Rural UK Broadband ISP Gigaclear Deploy IPv6 Internet Addresses

Good news for customers of Abingdon-based alternative network provider Gigaclear. The ISP has now confirmed to ISPreview that they recently started rolling out IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) internet addressing across their full fibre (FTTP) broadband network. The deployment is currently halfway to completion.

Just for context. IP addresses help to connect your software and devices with others around the online world – like an ID number for your connection. The issue these days is that the existing IPv4 address space has been exhausted, which makes it difficult to add new connections without compromising by sharing IPs between many users (CGNAT, MAP-T etc.) or spending big to buy additional v4 addresses. The solution to this is adoption of IPv6 addresses, which are not directly compatible with IPv4 and so require a bit of an investment in order to make both work properly side-by-side.

Last year we reported that Gigaclear had tentative plans to roll out IPv6 across their customer base (here), but in the meantime new customers were increasingly being put on broadband packages that harnessed Carrier Grade NAT (CGNAT) technology. This can sometimes cause problems with internet connectivity, as well as security concerns for some users, although many won’t notice those caveats.

The good news is that, over the past few weeks, some of ISPreview’s readers and Gigaclear customers have started to spot a gradual rise in IPv6 internet addresses going live on end-user connections (here). The provider’s Director of Networks & Infrastructure, Gabriel Yepes, has now officially confirmed to ISPreview they’re “rolling out IPv6 across our entire base“.

Gabriel added that they have, as of today, already “enabled dual-stack for just over half of our subscriber base” (i.e. the approach used for ensuring that IPv4 and IPv6 addresses work harmoniously together). The provider expects to complete this deployment by “early” April 2025, which will no doubt make their CGNAT based customers a bit happier.