Subject: Re: [dhcwg] PPP, DHCPv6 and Prefix Delegation

From: "Simon Hobson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 17:11:43 +0000

Michael Richardson wrote:
>The ISP is forced to provision IPv6 to *all* customers in an area, regardless
>of what the customer actually asks for, or whether they are ready to do
>IPv6.

You mean, in much the same way that they are forced to provision an IPv4 address to all customers in an area regardless of whether they want or need it ?
Yes, that sounds rediculous now, but give it a few years and the expectation is that everyone will have IPv6, and a few years more before having IPv4 is perhaps not so certain (I can see a day when having a real IPv4 address is a chargeable extra). Lets face facts, people *are* going to end up on IPv6 - it might take a few years, but considering having IPv6 as an optional extra would be a very short termist (and IMNSHO stupid) idea.

>In IPv4 speak, this is like provisioning IPv4 space (and a /29 at that) to
>every person in your service area, on the chance that they might use it.

Not really. The *minimum* allocation to an ISP is a /32. If they offer a /64 to every customer (which is the minimum practical) then that allows them 2^32, or 4 billion, customers - or nearly 50% of the worlds population as the customer of one ISP ! If they offer a /56, then that still allows 2^24, 16 million, customers which is probably enough for just about every customer in the UK to be with just one ISP !

And the thing is, an awful lot of customers *will* use it if given it. If you are a progressive ISP with an eye on not having to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, then you might as well accept that IPv6 is going to happen and you might was well go along with it. Once your systems are in place to support the handful of customers that ask for it, they are in place for the rest of them. Once your "free CPE"* supports it, then customers will start using it without actually realising - since just about all modern OSs support IPv6 out of the box if the network has it.

* Dunno about elsewhere, but in the UK it's quite common to include a "free wireless router" with broadband packages. Apart from the sales thing of offering something free (which we all know it isn't really), it probably saves in support costs by having customers have a CPE that just plugs in and works without further config.