2128 addresses. At 340 undecillion, that’s a lot of addresses. (It is million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion and decillion before we get to undecillion. So, a lot…)
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) allows for 340 undecillion IP addresses, which is a vast, virtually limitless, and in the words of our IT department, “insane” number of addresses. (They say it in the nicest possible way.) This is the direction the Internet is heading. This is the direction we’re preparing for here at TekSavvy.
A brief history: Each piece of equipment all over the world connected to the Internet requires an IP address. In IPv4, the one that’s been in place since 1981, there are 4.3 billion IP addresses. By 1998, it was recognized that 4.3 billion would not do, that the world would run out. Thus, IPv6 came about. In the v6 world, each user is assigned a /64 network of 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 IP addresses. If you’re counting, that’s 18.4 quintillion, which is more per person in v6 than the whole world got in v4. “Insane” does sum it up! But if you cannot imagine needing 18.4 quintillion addresses for your home Internet equipment, keep in mind that no one thought thirty years ago that 4.3 billion addresses would not be enough for the planet’s Internet equipment.
Much in IPv6 is superior to v4, beyond sheer boundlessness of addresses. Aspects of it are simpler. One example: Each device – your computer, printer, television, phone, and so on – gets its own direct public IP address removing the need for NAT (network address translation) and router configuration such as port forwarding.
(Although each piece of equipment always had its own address, some were assigned by the router and so were not direct public addresses. This means, of course, that users will now need to ensure they have a reliable security system in place. Now is the time, if you haven’t before, to give serious thought to firewalls.)
There is no deadline for v6 conversion. No one demands the switch be made by a certain date, or at all for that matter. It’s not like Y2K or analog-to-digital TV. No one controls it. It is a global issue, a giant handshake in which everyone agrees (or not) to join. Developers, manufacturers, providers and users all have responsibility, deciding on the level of ownership they will take moving into this new space. Some sites and equipment will continue to use just v4, some will embrace only v6, and some will allow for v4 and v6. The prudent thing is compatibility with both.
That’s what we’re doing here at TekSavvy. We have equipment in place with dual protocol stack, running both v4 and v6. Theoretically we could “turn on” IPv6 at any time. That being said there is a larger issue in the Canadian Telecom space around v6. Many of the large incumbent networks do not yet support it, so our efforts to make our network v6 compliant are dependent on the incumbent infrastructure. This isn’t a singular problem to TekSavvy; it’s an issue the entire industry is experiencing. Until every manufacturer, network operator and website operator is on board with IPv6, the rollout in its entirety will be extremely slow.
TekSavvy already has a beta program in place for our users who would like to use IPv6 on DSL. Many of you have already agreed to be beta testers of our v6 system, and that is going very well. Our thanks for your time and collaboration.
For more information visit www.teksavvy.com/ipv6/ipv6.html. If you’d like to join our IPv6 beta program, please contact us at IPV6@teksavvy.com.
At TekSavvy, we’re ready for the IPv6 future. Because we are, you are too.
Marc – CEO/TekSavvy
Unfortunately, for use Teksavvy cable customers, Rogers hasn’t gotten its sh*t together to turn on v6 for its cable infrastructure.
I’m currently using HE 6in4, which gets me connected to the v6 Internet…Although it’s not ideal, it works.
Hoping for native v6 in the future.
Hey Marc, that’s for the straight forward explanation….Short of having to use 6to4, what options do you guys have in place now for your Cable subscribers, if any? I’m interested in Ontario specifically.
If none, are you aware of Rogers’ position on the issue or a possible timeline?
Hi Marc.. just a WOW!! man… tthanks a lot for keep us on track!.. Congrats to you and all the gang!
Pedro
Damir: I can’t help you with your main question, but I will say that if you’re in the Toronto area you’d be much better of using 6in4 with he.net’s Toronto tunnel server then you’d be with 6to4.
An idea I’ve been thinking about for a while:
The current “happy eyeballs” algorithms seem to have pushed things rather far in the direction of preferring IPv4. Sometimes when I look at active TCP connections to a fully IPv6 capable service such as Youtube or Netflix, there’ll be a ratio of about 8 tcp4 connections to 1 tcp6 connection.
For those of us who are not quite so conservative that, would it be possible to dedicate a special DNS server with the following behaviour:
If a host has
- only A records available
> return only A records
- only AAAA records available
> return only AAAA records
- both A and AAAA records available
> return only AAAA records, UNLESS
- all of the AAAA records are in the 6to4 block, in which case
> return both A and AAAA records.
This should, in theory, dramatically improve IPv6 utilization on a properly configured dual-stack system without appreciably degrading performance. Obviously it couldn’t be the default server, as it would most definitely break any IPv4-only setup.
Its a definite improvement but will take some time configuring and figuring out. Good news!
What’s the roadmap on making IPv6 an “official” (not beta) service?
I’m a happy TekSavvy IPv6 customer (it’s one of the reasons that made me switch to TekSavvy), however:
* I’d very much like to be able to configure the reverse DNS on my address block (either through delegation, or if TekSavvy had a web interface for it)
* I’m not very confortable with the fact that my address block is linked to my postcode, which means that pretty much anyone can guess where I live.
In the past, while talking with TekSavvy techs about these issues, I was mostly replied that they can’t do anything about it because it is a beta service.
Thanks!
Hi Mathieu,
As long as it’s in Beta, there is not charge. Will this remain in the future, only time will tell.
If you need any changes to rDNS, you can email biz@teksavvy.com. Unfortunately, it’s the way the service works. The tool used to assign the IP is attached to the account the IP’s assigned to.
We don’t currently have rDNS for our IPv6 IP’s.
Regards,
Martin
Thanks for the article, how can I make is so that I get an alert email whenever you write a new article?
The problem with a /64, as huge as it may be in theory, is that it cannot be subnetted. This is by design of the IPv6 protocol.
In my opinion, it would make more sense to give each user say a /60, which allows up to 16 subnets. There are many reasons to have more than one subnet at home, such as basement apartments and guest Wi-Fi, and simply experimenting with the protocol. I assume TekSavvy has a /32 like most ISPs, so there is plenty of address space to go around.
Reverse DNS would also be useful with IPv6. A web interface to manage this would be fantastic. For security, TekSavvy could require proof of (forward) DNS control by requiring a randomly generate dummy DNS record to be added.
I also echo the concerns of other posters with respect to privacy (and also safety) with revealing a users postal code.
I can’t wait to see IPv6 on cable.
MWX
Is there a timeline for IPv6 on cable, since Roger had already rolled out their 6rd solution? Hopefully ours will be a native IPv6 solution, like the DSL one. If you are looking testers I’m more than happy to sign up.
IPv6 is a necessity for me and I will base my decision on an ISP based on that need.
Are there any updates planned for ipv6 out west. Currently I’m only able to a single ip from a /64 block
Hello Spock,
Thank you for you question, and interest in our IPv6 program. There are some differences in how the log-in servers work for the west and even v4 addresses need to be set manually. I apologize, currently there is no ETA on when updates to the v6 system in the west may take place.
Regards,
Keith