According to The Telegraph the Internet had a 'wobble' on Tuesday as Verizon clawed back some IP addresses.
The day the internet broke - Telegraph Blogs
Of course the Internet has been running out of IP addresses for some time but now we are running out of sticking plasters.
The last time this was a major problem along came NAT/PAT to resolve the issue. Address translation allows multiple devices to sit behind a router with a single public IP and all access the Internet transparently. It fixed the problem for business who would, typically, have hundreds of devices each with a public IP. Use of NAT/PAT reduced the requirement to just one. Internally, the devices had private IP addresses which are not visible to the Internet.
Later, NAT/PAT fixed the problem for households where, originally, there was a single computer that everyone used. The upsurge in laptops and netbooks often meant everyone in the family had a computer of their own but this had no effect on IP address usage.
Today though, the upsurge is in mobile devices with roaming Internet connections using technologies such as 4G each of which require a public IP. While many mobile devices support IPv6 a lot of the Internet has older technology which either doesn't or has other limitations such as described in the article linked.
There has been a fair amount of resistance to upgrading to IPv6 on the grounds of cost mainly but I reckon the issue will soon be forced. IPv4 allows around 4 billion simultaneous users which is about where we are. Without some serious investment super-fast fibre will be returning speeds more akin to dial-up.
What a horrifying thought!
The day the internet broke - Telegraph Blogs
Of course the Internet has been running out of IP addresses for some time but now we are running out of sticking plasters.
The last time this was a major problem along came NAT/PAT to resolve the issue. Address translation allows multiple devices to sit behind a router with a single public IP and all access the Internet transparently. It fixed the problem for business who would, typically, have hundreds of devices each with a public IP. Use of NAT/PAT reduced the requirement to just one. Internally, the devices had private IP addresses which are not visible to the Internet.
Later, NAT/PAT fixed the problem for households where, originally, there was a single computer that everyone used. The upsurge in laptops and netbooks often meant everyone in the family had a computer of their own but this had no effect on IP address usage.
Today though, the upsurge is in mobile devices with roaming Internet connections using technologies such as 4G each of which require a public IP. While many mobile devices support IPv6 a lot of the Internet has older technology which either doesn't or has other limitations such as described in the article linked.
There has been a fair amount of resistance to upgrading to IPv6 on the grounds of cost mainly but I reckon the issue will soon be forced. IPv4 allows around 4 billion simultaneous users which is about where we are. Without some serious investment super-fast fibre will be returning speeds more akin to dial-up.
What a horrifying thought!