Comcast planning IPv6 trials

Comcast Gets Its IPv6 On [Light Reading - The Bauminator]

The addressing protocol currently used by most systems on the Internet - IPv4 - has the possibility of assigning unique IP addresses to 4,294,967,296 connected systems. Unfortunately due to a large number of those addresses being reserved for private networks and multicast systems and the rapidly growing number of systems connected to the public Internet, the number of IPv4 addresses will run out in the near future. The only way additional systems can continue to connect to the Internet is the adoption of a new IP addressing system - IPv6.

IPv6 addresses use a 128-bit addressing system, unlike the 32-bit system of IPv4. The total addresses available using IPv6 is a really large number - on the order of a number the size of 34 followed by 37 zeros. That's enough IP addresses to last a long time into the future. In order to enable IPv6 addressing, ISPs must go through a conversion process from IPv4 to IPv6. Comcast, the largest cable broadband provider in the U.S. has announced its plans for an IPv6 conversion for its customers.

In the past week, Comcast announced four planned IPv6 trials for 2010, including the conversion of its business customers to IPv6 beginning in the third quarter of this year. 

It's expected that many other ISPs will be following suit with their own IPv6 conversions. Several estimates place the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses during 2010 or 2011.

Comments

[Patrick]

You brought it up. So... can you tell us when Insight is considering IPv6 trials. I have asked installers and support desk folks, but no one is talking. Some do not know what I am talking about.

I am ready to volunteer. Though, I may want side-by-side (IPv4 and IPv6) connectivity, just in case there are problems. :)

[Tom R]

What will be the impact to the average cable modem customer when the cable operator moves to IPv6? Will it require changing out the modem or possibly upgrading the computer's OS?

Thank you

[Chris Buechler]

I would love to have native IPv6 connectivity available from Insight. Though only in a dual stack, retaining IPv4 addresses as well, for the foreseeable future. ISPs need to step up and offer these kinds of trials for their highly technical customers, as we're going to end up forced into IPv6 eventually. It appears many will be forced kicking and screaming, but forced nonetheless.

Tom: I suspect the average residential Internet consumer will not see any impact of this for several years at a minimum. Most consumer-grade routers don't support IPv6 yet, and there are other difficulties involved.

This won't be like the switch in January 1983 on Arpanet (what later become the Internet) from the NCP protocol to IPv4 where the entire network cut over all at once. That was feasible then, the Internet is entirely too large and complex to even consider such a thing today. The Internet will be running both IPv4 and IPv6 for the foreseeable future, and I expect this won't impact residential users for several years.