Posted: 17th Aug, 2011 By: MarkJ


The often outspoken boss of broadband provider AAISP (
Andrews & Arnold),
Adrian Kennard, has described the decision by
Billion, a
Taiwan based manufacturer of networking equipment, to ship a new
entry level router without full support for the latest IPv6 internet address standard as "
plain stupid".
The comments are surprising because AAISP already works with Billion to provide new customers with a free
high-end IPv6 capable
Billion 7800N router as standard. Similarly Billion itself recently claimed to be one of the first broadband ISP router manufacturers to be ready and compliant with the IPv6 standard (
here).
The Director of AAISP UK, Adrian Kennard, said:
"Sadly it is still pretty much all we have. We are trying a ZyXEL router as well, but it is not sending DHCPv6 packets at all. It too is high end and costs even more than the Billion.
We spoke to Billion about an entry level router and they said they will have one soon. It will have a 4 port switch apparently (not surprising as probably all built in to the chipset anyway these days so not really cheaper not to). But won't have IPv6, even though this is plainly just software which they have available. It makes no sense. Why launch a new router now which does not have IPv6 - that is just plain stupid.
We are still waiting on anyone else that has an entry level DSL router with working IPv6. I am happy to provide a DSL line with IPv6 to a UK office of any manufacturer that wants to do testing and work with us on this."
AAISP's primary problem is one of cost. The Billion 7800N tends to
cost around £120 when sold separately, yet the provider has continued to offer it for "
free". Kennard claims that AAISP "
obviously can't keep doing" such promotions because it's costing them "
thousands".
Kennard is by no means alone and many broadband ISPs have expressed similar frustrations about the lack of affordable IPv6 routers. The issue will shortly become critical. Current forecasts predict that the UK and EU regional registry
will run out of spare IPv4 addresses by the end of February or March 2012 and the situation could eventually make it difficult for ISPs to add new customers.
A number of other router manufacturers (e.g. ZyXEL and NetGear etc.) have also made bold promises but so far the resultant products, where they actually exist, have simply not been affordable enough to offer alongside residential services. Meanwhile router manufacturers often blame the problem on a lack of demand from ISPs, which seems nonsensical because IPv6 was always destined to become a necessity.