[6bone] pTLA request by NECTEC-TH - review closes 10 March 2003

[Jonathan Guthrie]

On Fri, Feb 28, 2003 at 03:38:17PM +0100, Gert Doering wrote:
 
> On Fri, Feb 28, 2003 at 07:59:48AM -0600, Jonathan Guthrie wrote:
> > > As soon as IPv6 connectivity is a commodity item (hopefully soon) this
> > > point seems moot to me.
 
> > Well, from where I sit, it appears as if IPv6 is perhaps a decade away
> > from being available and maybe two more from being a "commodity item".
 
> Ummm.  It depends very much where you sit, indeed.  I think Japan is
> nearly there.  Europe is moving.  The US is waiting for a flag day (or
> something).

So, IPv6 is almost ready for "commodity" status even though a
substantial fraction of all Internet users don't have access to it and
won't for some time?  Isn't the Internet supposed to be about
facilitating communications?

Look, all I'm really trying to do is point out that the statements I
keep reading about how the 6Bone is ready to be disbanded are perhaps
not representative of the worldwide situation.  I also suppose it depends
on what you think the 6bone is.  Is it a collection of people with pTLA's?
Is it a collection of tunnels?  Is it neither?  Is it both?  What does
it mean to say that the 6bone is ended?

> > There is absolutely no evidence that I can find that ANYBODY is offering 
> > IPv6 Internet connectivity to end users.  Perhaps the backbone providers
> > have it on their routers and speak it to each other, but it sure hasn't
> > filtered down to anybody else.
 
> We're offering it to all our customers, for no extra charge on top of
> what they pay for their IPv4 account.

Fine.  Give me your POP number for Houston, TX, US, and I'll switch to 
your service.  Telling me about what you give YOUR customers when it is
not in any way, shape, or form available to me does not impress me at all
about how close IPv6 is to being a "commodity" item.

For what it's worth, I would expect IPv6 connectivity to be available
along with IPv4 for no additional cost for a time and that the IPv4
connectivity will be eventually dropped or will be included as an
additional cost item.  (I expect that IPv4 will be around for decades
after most everybody switches to something else, but it won't
necessarily be routable on the Internet.)  The only open question is
about the timing.

My analysis for how much I'm willing to pay right now for IPv6 access
in addition to IPv4 access was intended to anticipate that someone would
suggest using a commercial tunnel broker.  (I expect that such things
will exist even if they don't right now.)  That is simply not an option
at this time.

> Admittedly we can't yet offer it
> on all products (some hardware vendors are just not there yet), but on
> the other hand the demand hasn't been overwhelming either...

I use an Lucent Pipeline 75 to access the Internet.  It talks to a
Lucent Max TNT.  Neither of those apparently has any support for IPv6.
Now, apparently the Cisco AS 5[34]00 series equipment does, but I don't
know anybody running that equipment.  I HAVE been out of the loop fo
a while on what people are using for their dial-in equipment.  Perhaps
someone could give some figures on how many dial-in lines in the world
are on equipment that are capable of handling IPv6.

Also, bear in mind that I am in a position to demand nothing from my
upstream provider.  "Give me IPv6 or I'll disconnect from the Internet"
doesn't strike me as a credible threat.
-- 
Jonathan Guthrie (jguthrie@brokersys.com)
Sto pro veritate