Bridged refers to a method of getting data from your computer's ethernet card, through other hardware possibly, and to your ISP. This has already been discussed, and doesn't deal with IP addressing.

The difference between dynamic and static IP addressing is that, with a static address, your computer gets an IP number (the Internet equivalent of a telephone number) that is all its own for as long as you are a customer of that provider. Dynamic addresses can change (more often than not they don't, but this isn't guaranteed either), usually through a technology called DHCP.

Another wrinkle in all this is that some ISPs provide IP addresses that don't change, yet they are still dynamically assigned via DHCP. People often confuse these "fixed dynamic" IP addresses with static IP addresses.

Dynamic addressing has the drawback that if you're trying to run any kind of server (web, mail, gaming, etc) your computer will be more difficult to find as the people connecting will need your current address to connect. There are services such as DynDNS and DHS (free) that facilitate giving your dynamic address a name that everyone can consistently use.

There's no difference in speed or, usually, service between static and dynamic addressing, as its simply a method of giving your computer a destination address on the Internet.

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by wesm edited by KeysCapt
last modified: 2004-11-07 16:52:01