JioFi Jio4G: How often do they change Public IP Address?

[Deleted member 63558]

Hello! I am working over a setup. But I'm facing a challenge.

I want to know, how often Jio 4G Network changes the Public IP Address if you are constantly checking the Public IP Address?

(No, I am not involving the manually triggered change such as Airplane Mode On/Off).

Because, I am noticing that Jio is changing Public IP in few seconds only.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

It is refreshing at this point at the rate of 60-70 Unique Public IP per minute for me. After like 10-30 seconds (randomly) it changes it's public IP.

I have checked this upon JioFi M2S and JioFi 3 (1 SIM each).

 

[Deleted member 63558]

IP is changing at the gap of 3-5 seconds.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

I found a very interesting fact here.

Somehow all the "Whatismyip" websites including Google caches the IP Addresses meanwhile CLI or CMD doesn't cache.

Jio changes the external IP at-least in my circle as fast as 1 IP per 3-5 seconds.

So I enter the command to check the IP, and the new result shows totally different IP. It takes 3-5 seconds to run max.

I'm wondering, why is it happening?

Meanwhile, Airtel 4G doesn't have this fast rotation of IPs. (I tested for 5 minutes and the IP of Airtel 4G was same)

Anyone is welcomed if wants to test this out themselves and share their results. It's quite unique that Jio is changing IPs this fast.

 

[varkey]

It depends on the circle and area. Jio appears to use a NAT IP pool so each connection could potentially use a different IP address. I've noticed this is in Bangalore although not so quick as you've experienced, maybe a change every few minutes.

I mostly test against icanhazip.com as there are no ads and things like that.

curl https://icanhazip.com

However in Ernakulam, Kerala I've noticed that it doesn't change that often, I have seen the IP address remaining the same for 12 hours or more.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

@varkey I have used tnx.nl/ip and ipconfig.co and both of them showing the same results. IP Address is changing every 3-5 seconds.

Infact on Windows, I have used opendns to check the IP on CMD and it's same there.

1. Is there any other test I can do to make it sure it's normal and nothing is wrong with my JioFi?

2. You agree that all these IP Websites caches the IP? Because if I visit the whatismyip websites, they show the same IP (doesn't change there) but curl shows different and updated IPs.

 

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[varkey]

Yes, testing with curl on the command line we can be sure there is no caching involved. The other sites you used should be fine too.

I would say it's working as designed, the public IP address to be NATd is determined upstream and is not controlled by the JioFi device.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

@varkey Is it normal though that the IP is changing every 3rd second? Why would they abuse all their IPs this way?

 

[varkey]

I guess it's their way of implementation. I wouldn't say its abusing, they have a pool of IP addresses to be used by all customers in that area/region perhaps, and each connection probably would use an IP address from that pool. It isn't dedicated to you even for that one minute, and would be shared by many others.

Having said that, the behaviour is indeed a bit odd. Hehe

 

[varkey]

This article actually explains the behaviour, it's a combination of NAT and PAT. Say they have 1000 JioFI devices, they'd only have say 50 or less public IP addresses, this would allow them to use a smaller IP space for a much larger device foot print.

Source NAT | Junos OS | Juniper Networks

Translation of the original source IP address to an IP address from a user-defined address pool with port address translation. The association between the original source IP address to the translated source IP address is dynamic. Even if an association exists, the same original source IP address may be translated to a different address for new traffic that matches the same NAT rule.

https://theithollow.com/2013/03/05/nat-vs-pat/

Cisco ASA 5500 Series Configuration Guide using the CLI, 8.2 - Configuring Dynamic NAT and PAT [Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Firewalls]

www.cisco.com

 

[Deleted member 63558]

So far, I am testing it.... I have found out that if your network is poor (Still able to get at-least 1Mbps of Download Speed).

The IP keeps on changing continuously. But if you are in a stable network, IP stays for longer. (I have tested 10 minutes and the IP remains same, tested on terminal)

 

[Deleted member 63558]

Ran again:

 

[varkey]

I wouldn't depend on the IP address remaining fixed, whatever you are planning to do must be resilient to the IP address changing.

 

[Deleted member 63558]

Yeah, It's just a test I'm doing as an addition. I have DDNS installed over the top plus, I am using other stuff to to make it static all the time.

Still Same:

Seems like, I will test it in the nights now that how stable it is in night now.