This seems to have been rumbling on for some time now - at least for the past five years or so.<p>My OS supports IPv6, my home router supports IPv6, but at no point have any of the home ISPs I've used (three in the past five years - BT Internet, Be and Origin Broadband) made any mention of any sort of IPv6 support.<p>I'm not au fait with the workings of such huge operations, so is there any reason for ISP adoption of IPv6 to be so sluggish? It's not like it's been an overnight thing. I'm aware it's unlikely to be a simple case of flipping a switch, or installing a new software package - but we do appear to be approaching an IP crunch.<p>Are there any consumer ISPs that do offer customers a block of IPv6 addresses for use, rather than (or as well as) a single IPv4 address?
I'm afraid of the possibility that instead of adopting IPv6, internet providers will just switch to ISP-wide NAT, making the internet even more asymmetric than it already is.
For those of you curious about IPv6, and wanting to experiment with it at home or in the office, have a look at SixXS[1] and Hurricane Electric IPv6[2].<p>They both offer free IPv6 "tunnels" which can be used to provide IPv6 to your home/office.<p>We use SixXS in the office, and the tunnel has been alive without issue for 83 weeks and counting..<p>(P.S. SixXS is probably the easier choice if you have a dynamic IP, or are not setting the tunnel up from your router directly..)<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.sixxs.net/" rel="nofollow">http://www.sixxs.net/</a>
[2]: <a href="http://ipv6.he.net/" rel="nofollow">http://ipv6.he.net/</a>
I know these folks are well-meaning but I find these constant "warnings" to be insulting. What people really need to be aware of is that the folks making decisions of how the internet should run, "the experts", are not always as smart as they think they are. They make mistakes. And it's hard to get a bunch of know-it-all's to agree.<p>It's also hard to get the entire `net to switch their behaviour, and adopt something that is incompatible with IPv4, without telling them what benefit they will gain by doing so. Can you blame them? But the "experts" and their zombie followers sure are trying.<p>IPv4 works. NAT works. NAT can be traversed. So what is the problem exactly?<p>As a home user, I can set up my own NAT'ing scheme with private IPv4 space far easier than I can learn to deal with the added complexity of IPv6.<p>OK, now I will get skewered by IPv6 fanatics. How many of them are getting paid to do IPv6 consulting work?<p>IPv4: It Just Works.
"Experts": They make mistakes, just like everyone else.<p>Now, let's hear from the "experts".
And in Asia: APNIC initiated last block measures in April last year.<p><a href="http://www.apnic.net/publications/news/2011/final-8" rel="nofollow">http://www.apnic.net/publications/news/2011/final-8</a>
"almost"?<p>I'm still stuck on an IPv4 connection at home, in Britain. My phone still can't get IPv6 on mobile internet. My VPS host still doesn't support IPv6 on my server. And PHP still fails to properly parse some types of IPv6 address.<p>Things have got better, sure, but don't say it's almost gone. Far from it.
Hey 2004 called, they want their headline back.<p>When you consider the ability for inter-RIR transfer of networks, not to mention the market being developed (already released?) by ARIN (do other RIRs have markets?), and you've got a great recipe for a run on IP addresses.
IPv6 is just like the transition to Python 3: it'll happen... eventually. But the only people with an incentive to put the hard work in are people who are genuinely enthusiastic about the transition. Everyone else is sticking it in the too-hard basket.