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So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

AxeMurderer
Grafter
Posts: 164
Registered: ‎18-05-2011

So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

I'll go first...
1. Setting up my router (Billion 7800N) to also handle IPv6 was nearly trivial
2. Everything that worked in IPv4-only still worked with IPv6 enabled alongside
3. Some devices could handle IPv6 and see what little there currently is that is IPv6-only (and I was able to feed Matthew's cats!)
4. I have some devices (and so will many consumers) that cannot handle IPv6 and likely never will. They will still work for as long as IPv4 is available
...which is where things get interesting.
- iPod Touch 1st generation. I wouldn't expect the battery to survive for more than a further year or so. So I suspect small mobile devices aren't going to be a concern when IPv4 becomes not universally available because they will all be dead.
- Linkstation NAS. I expect to be using this for at least another 5 years. This device does have some internet functionality as it can act as a bittorrent client. Other NASes have even more functionality; I think this kind of device is going to be impacted when IPv4 is not available.
- Windows 2000 PC. The sun has well and truly set on this OS. I think it will be reasonable for any ISP to say, when IPv4 can't be allocated, that Windows 2000 devices can't be supported any longer. In any case, this machine is likely to be converted to Ubuntu.
- Network printer. Mine at least has no internet functionality so, as long as I can have IPv4 inside my network, there won't be a problem. But there are web-connected home printers now which I suspect are IPv4 only.
- Wii. This is difficult to judge; consoles tend to have a very long lifetime, being used in spare rooms etc. once replaced by something more modern in the living room. In the case of the Wii many owners have never even connected them to the internet. I don't think the same can be said for the Xbox360 or PS3 (and I don't know if either is IPv6 capable)
- Dlink wireless bridge. This is the device I am most disappointed with as not only is it IPv4, but it appears to force everything behind it to be IPv4 as well.
- Blu-ray player. I expect this to be in use for another 10 years, potentially. However, its internet capability is limited to checking for firmware updates (which are infrequent, and can be done via disc as an alternative), and to BD-live (which I have thus far never used). So not a problem in itself, but...
There is an awful lot of consumer-level IPv4-only kit still on sale. I'd love to have iPlayer/LoveFilm integrated into my TV for example. I doubt that any internet TV is currently IPv6 capable. Richard Fletcher, to his credit, wants to ensure that Plusnet only supply IPv6-capable routers. But all ISPs are actually going to need to see the end of all IPv4-only kit before it becomes impossible to guarantee supply of an IPv4 address!

Worth further investigation:
A. Android devices. I have an Android 2.1 phone which mostly fails test-ipv6.com 's IPv6 tests. However, it has passed them once, using Firefox. It has also failed them several times even with Firefox
B. Can I just leave the router configured to handle IPv6 alongside at the end of the trial? I tried this by switching back to my regular account but leaving the router configured to handle IPv6 as well. The Windows 7 pc that I used to configure the router couldn't even log in to the router afterwards; I want to look at this some more.
C. Does everything still work if the router is not enabled for IPv6 but is still allocated both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses?
D. Linux, both in front of, and behind, my wireless bridge
E. I'd love to have a peek at what will happen when I can't get an IPv4 address but this can't be tested in the current trial
7 REPLIES 7
avatastic
Grafter
Posts: 1,136
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

Re: C+E, depending on the router you may be able to log in to it and temporarily delete the default routes for IPv6 or IPv4 which will show you what things are like with out access over either of them whilst they remain configured.
F9 member since 4 Sep 1999
F9 ADSL customer since 27 Aug 2004
DLM manages your line the same way DRM manages your rights.
Look at all the pretty graphs! (now with uptime logging!)
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

RE: E, on a Windows PC you can disable ipv4 in the network adapter properties.
Results were as I expected.
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,96183.0.html
For this trial PlusNet have been using a HE ipv6 DNS server, they need to consider setting up their own. 
PB
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

Re: E.
I have just tried this with my Billion 7800N, it looks as if the answer is yes, you can just change the PlusNet username and leave the configuration settings in place for ipv6. I will try resetting the 7800N to factory defaults and see if this makes a difference when I get the time.
My general thoughts are that ipv6 needs to be driven by the ISPs, they need to supply ipv6 ready equipment to customers. The vast majority of end users will not bother with ipv6 if they need to make changes to router configurations. The equipment needs to be plug and play. PCs running recent operating systems will be OK. Other kit such at TVs, games consoles etc. will be running ipv4 for a long time. I don't think manufacturers will bother with firmware upgrades, they would like you to buy new items.
ISPs  need to start the infrastructure upgrades for ipv6 such as RADIUS and DNS. They do not have to introduce ipv6, just be prepared to do it.
Most users will not care/bother about ipv6 until the lack of it starts causing them problems, ISPs need to be ahead of the game and be ready for this event.
PB
_CN_
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 385
Registered: ‎11-06-2007

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

Hi PB,
Regarding DNS etc I was hoping that we would have been able to make much more progress with enabling recursive and authoritative nameservers with IPv6 connectivity for IPv6 day.  We had a few issues preventing this from happening, some technical and some resource, on the technical side we're now engaged with our suppliers, on the resource side, well it'll be there when the IPv6 project changes it status from a 20% project hopefully later in the year.
Within my team we've gained a lot from getting prepared for IPv6 day and I know people in some of the other teams involved have also gained lots from this.  There's still a mountain to climb with many platforms not looked at yet but hopefully we're a little way further to being ahead of the game.
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

I will try and draw up some notes on setting up a Billion 7800N for ipv6, it was simple if my memory is not playing tricks.
This needs me to do a factory reset, it will be my next project after trying to get OpenWRT working on an old DG834Gv2..
Do anyone have any idea how much longer the ipv6test logins will remain active, days, weeks or months?
PB
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
Thanks: 306
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

We've not set an end date on the trial yet, so the logins will keep working for a while. We may need to disable them at some point as we move on to the next stages of rolling out IPv6 across the network but we'll try and give you notice in the forum if we do in the forum here and we'll also let you know when we decide on an end date for the trial.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: So what have we learned? And what else should we try?

What have we learned
ipv6 is: "Work In Progress"

What else can we do
Upgrade non-ipv6 routers/modems with new firmware, if possible.
Don't buy non ipv6-games consoles, TVs, Radios, etc. This may be impossible.
PB