router. It has a built in feature for updating my dyndns.org account as soon as the IP address changes. My guess is that there are periods of inactivity in which the router still sees the old IPaddress in yet loses the connection?
Just now I was able to access my daughters cribcam as my wife is home and I know she is on the computer. Other days during the middle of the day I have no such luck.

So I will look around a bit more. I was just hoping that someone could tell me about a specific program they were using. I will try pingplotter for a day or so and see if that does it w/o much CPU overhead.

Thanks!

[bgowland]

Didn't realise you were on a dynamic IP address allocation. I've been on a static IP address from my DSL provider since I started with them. It used to be more expensive for static IP address contracts but these days (in the UK at least) there seems to be more providers offering cheap deals with static IP included.

If it's really that important to you then I'd suggest you try and find an affordable alternative to your current provider - better still...just tell your current provider that you're looking elsewhere and why... then see how fast they come up with a static IP address for you.

Cheers,
Brian

[pcostanza]

When my old Linksys started to die, it did exactly what you are describing. I thought it was the modem, the nic, cables or anything else but it was the router. I'm not saying thats your problem just 1 thing to look for.

[reefboy]

The router could be going out on me. The wireless quit working a few months ago. Nada... zip.. nothing on the wireless. Had been working for a few years. Could be time to spring for the latest 80211.g router. Although I have everything wired that I need right now so I really don't need it. Just for when friends come over with wirelss devices or if I ever get a new pocket pc with wireless. But if it solved the problem of not being able to connect remotely when no one is using the router by buying a new one I could go for that.

Thanks!