Broadband ISP Andrews & Arnold ( AAISP ) has announced that punters using the Santa-Fe coffee shop in Bracknell for free broadband access will now do so via Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). The announcement is unusual because IPv6 generally isn't a consumer marketable term, preferring instead to work behind the scenes where nobody can see it.

The coffee shop based service assigns an IPv6 address, starting 2001:8B0:CAFE:1344::, automatically, and access to any IPv6 websites or services is available. This works automatically with most operating systems and needs no special configuration.


IPv6 is the new version of internet protocol which is being deployed by ISPs in light of the impending exhaustion of IPv4 addresses (e.g. 85.123.45.91). IPv4 addresses that have been used since the early days of the internet were conceived, at a time when hand-held computing devices and mobile phones were not even dreamt of.

Changes in the way we all use computers means that IPv4 addresses are running out. Internet providers are getting ready for the next version, IPv6, which has enough addresses to give every atom on the planet its own address - so should never run out. The new IPv6 network works alongside the existing IPv4 network. Over the next few years more and more services will be working on IPv6.

Of course to your average punter an IPv6 address, just as with most IPv4 addresses before it, should be invisible. You'll never need to worry about it as most web servers use DNS to translate IP addresses into human readable domains (e.g. ispreview.co.uk). However ISPs that fail to adapt could face performance problems.