Well, I have made some progress … but not to my liking. My ISP was supposed to call me back, but they never did, and it is now 8:00 PM here.

So, I got back on my iMac and decided to have another go at it. I fished around my house and found the Quick Start guide that came with the Archer AX6000. I believe it was there that I may have read something about logging into my TP-Link user account. Even though I have had this router for a while now, I never even went to their website and set up a TP-Link account, until earlier today when I posted this same message in their support forum.

Anyway, I tried again to use the Auto-Detect feature in the web page setup for the router. Once again, it chose Dynamic IP, even though I have a Static IP. So, I went through the steps for Dynamic IP, and then I did something different this time.

I logged into my TP-Link account via the setup page, and then hit the Finish button, or whatever it is. Lo and behold. It said congratulations, you are connected. I was doubtful at first, because it has said that before, and I was NOT connected.

So I walked over to the router, and sure enough, it is now bright blue, indicating that I am indeed connected. In fact, on both of my iMacs, the Bwanadik app in my top menubar is showing the NAT address on each machine, as well as the external IP.

So, while I am glad to be connected, of course, I am still not happy, because it is assigning me a Dynamic IP, instead of my Static IP. Being as I run my own web server at home, and a few different websites, I need the Static IP for my domain name registrar, so web traffic can be redirected to my server.

I could mess with my A records, and put in the Dynamic IP, just to see if it will work or not, but I really don’t want to mess with them. As they say, if ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

The thing is, being as I have my Static IP in my A records, and NOT the Dynamic IP my machines are currently using, when I try to connect to the websites on my server, Firefox throws up a security warning. Well, that is what was happening a few minutes ago. Now I can’t even connect to my web server.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. After I successfully got the Dynamic IP to work, I tried going back and using my Static IP address again. But once again, it continues to fail to connect, and the router light turns red again, instead of blue. So, until I get this fixed, my websites are offline.

What I am wondering is if being as I switched from a coaxial cable connection with a Cisco modem, to a fiber optics cable with a Hitron modem, they may possibly need to issue me a new Static IP address.

This doesn’t make sense to me, because when I choose Static IP in the router’s web page setup, as I said in my original post, all of my data is still there.

I don’t anticipate getting this fixed tonight – frustrating – because all of their telephone support people are seriously lacking in knowledge. I am not joking. I know more than they do. The other day, one of them didn’t even know what a blog is, or what WordPress is. Half the time, they are typing and looking stuff up, or asking someone else as I talk to the on the phone

This is just UNBELIEVABLE! After going back and forth with tech support at my ISP for several hours this evening, one of the higher tier technicians informed the regular support staff, that they do NOT currently offer Static IP addresses with their fiber optic service. THAT is why my Archer AX6000 router kept choosing Dynamic IP address each time I let it auto-detect my connection. It is also why each time I would set the router to Static IP, the connection would fail.

This is a major fail on their part, because BEFORE I committed to upgrading to fiber optic from my coaxial cable setup, I specifically asked them if my router would work with their modem, and if there would be a problem with using my Static IP address. They repeatedly assured me over the phone that there would not be a problem and that it would be simple plug and play. In short, their tech support gave me BAD INFORMATION, and based on that bad information, I committed to switching to fiber optic and a new modem.

Now my websites are dead in the water, because my A records at my registrar are set to my Static IP address. I doubt that registrars even accept Dynamic IP addresses, because they are constantly changing and are unreliable when one runs a web server and websites.

So I am stuck! I am NOT a happy camper.

  @BillKochman 

Will your A records accept for a fixed domain name? If so, you could try to use DDNS feature on the router to bind a fixed domain name to the dynamic IP address.

  @QRene , thank you for your response. I appreciate it. It is interesting, because only moments ago, I sent an email to TP-Link asking them a series of questions regarding their DDNS service. Being as I have used a static IP address for many years now -- which is what i have long preferred -- there has never been a need for me to use a DDNS service until now, so I want to make certain that I fully understand how it works.

I don't know how soon TP-Link will respond to my email, so correct me if I am wrong with what I write below.

My understanding is that if I commit to using the TP-Link DDNS service -- is it free of charge? -- I will have to create a CNAME in the configuration of my domain name on my registrar's website. Upon looking at the setup on the Archer AX6000's DDNS configuration web page, I would assume that the CNAME would include my actual domain name -- minus the TLD on the end -- appended by tplinkdns.com somewhere in the zone file.

Am I on the right track here so far?

I would also have to remove the current dynamic IP address which is in the A record for my domain name on my registrar's website. It's working so far, but eventually, it is obviously going to change, and I will have to keep manually updating it. Not a very good solution, indeed.

Assuming that my understanding is correct, does this mean that when a request is made for my domain name, my registrar will see my my domain name -- minus the TLD on the end -- appended with tplinkdns.com CNAME entry, and will then forward the request to TP-Link's DNS server, so that the request is translated into an actual IP address, and eventually reaches my residential web server?

 If I do this, will people still be able to type my real name in their web browser -- without the TP-Link appendage -- and successfully reach my website? Or will they have to include the TP-Link appendage on my domain name? As I wrote in my email, if it is the latter, then this is not a solution for me, because I have spent years relying upon different methods to increase my web presence using my actual domain name in images and elsewhere.

That is my current understanding. I am all ears. Thanks!