Updated x4: The Non-Existent State of IPv6 in Canada

25. July 2010 · 13 comments · Categories: Networking, Rants, Support, Twitter · Tags: , ,

Further Update (06/27/2011): If you have a Dlink DIR-825 router, I just published an article on getting a free Tunnel Broker IPv6 tunnel account working. Check it out! If you have a router that is cable of an IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel, or just want to use a single computer, check out Tunnel Broker from Hurricane Electric.

Over the last few days I’ve been attempting to gather information on IPv6 in Canada, and so far the news is grim. Why am I looking in to it? Well, there have been a number of articles posted lately about the impending end of available IPv4 addresses and the sorry state of IPv6 addoption, and I wanted to check in on my local ISPs and see if any of them are preparing for this. The short answer? No.

My region has two primary ISPs – Telus and Shaw Cable. I did a quick Google search to see if either had made any announcements about IPv6 readiness, and I ended up with no relevant results. In fact, a search of “IPv6″ on the domain shaw.ca only returns results on user hosted pages. Searching Google for “IPv6 Telus” only comes up with one close match – this PDF document that’s basically a beginners guide to IPv6.

So, I opened a ticket with my ISP (Shaw), and tweeted at their customer care guys. I also tweeted at Telus’ customer care. Here’s what I got back.

Telus tweeted back pretty quickly:

@laslow We don’t have any news on implementation of IPv6. It would make sense that everyone will switch eventually. -Trevor @TELUSSupport

I replied, and they came back with this:

@laslow We’ll try and help where we can but no real info on this. Hope your day goes well!

Well, that was rather uninformative.

Sean from Shaw Customer Care also replied rather quickly on Twitter:

@laslow hey man, no word on IPv6 yet, hopefully sometime in the near future though.

Shortly after, I received the following reply to the ticket that I opened with Shaw:

Hello [Laslow],

This is [Agent], thank you for your e-mail.

At this time there is no set date that IPv6 will start to be used. As soon as address’s have ran out with IPv4 then everything would be switched over to the IPv6. Kind of like how in B.C. not including the lower mainland we have been using the area code 250 for years. There are no longer numbers available with the 250 area code so they moved to 778 area codes. It will be similar to this when IPv6 is released, sorry we have no further information for you at this time on this.

So in short, Shaw’s plans are to wait until they’ve run out addresses, and then worry about what to do next. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely feeling more confident that Shaw will be able to connect me to IPv6-only services in the next, you know, ten years or so.

Honestly, though, there are a number of ISPs in the states that already have public IPv6 tests available (Comcast, for example) – why is Canada so far behind?

If anyone reading this works for Telus or Shaw and has more information on their progress towards IPv6, please leave a comment or send me a tweet – It would be nice to know if there are at least plans in place rather than just a sense of “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there”.

Updated (11/29/2010):

I contacted Shaw, Telus, and Rogers via twitter again and received the following responses (still waiting to hear from Shaw):

@laslow At this time we do not have any information/news – Ryan with @TELUSSupport (Direct link to tweet)

And:

@laslow Hi Laslow. I have no info – but can ask around tomorrow. I’ll get back to you if I get an update. (via @RogersElise - Direct link to tweet)

I’ll post any additional information I receive as I get it.

Updated (11/30/2010):

Shaw responded this morning with the following (still no additional information back from Rogers):

@laslow yes, it’s in the pipeline, however, no confirmed release dates yet. (via @Shaw_Sean – Direct link to tweet)

So we have at least one ISP that will willing to publicly state that they have plans to deploy IPv6. Still, solid details would be welcome.

Updated (02/01/2011):

You can check to see if your ISP has IPv6 Prefixes using this site. If they do (I can confirm Shaw and Telus do, haven’t checked others yet), it shows that they have IPv6 connectivity with the rest of the world. If not…well, it might be time to panic. I bugged Shaw again via Twitter about IPv6, and got this response:

@laslow I honestly have no idea, but I’ll make sure you’re the first to know should I hear something.

So, I’ll update again when I hear more.

Non-Tech: The Prize

16. March 2010 · 3 comments · Categories: Non-Tech, Short, Twitter · Tags: , , ,

I went to check my mail at the post office today and was happily surprised to see a parcel card in the box. I wandered over to the post office counter, and the clerk informed me that I’d have to pay $6.44 plus GST (note: after July, this same transaction will cost more due to the incoming HST). As I was expecting a few different packages, I paid the fee, and the Postie returned with an over-stuffed envelope. From the logo on the return-to-sender portion of the envelope I knew immediately that it was the prize I won for being @Telus‘s 4,000th follower on Twitter.

Pictured: The meerkat, the envelope, and my receipt.

Immediately after I posted about this on Twitter, the nice representative Direct Messaged me, apologized, and offered to reimburse me for the expense. I declined (as, after all, a matter of ~$7.00 isn’t worth taking their time over). Besides, it’s actually pretty funny – I regularly get ‘bent-over’ by my cell carrier, Rogers (get it? Bent over? Rogers? Rogered? Huh? Come on, it’s funny!). At least Telus apologizes when they do it accidentally!