The easiest way to get a webcam streaming to your website is to use our Streaming Service and a Plug and Play Webcam. Then you dont need to worry about your public IP address or even need to do any camera or router programming, you just plug the camera in, connect to your router and the stream appears in your webcam embed code we provide you with.

However if you want to set up a direct access camera or stream from a third party IP camera to our system, and you have a dynamic IP then read on to find out how to overcome your Dynamic IP problem.

A Fixed IP address is a long string of numbers that denotes exactly where your Internet connection is on the world wide web, and this number does not change. It will look something like this: 85.69.127.303.

However most ISP's (Information Service Providers) dont provide a static IP as standard unless you pay more money. What they provide is a Dynamic one which could alter at any time, and certainly each time you switch off your router or modem then switch it back on it will have changed. This makes life difficult as imagine if your postal address kept hanging, how would people know how to reach you?

Well there is another solution rather than paying a monthly fee for a static IP. Using a FREE DDNS service (Dynamic Domain Name System) such as dyndns.com or no-ip.com is the answer. With this you can assign a name to your Internet connection instead of a number. This is also usefull as names are easier to remember than long numbers. When your website visitors or you personally want to connect to your camera the name is used instead of the number.

BUT WAIT....What happens if the number changes? Wont the name then be pointing to the wrong place? Well it would but there are two ways to ensure its always right.

The best way is to program your router to do it all for you. Nearly all modern routers have a DNS section in their set up. This makes life very easy as all you do is first set up your free account with your chosen DDNS provider (there are subscription accouts too but for a single account your fine with a free one) then go into the routers configuration settings, tick the box for DDNS service. Then enter your account information and save. Now every time that the router detects an IP change it automatically updates your chosen name with the new IP address. So your name always works.....Great.

If your router does not have this feature then it really is a good idea to change it for one that does. However if you dont want to change it, then most modern IP cameras also have a DDNS setting in their settings, so you can set that up in the same way. If your camera does not have a DDNS setting either then you can download a free DUC (Dynamic Update Client) which is a very small program that runs on your PC all the time and detects Internet IP changes and updates the name for you. This is fine if you have a PC on all the time but if you are planning to use IP cameras with no PC on the site then the router method is best.

Of course you can also update the name yourself manually if you need to but this ideally you set up your router to do it all for you so you never have to worry about it again. Just go on holiday knowing that the cameras will always be available on your chosen DDNS name.

If your planning on setting up a lot of cameras on different sites then you will need multiple names (one for each site) then your best off with a basic chargeable account which is very cheap and gives you lots of separate hosts for your different site locations. But if your just setting up one for your house or for work then go for the free option which usually gives you 1 free DDNS name with most providers. 

Some ISP's charge from £5.00 to £10.00 per month extra for a static IP so it really is worth setting up a FREE DNS name to replace your Dynamic IP if you are using a standard IP camera and keep your cameras online permanently with no fuss.

Of course the best and easiest, most trouble and hassle free method of quickly getting a reliable live streaming camera on your own website is to use our Plug and Play webcams which totally removes the need for any static IP or DDNS service at all, but if you need to use a standard IP camera that is not one of ours to connect to our live streaming service we can provide a FREE DDNS name and will remotely program your router for you.