As already announced in the Community, we started to deploy IPv6 at the end of June. Find out here what exactly IPv6 is and what the change will mean for you.
Every day, millions of people use devices to connect to the Internet. They require an Internet Protocol address (IP address) for this. With 4.3 billion addresses (IPv4), the ‘IP pot’ currently in use (IPv4) no longer has sufficient free IP addresses to meet needs over the medium term. This would mean that Web-enabled devices would no longer be given IP addresses and thus would not be able to establish an Internet connection.
A new IP standard was therefore defined to ensure that sufficient numbers of addresses are available in the long term: IPv6. This has created 340 sextillion (340 + 36 zeros) new IP addresses. This offers the following advantages:
- Enhanced privacy
- Stable transmission of video and telephony
We started migrating the modems for IPv6 at the end of June and this will continue until the end of the year. The first step is migration for new customers, followed by the migration of existing customers’ modems. The Horizon HD Recorder will be migrated at a later point in time. Our customers do not need to take any action for the migration. This will take place automatically and will not have any noticeable impact for the majority of Internet users.
Dual-Stack vs. Dual-Stack Lite
We are introducing Dual-Stack Lite (DS-Lite) for IPv6. This means that each user will be assigned a public IPv6 and a private IPv4 address – in contrast to Dual-Stack, where the user is assigned a public IPv4 and a public IPv6 address (private IP addresses are used in private, local networks; for an Internet connection these internal network addresses are converted into valid public Internet addresses).
To make IPv4 systems accessible with DS-Lite, servers will be made available to convert private IPv4 addresses into public IPv4 addresses.
IPv4 systems establish a connection via a central NAT server. NAT is no longer required with IPv6, and so each IPv6-capable device has a public IPv6 address. Due to the absence of the NAT server, the following functions and settings are no longer possible with IPv6:
- Bridge mode
- UPnP
- Port forwarding
- Port triggering
- DMZ hosting
With IPv4, the above-mentioned functions and settings can be configured directly on the modem.
Security and firewall
Our modems are provided with an activated IPv6 firewall. This protects our customers from unauthorised access from the Internet. In addition to this, we recommend that you use a local software-based firewall, such as the Internet Security Package from F-Secure (www.upc-cablecom.ch/security), or activate the Windows firewall.
You will find information about supported operating systems in this FAQ.
Note: Anyone who is reliant on IPv4 standard functions and settings can, in exceptional cases, submit a request to our customer service to be transferred to IPv4.
It should be noted, however, that IPv4 and IPv6 protocols are not able to communicate with one another. It is therefore not possible to access a purely IPv4 device from a purely IPv6 computer and vice versa.