Customers of UK Broadband ISP Zen Internet Face Another IP Address Switch

Rochdale-based ISP Zen Internet has recently begun notifying customers of yet another migration of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for a small subset (under 2%) of user IPv4 allocations, which for most subscribers should only result in a brief service disruption (c.30 seconds) and possibly the need for a router reboot. But others may find it more of a pain.

Most consumers tend to connect via broadband providers that use dynamic IP addresses (or shared addressing via CGNAT), and so a change in your IP – however often it may occur – is somewhat par for the course. But in Zen’s case it’s worth remembering that they’ve long sold their broadband packages alongside Static IP (IPv4 and IPv6) addresses as standard (i.e. the IP address shouldn’t change or won’t change very often).

Static (or Fixed) IPs tend to be more associated with premium / business packages for advanced users, where customers are more likely to desire a fixed address because they’ll be hosting servers or domains, using bespoke VPNs or VLANs, have specific security requirements (e.g. the need to whitelist a specific IP to firewalls) or want to avoid problems with Carrier Grade NAT etc.

Suffice to say that a change of static IP assignment can create problems for some network admins and users with more complex IP needs (casual users need not worry), although Zen are giving customers 30 days’ notice of the change (several messages will be sent) and will confirm once the new IP addresses are live. The process is running between 1st May and 30th August 2026, with impacted IPs being in the following ranges.

Impacted Zen IP Ranges

The changes are happening to a small subset (<2%) of customer IPv4 allocations that sit in the following ranges.

62.3.64.0/20
82.69.64.0/18
88.97.0.0/18
82.68.128.0/18
82.68.192.0/18
82.69.128.0/18
82.69.192.0/18
62.3.96.0/19
212.23.12.0/22
212.23.22.0/23
212.23.24.0/21
82.68.0.0/18
82.68.64.0/18
82.71.0.0/17
217.155.0.0/18
217.155.64.0/18
217.155.128.0/18
217.155.192.0/18

At this point you might well be asking, why are Zen Internet assigning new IP address(es) to some of their broadband services and customers at all? The official line is as follows.

Zen’s Statement

“Zen operates one of the largest independent data networks in the UK. We invest significantly for better performance, better resilience, and a network that operates without limits or restrictions. This means constant evaluation to ensure we are optimising resources.

To ensure we can continue to deliver a reliable service, we regularly review how our IP address space is used and make changes where needed.

This helps us use available capacity efficiently and support both existing customers and future demand.”

However, over at Thinkbroadband they’ve suggested that the change may be more reflective of a desire to free up unused IP address space, possibly for trading away (sale) on the open market (IPv4s have value due to being a finite resource). For example, Zen’s IP Address Migration Page notes that customers who already had multiple IP addresses as part of a paid package will be assigned the same amount of new IP addresses, but they also said this:

“In some instances, you may have been provided with multiple IP addresses outside of an allocated package. In this case we will adjust the amount of IP addresses down to one. If you wish to purchase additional IP addresses, please email [email protected] and a case will be assigned,” which seems to reflect Zen’s desire to release multiple IP blocks that were once provided for free and may have thus gone largely unused.

Regular readers may recall that this is NOT the first time that Zen Internet has conducted such an IP address migration (example), which seems to be a process that they’re doing very gradually, in phases, so as not to cause too much upset and change all at once.