Switch to IPv6 on as old IP addresses run out

The Internet has run out of new IP addresses based on the most commonly-used format, and one Canadian expert says service providers in the country are being too slow in making the switch to the newer protocol. Jacques Latour, chief technology officer with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), confirmed that the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) was unable to fulfil a request from a North American ISP this month for new IP addresses based on the old IPv4 standard. This, he said, confirms an outcome that has been expected for some time — that numerical combinations based on the IPv4 format have been exhausted. IPv4 protocol for IP addresses was invented in the early 1970s "when they only had a handful of computers and they said this might work for a while," Latour said in a phone interview. It has been the main format for IP addresses, which are provided by telecoms to computers, smartphones and other equipment logging onto the Internet on a particular network for the first time, ever since the Internet was adopted by the masses in the mid-1990s. IPv4 addresses follow a pattern in which four different blocks of numbers are grouped together, each one having a value between 0 and 255. A typical IP address based on this format might look like 66.42.233.179. There are about four billion combinations that can be made in this fashion, and they've all been assigned to devices or are being stored for future use, Latour said. The new format, IPv6, is "virtually unlimited" with trillions upon trillions of different numerical combinations available, he said. An event known as World IPv6 Launch Day was held June 6, 2012. In a matter of just a few weeks at around that time, CIRA reported an almost 500 per cent increase in the number of IPv6-capable websites based in Canada. Latour said most websites currently employ what's known as "dual stack," meaning they can accommodate devices with IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. Yet Canadian ISPs continue to delay making changes that would result in providing their customers with proper IP addresses, he said, something he predicted will become an absolute necessity in 10 years or less. "There's no excuse for us not doing it," Latour said. "Twenty years ago, it was complicated. Today, it is easier. It's built in all the applications. It's built in all the software. It's a matter of turning it on and enabling the provisioning and enabling the management of IPv6. " say, 'Well, there's no demand,' and 'What's in it for us?' and 'Nobody asks to do IPv6.' That's plain wrong. ... If you have an ISP that doesn't sell IPv6 services, they're faulty on their service provisioning." Latour said it's illogical for ISPs to expect demand for something like IPv6 to come from their customers, who just want Internet connections and are largely unaware of the technological issues behind them. He said ISPs are getting by recycling old IPv4 numbers for the time being, but this can lead to problems with certain functions, such as point-to-point communications like Skype. He added that, with police investigations, there is a risk that individuals could be mistakenly identified when identical IP numbers are used by multiple users. While the consequences of ISPs not switching to IPv6 are not being felt in a significant way yet, in the coming years some users could find they are cut off from a growing proportion of websites and apps that are using IPv6 exclusively, Latour said. He said in a followup email that mobile operators also need to transition to IPv6, but the situation is not as urgent as with ISPs. He said that Canadian mobile operators have an ample supply of IPv4 addresses stockpiled that will last for some time. He added that LTE networks support IPv6, though 3G and 2G networks do not. Latour said the Canadian ISP leading in providing IPv6 connections is Xplornet Communications Inc., which has an adoption rate of about 25 per cent, and "after that it falls below one per cent" for other Canadian ISPs. Officials from Xplornet were not available for comment. A Google Inc. web page indicates that Canada has an overall IPv6 adoption rate of 0.6 per cent, compared to 21.5 per cent in the United States, with several European and Asian countries also ahead of Canada. In response to a query from The Wire Report, Cogeco Cable Inc. spokeswoman Patricia Archambault said in an email that her company has switched to IPv6 for assigning IP addresses. She said it was not possible, at this point, to provide a percentage of connections being made with the newer protocol. Archambault added that customers with older equipment will still automatically be assigned IPv4 addresses, though Latour said most devices currently in use are IPv6 capable. Shawn Hall, spokesman for Telus Corp., said in an email that the company is transitioning its Internet customers to IPv6 "with more customers being enabled in the coming weeks and months. We are committed to supporting Canada’s participation in the global transition to IPv6." He added: "IPv6 will give our customers the best Internet experience including the best of future network protocols and, importantly, will unlock the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). Telus customers will experience these benefits while continuing to enjoy IPv4 access to reach the parts of Internet that do not yet support IPv6." BCE Inc. spokesman Jason Laszlo said in an email: "Bell has been preparing for the IPv4 to IPv6 conversion for several years and we're ready for the transition. While we haven't announced any rollout plan yet, we're already supporting business customers in making their own transitions from IPv4 to IPv6 applications." Rogers Communications Inc. spokesman Kevin Spafford said in an email: "We’re currently in the process of upgrading to be IPV6 capable and are working to make this seamless for our customers." — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Switch to IPv6 on as old IP addresses run out

News | July 16, 2015

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Switch to IPv6 on as old IP addresses run out

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