IPv6 2026 NZ

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#3449599 4-Jan-2026 13:38

TwoSeven: I could be happy if IP6 was scrapped. It doesn’t offer any value as far as I can see, doesn’t often work, and I think most people don’t understand it. When I heard about it in the 90s I figured it was one of those solutions waiting for a problem to solve.

Technically that problem is routing and routing speed. Ie; A whole lot of things become instantly uncomplicated with no additional external services required, and fast. I believe China, Japan, Korea are ipv6 on mobile. To an extent for rest of world it's a matter of older generations of equipment aging out.

If we're lucky we'll see an extra boost from proliferation of attractive IOT client side devices where the oem has a guaranteed ipv6 mass market in East Asia and is positively unfriendly to ipv4 operation.

As you will rightly point out - There is no killer app or device so far. Realistically everything that can be done with ipv6 can be bodged at an acceptable level with ipv4, so the reality has been very slow and recently steady adoption.

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#3449645 4-Jan-2026 16:18

gzt:
A whole lot of things become instantly uncomplicated with no additional external services required, and fast. I believe China, Japan, Korea are ipv6 on mobile. To an extent for rest of world it's a matter of older generations of equipment aging out.

If we're lucky we'll see an extra boost from proliferation of attractive IOT client side devices where the oem has a guaranteed ipv6 mass market in East Asia and is positively unfriendly to ipv4 operation.

In France and Germany all major mobile and internet provider are on IPv6. matter/thread relies on IPv6.

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#3449655 4-Jan-2026 16:59

huckster:

coffeebaron:

2026 will be the year of IPv6! 😄

Along with nuclear fusion.

And the Linux Desktop.

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#3449658 4-Jan-2026 17:00

Back to the topic, IPv6 works... when it works.

A few Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) do not support it, does not expose the configuration on its US, or do a bad job implementing the required standards.

In theory, less load on your CPE as NAT is not required, and all connections are direct to your device. It should be faster too.

In reality, you wouldn't notice a difference.

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#3449671 4-Jan-2026 17:45

freitasm:

In reality, you wouldn't notice a difference.

... except that an IPv6-only server addressed with IPv4 does not respond in Asia (or elsewhere). 😉

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#3449673 4-Jan-2026 17:58

MichaelNZ:

We have had IPv6 in production for servers ~6 years and for customer connections ~2 years.

All of the Mikrotik CPE we send out has IPv6 enabled. If the client has their own CPE and activates DHCPv6 client they will also get it.

With that in mind the number of clients who have asked for it = zero.

Its gotten to the point APNIC account holders only have to click a button in the portal and get their choice of /48 or /32 allocations. No justification required. Its like 20+ years ago when IPv4 was being handed out like lollies.

Some people have dismissed IPv6 somewhat, thinking that it is unnecessary. However, all proposed solutions aimed at prolonging the life of the IPv4 Internet are highly complex and pose the problem of requiring the introduction of additional mechanisms that do not exactly make the Internet more stable. They also make it more difficult to bring new applications to the Internet. In this respect, IPv6 is much more future-proof. Ultimately, it is better to invest in the new IPv6 infrastructure than to artificially prolong the life of the old structure with crutches.

Customers can be advised to ask their operators about IPv6 support. So far, customers are not yet aware that there is a new protocol available to them. The more customers show interest, the sooner operators will realise that they need to take action. They should not lock their customers into the old Internet, but enable them to access the new sites via IPv6.

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#3449996 5-Jan-2026 15:16

This should not even be a discussion

All our transit supports IPv6

All of our IX peers including the big names you know (and love) - Netflix, Facebook/Meta, Cloudflare, Amazon, Microsoft, etc...

The gear supports IPv6 both CPE and carrier

There isn't anything magical about IPv6 beyond a few tech tweaks and a lot more address space.

Its easier to deliver IPv6 then IPv4 to the customer. The curve balls we have had with ISP-scale DHCP compared to DHCPv6 which is practically pain free.

So if someone doesn't have IPv6 it means either there is something wrong at their end of they should change ISP's.

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#3450000 5-Jan-2026 15:24

MichaelNZ: So if someone doesn't have IPv6 it means either there is something wrong at their end of they should change ISP's.

The OP's problem is that no New Zealand mobile provider has IPv6 at this time.

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#3450063 5-Jan-2026 15:59

gzt:
MichaelNZ: So if someone doesn't have IPv6 it means either there is something wrong at their end of they should change ISP's.

The OP's problem is that no New Zealand mobile provider has IPv6 at this time.

Which is peculiar because One's HFC system happily gives out IPv6 addresses.
I know this because when I visit one of my children who's on One HFC, my clunky old Windows-10 laptop picks up and uses an IPv6 address, and Geekzone notes the fact.

So if they can do it on HFC, why not on mobile?

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#3450067 5-Jan-2026 16:11

Tinkerisk:

Some people have dismissed IPv6 somewhat, thinking that it is unnecessary. However, all proposed solutions aimed at prolonging the life of the IPv4 Internet are highly complex and pose the problem of requiring the introduction of additional mechanisms that do not exactly make the Internet more stable. They also make it more difficult to bring new applications to the Internet. In this respect, IPv6 is much more future-proof. Ultimately, it is better to invest in the new IPv6 infrastructure than to artificially prolong the life of the old structure with crutches

I disagree with both statements.

I would suggest that there is space in the IP4 standard to either add an MSB to the source and destination address fields and/or to create an extension (new version).

Having backward compatible IP4 would make it easier to bring applications to the Internet.

Consider that IP6 must be more than 20 years old now and still people don’t use it (given its original hype).

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#3450068 5-Jan-2026 16:11

PolicyGuy:

gzt:
MichaelNZ: So if someone doesn't have IPv6 it means either there is something wrong at their end of they should change ISP's.

The OP's problem is that no New Zealand mobile provider has IPv6 at this time.

Which is peculiar because One's HFC system happily gives out IPv6 addresses.
I know this because when I visit one of my children who's on One HFC, my clunky old Windows-10 laptop picks up and uses an IPv6 address, and Geekzone notes the fact.

So if they can do it on HFC, why not on mobile?

@policyGuy they can it is not just implemented

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#3450086 5-Jan-2026 16:32

TwoSeven:

Having backward compatible IP4 would make it easier to bring applications to the Internet.

IPv6 is not backward compatible. The problem is not IPv6, but rather that IPv4 must be carried over as a dual stack (or, for example, in a tunnelled manner) because the transition period to IPv6 is not zero. If it were up to me, IPv4 could be switched off today, if we didn't have to take into account those dreamers around the world who are clinging desperately to IPv4-only.

Consider that IP6 must be more than 20 years old now and still people don’t use it (given its original hype).

That's pretty much the weakest technical argument I've heard against IPv6 so far, but I can live with it. My customers (from a technical point of view), however, cannot.

So your opinion is against the extra expense incurred by all ISPs here in Europe (and elsewhere) that are not shying away from IPv6 and the costs involved. Seriously? 😉

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#3450089 5-Jan-2026 16:38

IPv6 is being used and widely.

Just because someone doesn't have it or doesn't know who to use it (It's practically zero touch for client devices) - that's on them.

Tinkerisk:

IPv6 is not backward compatible. The problem is not IPv6, but rather that IPv4 must be carried over as a dual stack (or, for example, in a tunnelled manner) because the transition period to IPv6 is not zero. If it were up to me, IPv4 could be switched off today, if we didn't have to take into account those dreamers around the world who are clinging desperately to IPv4-only.

I support this comment.

If IPv4 died right now it would halve the amount of record keeping I need to do and eliminate my IPv4 pain points including the inevitable crunch when we run out of our initial allocation and purchased space.

Yeah, on that subject its around NZ$13,500 per /24 give or take depending on demand at the time.

We have been generous and handed out static IPv4's but at a rate of 256 clients per /24 for PPPoE, and 1/4 that for DHCP, combined with continued cramped margins on UFB connections there comes a point where higher prices, CGNAT, or IPv6-only is inevitable.

My personal preference is for CGNAT + IPv6. Given we are operating under the same parameters as the industry in general I strongly suspect my peers have come to the same conclusion.

This country has a strong proliferation of fixed cabled connections so this is where the various carriers NOC's attention has been. Focus on IPv6 deployment where it has the maximum return. But as they get more crunched they will deploy on their cellular networks too.

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#3450103 5-Jan-2026 17:17

If Spark or One NZ deploy IPv6 on mobile they may be required to give back their IPv4s ?

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#3450106 5-Jan-2026 17:21

yitz:

If Spark or One NZ deploy IPv6 on mobile they may be required to give back their IPv4s ?

No.

APNIC's policy is to allow the sale and subsequent transfer of IPv4 to facilitate it going where its needed.

Current and within 2 years network usage is counted towards issuing more resources (now irrelevant for IPv4 because you can't get greater then /23 from them) and approvals to obtain more IPv4.

In other words while IPv4 can be transferred (usually by commercial sale) the recipient still needs to obtain approval to receive it.

Anyone with a justification and ability to use resources can join APNIC and get IPv4, IPv6 and an ASN on their own account. Its not cheap so expect first year to be most of $2,000 to get started, minimum. Add something on top if they need someone like me to help prepare their application.

But all they will get is a /24 or /23. If they want any more they need to get approval to receive it and then go and buy it on the open market at 5-figures per class-C.

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