Preparing for the IPv6 Transition
Currently, our Comcast High-Speed Internet Service (CHSI) uses Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses, such as 192.168.1.1. The supply of IPv4 addresses is limited and will eventually be exhausted. As a result, in order for the Internet to continue to grow, ISPs and other organizations need to transition to IP version 6 (IPv6) addresses, which take a very different form, such as 2001:0db8:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf.
Comcast has been a leader in IPv6 development for over 5 years. Our leadership continues today with a plan to conduct real, production-network trials of IPv6 technology this year. The transition from IPv4 addresses to IPv6 addresses is a necessity, as the available pool of IPv4 addresses will at some point be exhausted for all Internet users.
Many experts believe that this transition could be disruptive for Internet users, so the trials we plan to conduct in 2010 will help us identify and solve any areas of difficulty involved in the transition to IPv6. We’ll also use this trial to determine what approach will be the easiest and most seamless for our customers. Comcast will continue to share what we learn with the Internet community, particularly with the IETF, for the benefit of other users of the Internet.
We anticipate conducting several technical trials, with the first trial set to start within the next couple of months. Customers who would like to participate in these IPv6 trials can express their interest using the online form on the new Comcast IPv6 Information Center website at http://www.comcast6.net.
As the Internet Society (ISOC) said in a recent paper, “The Internet Society does not believe that stakeholders have the luxury of taking a wait and see approach or indulging in circular ‘who goes first’ discussions. IPv4 depletion is imminent and the time for moving to IPv6 is nigh. The Internet Society appreciates that many players – such as network operators, hardware manufacturers, handset manufacturers – have made great strides in engaging on this important issue, but, as most would agree, much more needs to be done by all stakeholders. Much greater preparedness for IPv6 – across networks, hardware, and applications is needed. Business continuity and opportunity, and therefore national competitiveness, depend upon it.”
We hope that these trials will encourage other stakeholders to make plans to continue, or to begin, work on IPv6 in 2010 so that all stakeholders do their part in ensuring the future of the Internet is as bright and innovative as it has been in the past.
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Comments (16)
Alexandra - I thought you might be interested in learning about the newest technological transition. This is similar to when we had to go from 7 digit phone numbers to the 10 digit phone numbers because we are running out of IP addresses. Interesting.
I'm going to answer a few questions in this comment:
Agnes,
During the dual stack trial, if for some reason your IPv6 connectivity fails, you **should** be able to still get to the IPv4 Internet address. This is why we are going to test this in our dual stack trial and verify that this works correctly. Hopefully you and others would like to sign up and test this with us.
Jon,
We are currently not handing out IPv6 addresses and most likely what you saw was your Operating System handing out a link-local IPv6 address or a IPv6 Tunnel protocol address. We will be investigating several methods for handing out IPv6 addresses in the trials and will determine what the best method for IPv6 addressing will be for production.
Graham,
I wish it were as easy as using something like DHCP to remove the need for IPv6, but unfortunately DHCP doesn’t solve the underlying IPv4 address space exhaustion we are facing. DHCP will be used for handing out both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in the trials, but it is not a replacement for IPv6 unfortunately.
Thanks
I am interested in participating the IPv6 trial, however, I also want to no interrupt from my current IPv4 services for TV and Internet access. If I participate in dual stack trial, in case the IPv6 fail, can I still be able to access the Ipv4 services. This way, it would not really impact my service. Is this possible? I don't want to commit until I know there is another way out.
I assume when I have IPv6, it should be access IPv4 service as well, right?
I just bypassed my wireless NAT and hooked up my laptop directly to my Comcast cable modem, and I was delighted to find that I got an active, working IPv6 address and was able to access IPv6 sites... then I looked a little deeper and was dismayed that I was given exactly ONE IPv6 address, not a /64 subnet as the specs recommend.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but if this true, it's extremely bad policy that will only lead to a proliferation of IPv6 NAT devices as nobody's going to want to pay extra for the "privilege" of hooking up more than one device to the Internet. It seems to me that the whole point of rolling IPv6 is to restore end-to-end communication between devices like we had in the early days of IPv4... if all you want to do is give us Web access, then why are you spending money on IPv6? Just stick all of us behind an IPv4 NAT and be done with it.
Can't connect to MySQL server on '10.253.162.102' (4)
Oops.
Too bad, I really was interested.
FYI - presentation by Alain Durand at NANOG 37 (june 2006)
http://dev.nanog.org/meetings/nanog37/presentations/alain-durand.pdf
"Comcast has been a leader in IPv6 development for over 5 years."
Seriously? 5 years? _Leader_? That's why you start _trying_ it right now? 14 (!) years ago 6bone was started. In quite a few coffee shops, I get an IPv6 uplink (quite frankly, that surprises me), so I ask them what provider they use or if they tunnel it. Mostly, it's small providers that are ready. All the big companies aren't. Seriously, I love the fact that a big player finally starts public trial, but stating BS like "we are a leader for 5 years" is just crap. The fact is that you were just greedy and didn't invest money sooner, because IPv4 ist still "good enough". I'm sick of reading egomaniac posts like this.
I suggest that ISPs look at providing DHCP servers to their customers and we scrap the move to IPV6.
I signed up because I want a chance to beat on IPv6 while I still have a choice.
Hi, I'm a programmer who will test out the ipv6 services with my employer over vpn.
I hope the customer service reps are trained before it's rolled-out to the customers.
Paul Goldberg,
That depends on how Comcast rolls out their ipv6 implementation. They could: implement IPv6 on the edge router (connects to the backbone/internet on Comcast side), setup a cable modem/router that does IPv6 on the WAN side but IPv4 on the LAN side, thereby eliminating any software/hardware upgrades on the user side, or the one I hope they do: implement IPv6 across the entire CMTS network, end-to-end, from the IP address you pull on your PC, to the IP the cable modem pulls from the CMTS, to the routes you take to get to an IPv6 host. In other words, no tunneling or ipv6ipv4 transition, when possible. To ease the transition from ipv4 to ipv6, they may allow, and push by default, a cable modem/router combo that has ipv6 on the WAN side and ipv4 on the LAN side.
I have Comcast both at home and work, and having IPv6 would be fantastic, so long as we get our own blocks of IPs. No more NAT! Just hook up a switch and go.
This is on Slashdot, btw. And yes, I did use to work for a cable ISP.
Scott,
www.comcast6.net takes you to the regular www.comcast.net portal if you are already using IPv6. It appears that only accessing www.comcast6.net over IPv4 shows the announcement information and signup form link.
Hey Paul,
The direct link the signup form is: http://www.comcast6.net/volunteer.php
And I see IPv6 all over the place on that page....
http://www.comcast6.net does not appear to have anything resembling a signup form. It doesn't even contain the word "IPv6".
I understand the reasons for this change. My main concern is will this require me to purchase different hardware (cable modem, router, network adapter)?