IPv6 The New Standard

The IPv6 Protocol

Computers and devices must have a unique address assigned to them in order to be able to participate in networking for Local Area Networks and beyond. That address is called the Internet Protocol (IP) address or number. The old system of IP addressing space (IPv4) used only 32 bits (000.000.000.000) and was limited to 4,294,967,296 total addresses globally. This method has nearly reached full maturity and is quickly becoming exhausted of available addresses.

The new protocol (IPv6) uses 128 bits (0000.0000.0000.0000.0000.0000.0000.0000) resulting in approximately 5x10(28) addresses for each of the roughly 6.5 billion people alive today, or about 57 billion addresses for each gram of matter in the Earth, and should serve our needs for addressing space far into the future.

UWXISP currently has a /48 block of these addresses assigned for a total of 1,208,925,819,614,629,500,000,000 available IP addresses.

Browsing IPv6

Most modern web browsers will send requests using the IPv6 protocol before attempting using IPv4 when it is detected that the machine has IPv6 connectivity. Otherwise requests may be made using the IPv6 protocol by encapsulating the url or IPv6 address into brackets [ ], i.e. http://[uwxisp.com]/ or http://[2001:4830:16fd::50]/ .

IPv6 Assignments

IPv6 connectivity is native on our networks and your machine should obtain an address automatically form our IPv6 routers upon connection. This is fine for web browsing and normal activity by most users. Note however that the address will be dynamic (subject to change). UWXISP subscribers are assigned an address out of the 2001:4830:16fd:2::/64 subnet (18,446,744,073,709,552,000 Addresses).

Static IPv6 subnets may be requested to enable access for an entire network. Individuals are assigned a block in the /112 size (256 IP's).

Businesses may request a subnet of their own from UWXISP, with a /64 size block (65536 IP's) to allow for multiple subnets within the organization. However, we strongly encourage establishing a direct tunnel for your own use from an established tunnelbroker such as Hurricane Electric.

Why would we do this? As more individuals, sites and networks start utilizing IPv6, there will be more content available to browse, thereby creating further use of the protocol and smoother transitioning from, and eventual phase-out of IPv4 across the Internet. We can always assist with the creation of the *sigh* almost always required tunnels over IPv4 protocol due to current lack of IPv6 routing on the net.


UWXISP personnel can assist with both IPv4 & IPv6 connectivity configuration upon request. Contact us with your concerns.