The Director of broadband ISP Andrews & Arnold UK (AAISP), Adrian Kennard, reports that a forthcoming firmware upgrade for the Zoom X7N wireless ADSL2+ modem router should make it work properly with the latest Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) standard and PPPoA. Crucially Zoom’s kit, much like Technicolor’s TG582n, is a low cost router; something the market has been lacking for awhile.
Zoom’s X7 Wireless-N Router costs around the £40 inc. VAT mark and includes all of the usual features plus a built-in IPsec VPN (Hardware VPN). Until recently most properly equipped IPv6 routers were at least twice the price, which would make life very difficult for any ISP that wanted to offer future proofed kit alongside their home broadband packages.
Adrian Kennard said:
“This is yet another low cost DSL router with working IPv6 – we have tested on our standard broadband service and it received a prefix delegation which was announced on the LAN and routed IPv6 traffic. Logs show some slight quirks, but nothing major. Basically, it is working.
Hopefully this will be released as their standard code shortly.”
Kennard has yet to decide whether or not they will use Zoom’s kit but it’s good to see that ISPs now have a little more choice than they did before. The GetIPv6 page also lists other IPv6 capable routers, although the vast majority represent more expensive models and or require custom firmware to function correctly.
Meanwhile the likes of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and many big ISPs from around the world are gearing up for World IPv6 Launch Day (6th June 2012). This is the day when all associated websites will enable the IPv6 addressing standard on their servers (similar to last year’s 24-hour “test flight” but this time it will be permanent).
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