When will IPv6 be available?

[#1]

Are there any plans to implement IPv6 for all users anytime soon? Any time frame at all?

Thanks

[#2]

@highpriest, we've nothing to share at the moment I'm afraid.

Out of curiosity, what leads you to ask?

[#3]

Thanks Bob. Just wanted to know what the state of play was with the availability of native IPv6 support on the Plusnet network.

[#4]

An ISP doing nothing with IPv6 in 2018 is a bit like Kodak betting on film in 2000; it creates a smell of corporate complacency that some customers and employees can detect, but which the bean-counters are oblivious to.

[#5]

Indeed. Which is why I'm leaving Plusnet shortly and moving to an ISP that supports IPv6.

[#6]

There is a cost to introducing IPv6 in that an ISP must support both systems for a period of time.

One assumes (many) ISP's will be judging the balancing act of when enough web sites support IPv6 to introduce the protocol against the cost of doing so.

Brian

[#7]

Two of the biggest ISPs in the country, BT and Sky, offer IPv6 for all their customers. Most of the smaller ISPs do too (AA, Zen, IDNet and others). There's absolutely no reason in this day and age to not deploy IPv6 network-wide.

As George Michaelson, who is a Research Scientist at APNIC put it: "If it only does IPv4, it is broken."

[#8]

Serious question - if Plusnet introduced IPv6 tomorrow, what could I do then that I can't do today?

[#9]

What can you do via IPv6 that you can't do via IPv4 ?

Access anything that's IPv6 only to start with. For many, that will be the only thing that bothers them - can they browse to sites. At the moment there are not many IPv6 only sites - but they do exist and they are going to become more common in the next few years.

But even for stuff that is still IPv4 - access is only going to get more and more unreliable and ISPs are forced to put more and more users behind carrier grade NAT. NAT is broken, CG NAT is doubly broken.

The thing is, IPv6 is here, it's rolling out fast, and some parts of the world will soon be treating IPv4 as a distinctly second class protocol - I'm thinking particularly about Asia where they have been worse hit by the IPv4 shortage due to the history of how things developed.

Remember the days when users of (eg) Compuserve asked why they should get on the internet ? Well at the time most of them probably didn't need to, but we know how well that lasted !

[#10]

Name something popular that's IPv6 only.

[#11]

Nothing can really be IPv6 only until it is universally accessible. This can only occur once (some) ISPs stopping dragging their feet. There are few short term wins, but everyone benefits in the long run - content providers, consumers and ISPs alike. As 

[#12]

SimonHobson and MJN - well put.

Browni - apart from a few websites that are deliberately IPv6-only (like http://loopsofzen.co.uk/), the vast majority of the internet is still very much accessible using IPv4. But unless all ISPs make the move to deploy IPv6, that situation cannot and will not change.

As others have mentioned, CGNAT is horrid, broken and expensive. NAT is not perfect either.

[#13]

Who mentioned CGNAT?

Strike that, CG NAT was used (space in an acronym)

[#14]

What came first - the chicken or the egg?

Companies respond to demand and as yet there is no huge demand for IPv6. Nor, as far as I know, is there any timetable for the switchover - Government sponsored or other wise.

For PlusNet it is a commercial decision to introduce IPv6 when the demand makes it worthwhile. If they lose a few customers along the way so be it. The lost income I suspect would be less than the cost of implementation.

If a customer needs IPv6 then they'll do what happens in any walk of life - they'll find a supplier who meets their needs and move to them.

Brian

[#15]

I suspect that many, like me, that want native IPv6 connectivity take a whole number of aspects of an ISP's service offering into consideration when choosing who to go with. Plusnet provides me with a great service in all other respects hence why I want to stay with them and not be forced to go elsewhere just for their poor progress on support for IPv6. I don't think it is unreasonable to call them out on this in this day-and-age. It is a given that Plusnet will support IPv6; I just want it to be sooner rather than later.