Question:
Can you explain the difference between a dedicated IP and a shared IP?
Answer:
A shared IP means that the IP address for your website is shared with other websites hosted on the same server. This is arrangment that ARIN (the American Registry for Internet Numbers) who controls the allocation of IP addresses requires. IPv4 addresses are a limited resource so ARIN requires that all hosting providers use shared IP’s when possible.
A dedicated IP is an IP address that is used only by your website. Dedicated IP’s are allowed in several cases. SSL’s certificate (in most cases) require the use of a dedicated IP. Hosting without a domain name also require a dedicated IP.
All VPS servers are also dedicated IPs.
If you have a special case and need a dedicated IP let us know. The cost is $2 per month per IP.
As a side note, all IP’s at phpwebhosting.com (both shared and dedicated) are “static” IP addresses. Static means that they do not change (or at least not often – perhaps once every few years at the most). A static IP means that if you make use of the raw IP address, you can be sure that it does not change over time. The only time a static IP changes is in the rare case of a datacenter change that require the use of new IPs. This is rare and for most servers never happens.