2021 Internet Perspectives

Four and half years ago, Erik Nygren posted a blog at Akamai [1] on the likelihood that IPv6-only mobile networks might drive IPv6 deployment. So far, that speculation has not proven dispositive, but a 5G initiative toward IPv6-only could mark a turning point. Six months ago, Geoff Huston, chief scientist of APNIC, published an in-depth evaluation of the state of IPv6 play in the Internet [2]. Despite a number of attempts to stimulate IPv6 provision, it is still on average only about 30 percent available on a global scale although this can vary from 0 percent to 100 percent depending on which Internet Service Provider is considered. Of course, access to IPv6 can depend on local router implementation, to say nothing of Wi-Fi access points and end-user equipment configuration. Most end-user devices are equipped to use IPv6 if an address is assigned, but whether that assignment takes place and whether traffic is successfully routed to its intended destination depends a great deal on what happens in between.