Should I switch to IPv6 or stay on IPv4

[lepa71]

Thanks

 

[microchip]

Seriously? that's all you have to say? "Thanks"?

you don't say why you consider, you don't say whether all your devices support IPv6 (many Smart TVs don't for example) and you don't say any other reason I can't think of. Not to mention that the majority of sites are still mostly IPv4 only

 

[lepa71]

It was a generic question. My ISP(comcast) does support IPv6 as I think all my devices do as well. I just don't know if I will gain anything. This is the reason I am asking.

Thanks

 

[microchip]

You won't gain anything right now. If you completely deactivate IPv4 and run only IPv6, you won't reach many many sites. The best solution right now is to run a dual stack network where you have both available and working (I have one at home). Devices that support both protocols will have both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (and will prefer IPv6 but fall back to IPv4 if the destination doesn't support it). Devices that don't support IPv6 will continue working on IPv4. That's the best solution for the moment.

 

[paulbates]

It's similar to wanting to use all dnssec. We'd all like to use it, but it's up to the hosting sites to get on board. The best we can all do is configure for both in support and anticipation of growth.

I've had IPv6 on my last 3 routers for 6 years, and still only a handful of sites use it, and then mostly on pcs and phones.. none of my iot..thermostats, media servers, ha, pis...use IPv6.


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[pitboss]

Most browsers default to IPv6 if its enabled and will access ipv6 contents before falling back to ipv4. IPv6 has improvement in terms of faster access due to removal of some overheads used in IPv4. But since not all sites are ipv6 enabled, u need to enable both of them for years to come or disable IPv6 if you are not comfortable with it yet.

 

[RogerSC]

I used to use dual stack IPv4/IPv6 (I'm on Comcast, too) all the time, but just to be sure that it kept working. It really doesn't gain you anything at the moment. I did notice at one point that for some reason it was causing my phone to use more battery at idle than it did with IPv6 off, so I just keep it off now. I turn it on when I flash new firmware to make sure that it's still working, then turn it off. Don't know if the phone idle battery consumption thing has been fixed yet, since I haven't checked. I would hope so, but since IPv6 isn't in wide use, I don't think that the router manufacturers put a lot of bandwidth into testing it.

 

[Klueless]

At this point I use IPv4 only; one less thing to configure, one less thing my router has to do, one less thing to go wrong and one less thing to troubleshoot ...

 

[Markfree]

It seems that IPv6 adoption is only growing. Google actually shows a great graphic with IPv6 relative growth over the years and, according to World IPv6 Launch, IPv6 is doubling its reach every year.
So, switching to IPv6 seems like a long term benefit but until it is worldwide available dual-stack will keep you connected.

 

[Klueless]

It's possible IPv6 appears to be growing because it's just there with newer devices; buy a new device and you're running IPv6 unless you put in an effort to turn it off. (Kind of like when you buy a new computer and Microsoft brags about the growing popularity of Windows 10. Myself, I bought a new computer because my old one broke, I didn't choose Windows 10.)

 

[paulbates]

It tends to be phones and pcs that will actually use it, then its only with a narrow set of sites like fb and linkedin. I've not found any iot that will connect IPv6.

The burden is on hosting/sites to implement it so clients can connect. It says ~20% for the US. I see nothing close to that. For instance, snb is ip4 only.


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[paulbates]

An update on iot and IPV6. I noticed today that the Amazon dot sometimes will use IPV6.

 

[Samir]

At this point I use IPv4 only; one less thing to configure, one less thing my router has to do, one less thing to go wrong and one less thing to troubleshoot ...

Same here. I won't move to ipv6 until I need to. Less work in the meantime.

 

[Neil_Hines]

If I switch IPv4 to IPv6 it will don't give any problem.After switching still it will work perfectly?

 

[Klueless]

If you replace IPv4 with IPv6 you will not be happy. Many servers and services do not yet support IPv6. If you add IPv6 (i.e., you run both) you should be fine.

IPv4 has been around a long time. No one ever foresaw we would have millions and billions of things on the Internet. IPv4 didn't have enough address space for everything (kind of like not having enough phone numbers for everyone) so, over a decade ago, IPv6 went into development to create more address space.

Meanwhile, with some creativity, cooperation and restraint, we/they were able to "make do" with the limited address space. The "life cycle" is IPv4 only ==> IPv4 and IPv6 ==> IPv6 only. We are at step one and/or two.