Fix Link Lease For Free

Your device is assigned an IP by the DHCP server with a lease time attached. If your device isn't seen after that period expires, the lease expires, and the IP address is freed for other devices to use. The DHCP lease time is the time given for a lease to remain active before it expires.

The IP address lease has an expiration time. When the lease expires it can be renewed, if that is indicated by the site policy. If the current client does not renew the lease, then the IP address can be assigned to another client. When the flag is set to 0, the client can request that the lease time be changed.

A lease refers to a temporary IP address that the dynamic host configuration protocol, or DHCP, gives you when you connect to a wireless network. Every time you log into a wireless network, the DHCP lease changes again. This means a new IP address.

During the lease time, the DHCP server cannot assign that IP address to any other clients. The purpose of a lease is to limit the length of time that a client can use an IP address. A lease prevents unused clients from taking up IP addresses when there are more clients than addresses.

When the lease expires or a client logs out and releases its IP address, the server reclaims the IP address, which can then be allocated to other clients. To continue using this IP address, the client must renew its IP address lease.

When the lease is up it will ask to renew or get a new IP address. A typical home router uses a subnet of 255.255. 255.0 which has 253 IP addresses available to hand out to connected devices.

In short, by selecting the longest DHCP lease time possible, you can reduce the odds of a device having its IP address changed. A lease that never expires is ideal, but even extending the lease time from a day to a week reduces the number of potential address changes from 365 to 52.