[Trilug-ontopic] best way(s) to get static IP# @home with DHCP ISP?

[Tom Roche]

summary: I'm a home ISP user who may soon be required to get a static IP#. Please recommend cheap-but-effective ways to do this.

details:

I'm a student doing research using data and other computing resources provided by a federal agency in RTP. I'm in the area, but far enough away that travel to/from the site is onerous. Accordingly I have been using these assets remotely for almost 2 years: I use an agency-provided SecurID[1] to authenticate to a VPN, and SSH over the VPN into research clusters.

The agency also contracts with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for security services. It appears that, recently, CSC contractors decided that all "external partners" (such as myself) should be restricted to remote access from static IP#s. I'm appealing this decision, but suspect I will be steamrolled. (Hopefully without extraordinary rendition[2].) 

So I'd appreciate tips/tricks regarding how (or how not) to acquire one or more static IP#s so as to jointly optimize cost (low) and performance (e.g., high reliability and speed). FWIW

1. I'm running debian on my home PCs, only one of which would need static IP.

2. I have an old router=WRT54GL running DD-WRT that I currently use only as a wired switch (for which it is plenty fast) between the FP modem and my PCs.

3. My current ISP=FreedomPop, which I've been using for nearly a year. They don't (IIUC) provide static IP. Nevertheless I'd prefer to stay on that provider, since

3.1. FP costs less than a third of what TimeWarner/RoadRunner wanted me to pay (on which price-hike announcement I bailed), and I am very price-sensitive.

3.2. FP has been reasonably fast (certainly plenty fast to shell into console sessions). I suspect that any third-party static-IP or dynamic-DNS provider I use will degrade the ISP's connection speed: I'm hoping to limit the degradation.

3.3. FP has been quite reliable with the VPN. It only tends to drop during major thunderstorms, probably because their network is wireless. (Currently home service is 4G, but apparently will go LTE Real Soon Now; their phone service is already LTE.)

your assistance is appreciated, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche at pobox.com>

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecurID
[2]: http://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/global-rendition/the-aircraft/N288KA.html