How can I change my public IP address?

I'm looking for a way to change my public IP address. You know, the one that other websites see.

I know what I'm looking for is basically a proxy server, but I don't want to use a proxy for 2 reasons:

1) It slows me down. 2) See reason #1.

I'm using Ubuntu 9.10, I'm connecting to a public WiFi network (the ISP is Time Warner Cable). I'm getting my IP through DHCP.

Thanks for any help!

Solution 1:

The external IP address normally changes when the modem/router is rebooted. As you're on a public wifi network, you have no control over this.

Solution 2:

There is no way you can control the external IP address of a public network. Hell, even on your own network, you can only reboot your router/modem, and if you've got a dynamic IP, you should get something different.

Your options are to either use a different public wifi connection; to use a proxy (you can find a few fast ones around); or, the best option, which is to use a VPN. If you get a commercial VPN package, you're going to get good speeds from it (especially if you use a nearby one, rather than another country), and this will give you the different IP address you want.

A VPN will slow you down, but not as much as most of the publicly available proxies will. You've just got to face the fact that you cannot have anonymity and top speeds at the same time. If you actually care about changing your IP, you'll be willing to take the speed hit.

Edit :

Exactly how you connect to a VPN depends on which distro you are using. Here are some instructions for Ubuntu, if you need a different distro, either google for them or adapt the ones here.

Any free VPN service you get is going to be slow, limited, and probably logged. A quick google search found that AlonWeb is somewhat recommended, and can be easily used from Linux with these instructions. As I've said before, it's not going to be as good as a paid VPN, if you can get it working at all. Do no rely on something like this.

Solution 3:

since you don't elaborate on your reasons, we can only guess :)

if it was just for surfing, most free proxy services offer sufficient speed. downloading files, however, is quite a different affair.

so, if your concerns involve torrent downloads, consider a seedbox (a private dedicated server used for uploading and downloading files - quite popular in the torrent scene). such services ain't free but they offer privacy and speed.

download the torrent file (which is tiny) through a free web proxy, fire up your seedbox and let it do the dirty donkey work.

10 Really Cheap Seedboxes That Anyone Can Afford