Public IP Addresses for 4G Wireless Services
It seems to be getting harder and harder to get a wireless internet service with a public IP address rather than a Nat’d private address. Some VPN systems require the client to have a public IP, and you certainly need one if you want to connect to the service from the Internet.
I got a hint from a Mac website which suggested asking Telstra to apply the “GPTEXB3” code to the account, so that you can then use the APN “telstra.extranet”.
A commenter suggested that using Telstra’s “Livehelp” online chat system is more effective, and suggested a wording of the right question to ask to get the “GPTEXB3” code applied to an existing account.
I can confirm that Livehelp is the way to go. I got an answer to my question in less than a minute from the Livehelp operator. Prior to trying Livehelp I was told by three different phone operators that a public IP address could not be provided, despite them not knowing what a public IP address was. (They kept confusing public/private IP addresses and static/dynamic IP addresses.)
Here’s the transcript of the Livehelp chat session:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 |
00:00:20 Me : We are looking at buying a Telstra 4G dongle to use for a business to business related applicaton and it requires a real world IP address. I believe we should use the APN “telstra.extranet” but that we need to get Telstra to apply the “GPTEXB3" code to the account to use that APN. Is the “GPTEXB3" code available for 4G dongle services? 00:00:52 Operator : Yes it is. It cannot be applied until after the service is setup, but you can just request it to be added when you activate the service 00:01:54 Me : Excellent! I have been trying without success to get this information by phone. I'm still on hold after 27 mins. Can I get a transcript of this chat session? 00:02:11 Operator : No worries at all, just to the email [address] ? 00:02:25 Me : Yes please. 00:02:47 Operator : Great, that will come through automatically within a few hours for you. 00:03:13 Me : Thanks, that's all I was after. 00:03:25 Operator : If you have any issues getting the code applied when you activate the service, feel free to come back into Live Chat and we can add it for you at any time. 00:03:39 Me : Thank you. |