US Cable Support > Comcast HSI > [IPv6] Comcast Pulls Back On IPv6 Rollout

[IPv6] Comcast Pulls Back On IPv6 Rollout

Cool article but can't Comcast just isolate the accounts using those Netgear modems and continue pushing forward with the rollout? Then they can come back and work on the Netgear problem. This way the rest of us don't get screwed over with having to be delayed? This is a serious question and I'm not trying to be a jerk to the Netgear users.

According to the EE Daily News article (»www.eedailynews.com/2012/03/comc···-of.html), only "selected" areas, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, are affected by this:

"From Netgear's PR firm, via email:

"Last week Comcast upgraded their Cable Internet head-end systems in select cities which caused the Internet connection failure for a few customers who had the NETGEAR CMD31T DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem. We were immediately in touch with Comcast regarding the issue and within a day corrective action was taken. Comcast had rolled back to the older system and all customers were online.

We are working closely with Comcast to ensure that customers do not face Internet disruptions for any such future upgrades to the system."

reply to Mike Wolf
Defects have varying scopes, in some scenarios what you describe may be possible however this is not always the case. We are working very hard to limit the impact to our customers while we collaborate with Netgear to arrive at a viable long term solution.

reply to telcodad
This statement is on Comcast's IPv6 Information Center page this morning:

Statement Regarding NetGear CMD31T Devices
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Comcast is in the process of deploying IPv6 nationally, as noted on this site in great detail. We recently identified that the retail NetGear CMD31T device ships with and runs an uncertified version of firmware that exacerbates a critical IPv6-related defect. To ensure Comcast customers with these devices will continue to have uninterrupted Internet service, we have rolled back IPv6 temporarily in some parts of our network to give NetGear more time to address the issue. Comcast anticipates NetGear will soon address the issue for their retail devices, which we will test and deploy on an emergency basis.

This is on the device info page for that modem as well-

"The retail NetGear CMD31T device has a known IPv6-related software defect. This prevents the device from being provisioned on the Comcast network. NetGear is aware of this defect and is working with us to test a fix. If you have purchased this device and it does not appear to work on our network, please contact NetGear or the store where you purchased the device."

What Comcast and Netgear should have done was notify retail outlets that if any customer comes in to return or exchange, to tell them that the issue is only temporary with the modem. Now there are demands that Comcast and/or Netgear reimburse customers who jumped the gun and purchased new modems from other manufacturers.

Maybe.
But ComCast has no idea how long it will take Netgear to fix the problem, so what are those subs supposed to do in the meantime?
This is Netgear failing to deal with a known problem over several years, hardly ComCast's fault, yet it effects CC's business and upgrade schedule and their relationship with their customers.
One of the big advantages of renting a modem is that it would be on ComCast to replace the modem with a fully IPv6 modem (likely a different brand) When you choose to buy your own ALL the risks of poor design, manufacturing defects, or inadequate support fall on you and it becomes your responsiblity to persue claims against the manufacter.

CC can't hold up their upgrade process for long just because of NetGear or any other single manufacter failed to assure a quality product.
I don't believe CC knew how severe the problem would be, but it would be risk to interfere in the netgear customer relationship... posting "Don't buy their crap" anywhere would certainly get you sued, even if it proved correct.

The thing is, the statements from Comcast say that the Netgear issue "exacerbates a critical IPv6-related defect."

This sounds like there is also a problem on Comcast's side, with their IPv6 hardware and/or software, that the issue with Netgear's modem brought to light.

reply to telcodad
"says the Netgear CMD31T device has "a known IPv6-related software defect. This prevents the device from being provisioned on the Comcast network." and the other statement "are working with Netgear to find a longterm solution".
Imply that it's a NetGear problem, BUT CC is effected if it knocks their customers offline.
so they give Netgear a few days/weeks to make a statement/ design a recall* (so CC doesn't cut subs off) and if Netgear doesn't CC bans Netgear from their network (big money!!)replaces all rental modems and tries to help those owning them find a better modem at a reasonable cost.

* If netgear hasn't been able/tried to fix it in 2 years, it probably can't, remember CC is leading the cable IPv6 effort and what they experience tody will effect other cable systems when they make the same changes
Netgear MUST make this right, or face a hard (er) future in the modem and networking business.

OK, so then the "critical IPv6-related defect" is something that was lurking inside the Netgear modem and it did not cause any problems until it was used with Comcast's IPv6-upgraded head-end CMTSs.

Damn English language! It's not always clear which words refer to what!

reply to tshirt
From a story I read, Comcast returned service to the affected customers within a day or so by rolling back the CMTS.

reply to earletp
and yet somehow Netgear's own product page says that it supports IPv6. This isn't the first time that Netgear exaggerated IPv6 support on their products. Last year an independent company tested IPv6 support on Netgear routers only to find that when given a /56 address the router would burst into flames in a metaphorical sense and was unable to properly operate. What the issue was was that Netgear certified their routers with a /64 address and since everything worked fine in the lab, they assumed everything else would work.
An excert from the article:
"In our IPv6 trial we hand out a /56 to each router. When I discovered that the PC attached to the Netgear router didn't have an IPv6 address, a little poking around revealed that the router was attempting to perform SLAAC with the full /56, rather than select a /64 out of the delegated prefix. In compliance with IETF standards, the PC wasn't getting an IPv6 address. I can only speculate, but it appears that in its testing Netgear was only handing out a /64 to each router, which likely would have resulted in a successful test"

»www.networkworld.com/news/2011/0···ers.html

reply to Mike Wolf

reply to Mike Wolf

reply to telcodad
Well, I do not think that there should be any large sense of surprise here. I never expected IPv6 implementation to be seamless, nor should have anyone else.

How long did it take for 802.11n to go from a "draft" version to certified...something like 5 to 7 years? In fact, even today, not all current 11n adapters and routers play along nicely!
--
Deeds, not words

reply to Mike Wolf

reply to tshirt
Based on my experience with my Motorola modems, Comcast replaces the shipped firmware with a compatibe version of its own, even when the shipped firmware is newer. I would think this same practice takes place with other brands as well like Netgear. I also would think that any changes would be tested internaly every step of the way well before it would be released into the public production network.