The outspoken Director of broadband provider AAISP (Andrews & Arnold), Adrian Kennard, has suggested that the UK government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) could play a role in encouraging manufacturers of broadband ISP routers to adopt "some standardisation" when it comes to "product marking for IPv6 equipment".

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is seamlessly assigned to your computer (home network) each time you go online. They act like a unique online identifier and allow you to communicate with other computers and servers around the world; not unlike a phone number.

Today the majority of these IP's are based off the old IPv4 address standard and will soon run out. Sadly router manufacturers have been extremely slow to adopt its semi-incompatible replacement, IPv6, and those that have can still mislead customers about their capabilities.


Kennard suggests that any router marked as containing either "support" or being "capable" of IPv6 should ideally "have all the necessary IPv6 functionality to do its basic job right now, out of the box". We agree. Alternatively routers could be marked as "IPv4 only" when IPv6 isn't present.

Sadly politicians are notoriously inept at understanding technical / internet related issues, which could make it difficult for the government to grasp and resolve the problem. A better solution might be for ISPs to band together and use their combined muscle to affect some positive change.