I understand the differences between the 2 but why is any one better than the other?

Im switching to a new iSP and they offer a Free static IP if i want it.....

Do i???

I mainly use my computer for internet access, dont play many online games at all if that helps.....

 

The easiest (and probably bluntest) way to put it is: if you don't know WHY you need a static IP address, you don't need a static IP address.

Slightly less blunt, the following (pulled from a random website):


When you do NOT need static IP addresses:

If you ONLY do things from the following list, you do not need static IP addresses:

- If you browse the Internet.
- If you send and receive e-mail via an offsite server (the normal method).
- If you download or upload files.
- If you use Instant message services or chat services.

When you need Static IP Addresses:

You need one or more Static IP addresses if any of the following are true:

- You run one or more Web server's directly on your site that require external access (from the Internet, or Extranet but not typically an Intranet) .
- You run one or more E-mail server's directly on your site that require external access (from the Internet, or Extranet but not typically an Intranet) .
- You run one or more FTP server's directly on your site that require external access (from the Internet, or Extranet but not typically an Intranet) .
- You run any other service or 'Application' that requires external access (from the Internet or an Extranet). Some Financial Terminal Client applications require that you have a static IP address for licensing purposes.
- You allow 'incoming' Video Conferencing you may need to use static IP addresses.

 

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That's provided your Dynamic IP address is public, some ISPs only offer private dynamic IP addresses that are virtually invisible from the outside world as far as incoming traffic is concerned.

 

If your DDNS thing is working for someone trying to access your website hosted at home, then it's a public one. I presume (never used one) that a DDNS would not work on a private IP in the first place.

If you go to http://www.whatismyip.com/, it will tell you the IP address that the rest of the world sees you as.

If this address differs to the one your ADSL router (not your PC) is reporting, then you have a private IP address.
If it is the same as yours, you have a public one.

If, when you disconnect and re-connect your ADSL modem, your IP address changes, you are using a dynamic IP address, otherwise, you are on a fixed IP address. Note: this test is not 100% guaranteed, the ISP could re-assign you the same IP if you haven't been disconnected long.

What happens is that there aren't enough public IP addresses for everyone at the moment, so most ISPs have a "pool" of IP addresses that is shared between their customers. No computers can have the same public IP address at the same time, but on the premise that not every customer is connected 100% of the time, it is ok to share the "pool" and dish addresses on demand.

Fixed IP addresses on the other hand are allocated once and for all to a customer, and usually cost a little extra for the privilege of using a scarce resource.

Private IP addresses are plentiful however, as they belong to a number of ranges that MUST NEVER be used on the public internet. If you have an ADSL router which has several ethernet ports and dhcp, chances are you will be using IP address in your network that are like 192.168.0.x.

Contrary to public IP Addresses, several thousands of people are currently plugged into a network and have say 192.168.0.10 as an IP address.

If they have access to the internet, they will be "hidden" behind a router (adsl router for example) which has a single IP public address on the outside, or, an ISP allocated private IP address which itself is hidden behind yet another router which will have a public ip address.

pheww, hope this helps and doesn't confuse any further.

As said above, if you don't know why you need a public or fixed ip address, you probably don't need one

 

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And, to add to the above, the list of possible "private" IP addresses:

10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

Although, technically, one part of frog's post isn't quite correct......you CAN have a different IP address on your computer to the one on your router, with your computer NOT being on a private IP address......my router's IP address is one public IP, my computer is on another (different) public IP address, and the router dishes out one of the 4 remaining public IP addresses in my block of 8 to any other machines that connect to my network......but that's just complicating matters and me being pedantic!

 

Pedantic, but technically correct
I presume you run some sort of business to have several public IP addresses since RIPE usually ask for pretty stiff justification from ISPs