World IPv6 Day: how will it impact you?
By: calendar iconJune 7th, 2011 a 9:30am

IPv6 logoYou may have heard that IP addresses are running out. It’s true. IP addresses that fall under what is commonly known as IPv4, or Internet Protocol version 4 will soon reach their technical limit causing a shortage of available IP addresses. The good news is there’s a solution: IPv6.

What is IPv6?

Currently there are almost 4.3 billion unique IP addresses that use IPv4, but it’s simply not enough to support the number of internet-connected devices around the world.

IPv6 is an updated internet protocol capable of supporting more devices, by supporting more addresses – 340 undecillion to be exact. For context, one undecillion is 10 to the power of 38, or a one followed by 38 zeros. To put it in perspective, if the current pool of 4.3 billion addresses were the size of a golf ball, the new 340 undecillion address space would be about the size of the sun.

What is World IPv6 Day?

World IPv6 Day is June 8 from midnight to midnight GMT. On this day, major web companies around the world will enable IPv6 on their main websites for 24 hours. This test period is designed to help the industry prepare for global deployment of the new protocol by flagging and fixing issues in advance.

For those in the Eastern time zone, the event will take place from 8:00pm on  June 7 to 8:00pm on June 8. To see when World IPv6 day will start for you, go here.

How will World IPv6 Day impact you?

Most likely, it won’t. The vast majority of Rogers customers will not be affected during the test period.  In some rare cases, some people may not be able to access certain websites, but this will be temporary.

Rogers has been preparing for this change for more than two years and making continual network improvements to minimize the impact on you. Our engineers have been working since 2006 to modernize our network so we can seamlessly integrate IPv6. We’ve also been working closely with content partners like Google to ensure that you can continue to access the information you need, when you need it.

Should I do anything to prepare?

No. However, you can ensure that your computer is up-to-date with the latest software fixes. You can also visit our Information Centre or go to http://test-ipv6.com to check the readiness of your computer in advance.

Miranda MacDonald is a regular contributor to RedBoard

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  1. Bhupinder D says: June 7th, 2011 a 10:00am

    Hmmm….I didn’t know this. Looks like its true, you learn something new everyday.

  2. Robert Boulay says: June 7th, 2011 a 12:19pm

    Just curious: What happened to IPv5?

    • RogersMiranda says: June 7th, 2011 a 3:08pm

      Good question! It’s actually already being used for something else. In the late 1970’s, a protocol named ST — The Internet Stream Protocol — was created for the experimental transmission of voice, video, and distributed simulation, and it was given IPv5.

  3. ericball says: June 7th, 2011 a 8:27pm

    Rogers doesn’t seem to have enabled IPv6, from test-ipv6.com:

    Your IPv4 address on the public Internet appears to be 99.247.92.67

    No IPv6 address detected

    You appear to be able to browse the IPv4 Internet only. You will not be able to reach IPv6-only sites.

    Your DNS server (possibly run by your ISP) appears to have no access to the IPv6 Internet, or is not configured to use it. This may in the future restrict your ability to reach IPv6-only sites.

  4. Donovan says: June 8th, 2011 a 12:13am

    Well its 12:06AM EST June 8th and the RogersIPV6 link above to test IP6 has FAILED on my Mac Mini with OSX latest updates (10.6.7) and Safari (5.0.5 build 6533.21.1).
    http://ipv6.rogers.com/event-details/

    http://server9.test-ipv6.com/
    results: Your IPv4 address on the public Internet appears to be 99.234.48.11
    Test with IPv4 DNS record
    ok (0.255s) using ipv4
    Test with IPv6 DNS record
    bad (0.154s)
    Test with Dual Stack DNS record
    ok (0.252s) using ipv4
    Test for Dual Stack DNS and large packet
    ok (0.341s) using ipv4
    Test IPv4 without DNS
    ok (0.179s) using ipv4
    Test IPv6 without DNS
    bad (0.020s)
    Test IPv6 large packet
    bad (0.081s)
    Test if your ISP’s DNS server uses IPv6
    bad (1.069s)

    BTW: all mirrors fail. I’m not using a proxy, nor am I using another DNS other than Rogers.
    Search domains: pub.net.cable.rogers.com
    Configure DNS in System Preferences> Network> Advanced.

  5. RogersMiranda says: June 8th, 2011 a 2:27pm

    @ericball and @Donovan

    Thanks for your feedback! I was able to get some more information from our team that might help provide some context around your comments.

    For background, World IPv6 Day opened 24-hour IPv6 access to major content (on Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter among others) for Internet endpoints which are able to communicate over IPv6. Rogers has deployed a number of technologies into the network to assist with IPv6 connections using Native IPv6 and tunneling technologies like 6to4 to provide a better overall experience and consistent connection.

    Related to your comments, not all customers will have access to IPv6 since it requires an active IPv6 connection which requires IPv6 capable machines, operating systems and/or home networking equipment. Although a person may have an IPv6 capable home PC, the upstream home gateway may not, and therefore the customer’s connection will be IPv4 only. Most Internet customers today do not yet have the “full mix” of home networking equipment to make use of IPv6.

    For the majority of customers test results form “test-ipv6.com” will show that the customer has no IPv6 connectivity which is a valid and expected outcome. This will mean that the customer should experience no specific issues with content and will be able to reach all their favorite sites as normal. For the subset of customers who do have access to IPv6 via Native IPv6 or a tunneling technology, this connection should work well and they are not expected to experience failures related to World IPv6 Day.

    Hope this helps!

    • ericball says: June 15th, 2011 a 5:50pm

      You are correct that my WiFi router doesn’t support IPv6, so that’s a limiting factor. (And IPv6 WiFi routers aren’t common or cheap.) However, my Rogers Motorola SURFboard SB5100 doesn’t appear to support IPv6 either.

      So the question I have is whether Rogers Home Internet is native IPv6 ready (other than the customer premise equipment) .

      • RogersMiranda says: June 16th, 2011 a 5:08pm

        Hi again,

        We actually deployed native IPv6 to a select number of customers during the recent IPv6 Day on June 7 and we continue to have customers in the network with this capability. However, as with all new network wide technology, we have to balance the need to protect the current service with the drive to deliver new technologies so not all cable modems have been approved to date. But we do expect this to be completed soon.

        Also, just a heads up that Rogers will be conducting a customer trial with IPv6 later this year so stay tuned to http://www.rogers.com/ipv6 for more details.

  6. Donovan says: June 11th, 2011 a 11:13am

    Thank you Miranda … makes perfect sense and very helpful.
    Cheers