PSA - AG Gateway decommissioning

[#1]

Sorry to say, I'm going to have to be the bearer of some less than optimistic news

We're currently in the process of relocating a lot of our 'old' broadband infrastructure/handover to new data centres, and as part of this work we are going to be decommissioning the old E320's. Some of you will know these more affectionately as the 'AG gateways' e.g. pcl-ag01, ptw-ag02 etc.

Most of you with trial IPv6 accounts will probably be aware that your static prefixes are only assigned when connecting to an AG gateway. If you connect to the alternative - a 'BNG' gateway - then you end up with a non-static prefix and 'broken' v6 routing.

Sadly, this means the IPv6 trial accounts we dished out back in 2013 are going to break. You'll still be able to use them for IPv4, but it's unlikely IPv6 is going to work properly until we get the opportunity to revisit the v6 config. on the relocated BNG's.

Not the greatest of news, I know, but I wanted to let you guys know before you started noticing.

Unsure what to do with this forum in the interim, do people think there's merit leaving it as is, pending future developments?

[#2]

Thanks for the update Bob, even if it wasn't quite what we might have hoped for! I'd much rather hear bad news than no news at all though as it helps manage expectations and removes the anticipation of wondering if/when reliable IPv6 connectivity was going to return.

Regarding whether to keep the forum open or not, in my view, given the numerous options available to those wanting an ISP with native IPv6 connectivity now available it is feeling increasingly futile badgering you and your colleagues for updates as I/others have been doing for many years now. This, coupled with participating in both your trials, makes me feel I have done all I can - even if it has not been fruitful.

There are numerous other, more appropriate, places on the Internet to discuss IPv6 in general and so I see the only purpose for a Plusnet IPv6 forum is discussion that is directly Plusnet-related. With no IPv6 connectivity being provided, and no details of plans available to change that, I can't imagine it adding any value given the lack of anything to talk about. At best it might become the online equivalent of kids in the back seat pestering with 'Are we there yet?' which generally results in nothing other than anguish for all concerned!

When IPv6 does eventually appear on Plusnet we can discuss any issues arising on the main forums - just like we do for IPv4.

[#3]

Well I guess I'm stuck for a while having just pre-paid line rental. But when that's up, I'll have been with PlusNet for 14 years. In that time I've recommended them to numerous friends and colleagues - in spite of the way they [-Censored-] up my mail for ages.

Well if nothing's changed when my pre-paid line rental is up, then I think it's safe to say I'll be looking around for something else. Given some of the details crossing my desk at work, there are some good alternatives around - and quite frankly, some of the "business" deals I'm seeing are price competitive with PlusNet while offering things like multiple static IPv4 addresses and an IPv6 allocation. There's only so long you can hang around waiting for vapourware to condense into something useful.

As an analogy, the PlusNet pub landlord is a nice congenial chap, speaks English (well, Yorkshire but we can forgive that, even if I do live in what used to be Lancashire ), but they just aren't getting the beer in that we want to drink - the other pubs aren't as nice, but at least they are serving proper beer.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Avoidance of swear filter edited as per Forum rules.

[#4]

Thanks for the update.

My suggestion is to keep the forum, rename it IPv6 and move it into the "Other forums" section.

The description would also need to change to "All discussions related to IPv6".

[#5]

Here lies Plusnet's IPv6 Project

Born 2013.

Died 2016.

R.I.P.

[#6]

Bob,

Thanks for letting the community know.

I think we are know the trial was for plusnet to gain understanding of IPv6. Now as the trial has effectively come to a conclusion, I guess there will be some outcome conclusions to the trial. Probably these are internal to plusnet, however would it be possible to release any details?

Would help us punters to form a view on the future of IPv6 on plusnet, if any ...

Thanks,

David.

[#7]

Not much I can share really David. The trial (when working) was successful though and will certainly help with any future plans to IPv6-enable our L2TP network. The majority of our customers are on our new dedicated network now which is a different story.

[#8]

Hi @bobpullen, when plusnet moved to the BNG gateway, as posted above, you said that the config wasn't working for IPv6.

18 months down the line, are the BNG gateway still the main stay for plusnet? Has the config of the gateway been revisited in the last 18 months? Are the gateways any closer to being able to handle IPv6?

Thanks, really just after an update on a technical detail - so not asking for a statement on the future of IPv6 at plusnet ...

[#9]

I've nothing to share on IPv6 deployment I'm afraid.
The BNG's still serve customers tunnelled through our L2TP network. This is actually the minority these days, and includes those on 20CN connections, those on metered/legacy account types, and those with static IPv4 assignments.