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Comcast Begins IPv6 Pilot Deployments
Pleasanton, California Market First in Line

While some ISPs have napped, Comcast has been at the forefront of IPv6 deployment. The company successfully activated the first group of cable modem customers using IPv6 in a dual stack configuration early this year, and has been well ahead of other ISPs on consumer trials. This has all been done with a lot of work by Comcast's Jason Livingood, Vice President, Internet Systems -- who has been doing a great job clearly answering consumer questions on the transition (and everything else) here in our forums.

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Today the company announced over at their website and in a post to our forums that the company has started pilot market deployment of IPv6 to customers in selected markets. According to Livingood, the first Comcast market to get full IPv6 implementation is Pleasanton, CA -- with other current trial markets following suit shortly.

Comcast is deploying native dual stack -- meaning these users get both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. According to Comcast "some other ISPs that are less prepared" may be using tunneling or large scale NAT in the network, but this approach has the potential to result in real-time applications slowing down or breaking completely.

As for supported hardware, Livingood says the first phase will only support certain types of directly connected consumer hardware, a list of which can be found here. On the operating system front, only Windows 7, Windows Vista, Mac OS X 10.7 / Lion will initially be supported.

"While this may seem like a small step, our approach is to progressively widen our deployment over time," says Livingood. "Subsequent phases in 2011 and 2012 will support home gateway devices and variable length prefixes," he notes.
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pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

I still like NAT

I still like my IP 4 NAT.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: I still like NAT

nothing like using duct tape to fix a problem.

PapaMidnight
join:2009-01-13
Baltimore, MD

PapaMidnight

Member

Re: I still like NAT

said by ArrayList:

nothing like using duct tape to fix a problem.

It got a plane flying again, lol. MythBusters approved.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: I still like NAT

said by PapaMidnight:

said by ArrayList:

nothing like using duct tape to fix a problem.

It got a plane flying again, lol. MythBusters approved.

if you call 50mph, 5 feet off the ground 'flying'

GoNative
@comcast.net

GoNative to pandora

Anon

to pandora
Do you play games? Because if your carrier runs out and they deploy NATs, then your games will stop working. Your Xbox/Playstation/Whatever won't be able to make UPnP requests to their carrier NAT.

In short, deploy IPv6 and go native. NAT "just works" until it stops working.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Re: I still like NAT

One day, we will need IP 6. For the moment, I'm very happy with IP 4. I think ISP's may have more control over us with IP 6, and IP 6 may eliminate some of the minor security facilitated by NAT.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: I still like NAT

said by pandora:

One day, we will need IP 6.

Considering there are ZERO IP 4 adresses left to give out I'd say that day is pretty fucking close.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Re: I still like NAT

said by 88615298:

said by pandora:

One day, we will need IP 6.

Considering there are ZERO IP 4 adresses left to give out I'd say that day is pretty fucking close.

Years ago, before anyone cared, I ordered 64,000 IP 4 addresses at no cost. For a while MCI routed them (this was long ago, I think 1996ish).

Not certain if I could get Comcast to route em, but I only need 1. Haven't used any of em in years. I initially inquired about 256 IP addresses, but was informed that 64,000 was their minimum. I was Joe nobody, but that was then and this is now.

They used to pass out IP 4 address space like it was candy.
joshub
join:2008-11-04

joshub

Member

Re: I still like NAT

That's why we now have companies like Ford and Prudential that has no real use of class A space (16,777,216 IPs) hogging them all to themselves. If we revoked all private class A assignments and require them to reapply under actual usage requirements as it is now, there'll be enough IP4 left for many more years.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Re: I still like NAT

said by joshub:

That's why we now have companies like Ford and Prudential that has no real use of class A space (16,777,216 IPs) hogging them all to themselves. If we revoked all private class A assignments and require them to reapply under actual usage requirements as it is now, there'll be enough IP4 left for many more years.

I have no need for the address space they allotted to me. I doubt it can be returned and reasonably used. However, a lot of the IP4 address space issue is due to issues early on where companies and jerks like me got too much space. Note, I didn't want more than 256 IP addresses, but was told that less than 64,000 couldn't be easily routed by an ISP at the time.
34764170 (banned)
join:2007-09-06
Etobicoke, ON

34764170 (banned) to joshub

Member

to joshub
said by joshub:

That's why we now have companies like Ford and Prudential that has no real use of class A space (16,777,216 IPs) hogging them all to themselves. If we revoked all private class A assignments and require them to reapply under actual usage requirements as it is now, there'll be enough IP4 left for many more years.

No, more like a couple months. This is a LONG TERM issue. Stop thinking so short sighted.

anonv6now
@comcast.net

anonv6now to pandora

Anon

to pandora
said by pandora:

I still like my IP 4 NAT.

Revolt against the tyranny of shared addressing!

#OccupyNAT #OccupyIPv4

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine

Member

Will users get a /48 or a /64

A /48 should be standard for end users quite honestly. It allows multiple subnets for a guest zone for example.

whfsdude
Premium Member
join:2003-04-05
Washington, DC

whfsdude

Premium Member

Re: Will users get a /48 or a /64

said by fifty nine:

A /48 should be standard for end users quite honestly. It allows multiple subnets for a guest zone for example.

This is the first phased of the trial. All signs point to the following as the actual setup for how things will work when this thing goes full scale.

1. Devices get DHCP /128 point to point w/ a routed /64 to that client side of point to point link.
2. DHCP-prefix delegation is used to tell the home gateway "this is your routed block."

jjmb
join:2009-12-01
USA

jjmb

Member

Re: Will users get a /48 or a /64

said by whfsdude:

said by fifty nine:

A /48 should be standard for end users quite honestly. It allows multiple subnets for a guest zone for example.

This is the first phased of the trial. All signs point to the following as the actual setup for how things will work when this thing goes full scale.

1. Devices get DHCP /128 point to point w/ a routed /64 to that client side of point to point link.
2. DHCP-prefix delegation is used to tell the home gateway "this is your routed block."

At a high level this is accurate, for more information be sure to visit »www.comcast6.net.

John
rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT

rahvin112

Member

Re: Will users get a /48 or a /64

So a quick review of the site reveals the astounding lack of IPv6 in on the business side. Only a single router supports it and doesn't support a VOIP conneciton.

So when is Comcast going to fix the business routers so that IPv6 is available to us?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to fifty nine

Premium Member

to fifty nine
said by fifty nine:

A /48 should be standard for end users quite honestly. It allows multiple subnets for a guest zone for example.

/64
»blog.comcast.com/2011/11 ··· ogy.html

jlivingood
Premium Member
join:2007-10-28
Philadelphia, PA

jlivingood

Premium Member

Re: Will users get a /48 or a /64

said by FFH5:

said by fifty nine:

A /48 should be standard for end users quite honestly. It allows multiple subnets for a guest zone for example.

/64
»blog.comcast.com/2011/11 ··· ogy.html

Yeah - a /64 to start. We'll do different prefix lengths over time but it takes a bit of backend work that is still in process.

skuv
@rr.com

skuv to fifty nine

Anon

to fifty nine
A /48 should not be standard for home end users, a /56 or /60 maybe.

A /56 provides 256 /64's, I think that is more than enough subnets for a guest zone or two.

No one needs 65,536 /64's at home. Especially since the subnet assignments will still be dynamic through DCHPv6.

cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro

Premium Member

Sweet...

Now my fridge can have it's own public IP address... and the vacuum cleaner too!!!

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

I'm all set to go

When they finally hit my area, I'm all set to go. OS, router, cable modem all IPV6 ready. Just need Comcast to implement the CM piece.

newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium Member
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD

newview

Premium Member

Re: I'm all set to go

said by FFH5:

OS, router, cable modem all IPV6 ready.

Which router did you get that's IPV6 ready ?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: I'm all set to go

said by newview:

said by FFH5:

OS, router, cable modem all IPV6 ready.

Which router did you get that's IPV6 ready ?

Netgear wndr3700 v1
Hardware Version WNDR3700
Firmware Version V1.0.16.98-dnsNA
GUI Language Version V1.0.0.64

To get IPV6 I had to upgrade firmware from the Netgear site to the version listed above.

jjmb
join:2009-12-01
USA

jjmb

Member

Re: I'm all set to go

You should watch »www.comcast6.net for more information about routers we test for use with IPv6. This will help to ensure what you select works seamlessly on the Comcast network.

John

newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium Member
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD

newview

Premium Member

Re: I'm all set to go

said by jjmb:

You should watch »www.comcast6.net for more information about routers we test for use with IPv6. This will help to ensure what you select works seamlessly on the Comcast network.

I took a look there and didn't see anything specifically mentioning any router testing ... are you saying that will be upcoming?

jlivingood
Premium Member
join:2007-10-28
Philadelphia, PA

jlivingood

Premium Member

Re: I'm all set to go

said by newview:

said by jjmb:

You should watch »www.comcast6.net for more information about routers we test for use with IPv6. This will help to ensure what you select works seamlessly on the Comcast network.

I took a look there and didn't see anything specifically mentioning any router testing ... are you saying that will be upcoming?

We will provide guidance on recommended routers. TBD what site that will be.

SergeyE
@microsoft.com

SergeyE

Anon

Re: I'm all set to go

Jason,

When you do the ipv6 router testing, it'd be nice if you include SamKnows devices (they do support ipv6) in that effort. The ones of us in that program do not have an option of swapping their router out, unless we quit the program altogether.
cooperaaaron
join:2004-04-10
Joliet, IL

1 recommendation

cooperaaaron to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
My Netgear WNR 3500L has IPV6 in it's last few updates in its firmware.

IowaMan
Premium Member
join:2008-08-21
Grinnell, IA

IowaMan

Premium Member

I can hear Tier 1 now

Mam/Sir Your operating system is too old for use on our network. Please upgrade for technology 's sake.

Bugger
@rr.com

Bugger

Anon

Re: I can hear Tier 1 now

From my cold dead token ring
rahvin112
join:2002-05-24
Sandy, UT

rahvin112

Member

Re: I can hear Tier 1 now

Dead is right. You'd be scrounging at the thrift stores and junk yards for token ring adapters these days.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to IowaMan

Premium Member

to IowaMan
said by IowaMan:

Mam/Sir Your operating system is too old for use on our network. Please upgrade for technology 's sake.

Thats when i dump my isp.
the only way you'll get my XP is to pry it from my cold deathgrip.

•••

Bugger
@rr.com

Bugger

Anon

MacOS Support

So MacOS 10.7 Lion will be "supported", what about 10.6 Snow Leopard and 10.5 Leopard?

What about Mobile/Multimedia devices? Up to the end user?

•••
GraysonPeddi
Grayson Peddie
join:2010-06-28
Tallahassee, FL
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter PoE
Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC

GraysonPeddi

Member

My Debian router is all ready for IPv6!

Yep! I'm talking about my x86 server that I currently have. A Linux server as a router should have wide-dhcpv6-client and wide-dhcpv6-server installed. Linux clients should have wide-dhcpv6-client installed. Me? Mine's all ready to go! Of course, I'm a Debian freak. *chuckles*
bman212121
join:2005-06-09

1 recommendation

bman212121

Member

For single PCs only

quote:
How will you enable support for IPv6 in this first phase?
In our first phase of deployment, we will enable IPv6 on selected standalone computers. This is the case when a customer has just one computer, and where that computer is plugged directly into a cable modem. We will begin with a small number of DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem models (see those modems noted as IPv6-ready at »mydeviceinfo.comcast.net), which will expand over time. However, Comcast does not directly enable IPv6 functionality on end user systems as this depends upon the capabilities of that computer's operating system. The current major consumer operating systems capable of this are Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).
Hmm.... Sadly I would like to tell anyone who is plugging their pc directly into the network they should invest in a firewall device... I wonder how many of these pcs are the ones infected with viruses because they have the firewall turned off, no AV installed, and no passwords set.