[137360] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: IPv6 mistakes, was: Re: Looking for an IPv6 naysayer...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Owen DeLong)
Fri Feb 11 16:04:16 2011
From: Owen DeLong <owen@delong.com>
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimcUPa886W8aoH_mv0Vgo_cwcjHzOb7aq1woUfG@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:00:35 -0800
To: Cameron Byrne <cb.list6@gmail.com>
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
>>>=20
>> I think you'll be in for a surprise here, too. The 4G transition is =
already underway. For the vendors where 4G means LTE, IPv6 is the native =
protocol and IPv4 requires a certain amount of hackery to operate.
>>=20
>> In the WiMax case (Gee, thanks, SPRINT), things are a bit murkier, =
but, I think you will see WiMax go IPv6 pretty quickly as well.
>>=20
>> Yes, it will take a little longer to retire the 3G system(s) than =
many other parts of the internet, but, I think you will see most of it =
going away in the 5-7 year range.
>>=20
>=20
> This is not quite the case. 2G / 3G / 4G largely refers to radio
> interface aspects, and the packet core that moves IP packets is
> largely the same. I have a 5 year old 2G/GSM Nokia phone that support
> IPv6 over cellular just fine on my network today.
>=20
Sure, there are some 3G systems that support IPv6, but, most carriers =
will
probably roll IPv6 out as part of their 4G upgrade from what I have =
seen.
> There are several LTE deployments around the world that are IPv4 only.
>=20
I think if you look under the hood, they may only provide internet =
routing
for IPv4, but, I don't think they are IPv4 only across the radio.
> There is no hackery require to make IPv4 work in LTE. LTE supports
> IPv4, IPv6, and IPv4v6 bearers all the same... its just an option from
> the core perspective, handset / chipset makers like to limit the
> options to keep cost and variability down.
>=20
My understanding (admittedly second hand, so perhaps the engineer
explaining it to me was mistaken) was that LTE was IPv6 and that IPv4
was implemented on the radio side essentially as a 4in6 tunnel with a
very very short-term DHCP lease for the v4 address.
> The pressure needs to be applied to the handset makers, they are
> squarely the "long pole in the tent" here.
>=20
Yep. In the US, at least, the carriers have an unfortunately large =
ability
to do that. In this case, it will prove helpful. In most cases, it has =
proven
to be rather strongly contrary to the consumer's best interests.
Owen
