BT HomeHub 5 Broadband ISP Router Struggling to Support IPv6

Generally speaking the deployment of IPv6 (dynamic /56 prefix) across BT’s consumer ISP network in the UK has gone well but one key area where they still appear to be struggling is with adding support to their venerable HomeHub 5 router, which is widely installed across the customer base.

At the end of 2016 BT confirmed that “all broadband lines” (back then this excluded older IPstream connections) were now capable of using the Internet Protocol v6 (IPv6) addressing standard (here), which is being adopted because the old IPv4 address space has been depleted (IP addresses are used to identify your connection online and communicate with other internet servers etc.).

The news was widely welcomed, although like most of the major ISPs BT has faced some challenges in updating their older routers to support the new standard. Initially only the provider’s more modern SmartHub (including the latest G.fast supporting SmartHub X) router fully supported IPv6, while the widely installed HomeHub 5 was promised to follow during “early 2017.”

Fast forward one year and customers with the operator’s HH5 (type A or B) router have yet to see full IPv6 support on their devices, with the firmware remaining stubbornly IPv4. Similarly a recent meeting of the UK IPv6 Council saw BT’s Senior Network Architect, Nick Heatley, confirm that 25% of their consumer broadband users (and growing) now use IPv6; this figure would be much higher with HH5 support.

Speaking last week BT’s MD and Chief Architect, Neil McRae, responded to a comment on the matter to confirm that the ISP has had “some challenges with Hub 5 and it was looking unlikely that we can enable V6 for it.” Apparently the problems are “outside [BT’s] control” (hardware issue?) but they “haven’t given up” on trying to find a solution. We will update again if BT are able to provide us with any extra info. this week.

In the meantime it looks like the only way to get IPv6 on BT is to either adopt a third-party router that supports their /56 approach or get the newer SmartHub (either at cost or via a package upgrade). One interesting point is that the spec sheet for Plusnet’s Hub One router (here), which is based off the HH5A, was originally touted as including “IPv6 support” but the ISP has yet to adopt it (possibly they just assumed the Hub would support IPv6 as that was the plan).

Still at least BT is considerably further along than Virgin Media and TalkTalk. The former looks set to launch IPv6 this year, while TalkTalk is still non-committal.