Sunsetting SixXS | Hacker News Reader

Sunsetting SixXS

sixxs.net

50 pointsknorrie12 comments

I used SixXS in the past. I liked that they were a community-driven IPv6 tunnel provider. They also provided access types that were much more flexible than others, such as AYIYA (brilliant protocol that solved a crapload of problems around IPv4 NAT and firewalls).

In a way, SixXS succeeded: more people now do IPv6 than before. But they had issues that ultimately made it really difficult to actually adopt. First, it was for personal use. I actually used alternatives for commercial use, it is a real world needs.

Second, their signup process involved being manually approved by someone from the community. I understand the need for something like this, but given that it took a week or so to sign up made it really difficult.

Third, some tunnel types required you to keep them up, or they'd be shut down.

I have been and still do use Tunnel Broker tunnels from Hurricane Electric. While they have their limits, they are vastly more easy going, and given that it's a free product given to the community, I am amazed that HE has same day email support for this thing. I'd really love to move to my ISP's (Charter Business) IPv6, but (a) they currently only offer 6rd and (b) for some reason performance with their offering really sucks: 60-120ms ping to even the closest servers, poor bandwidth. They have been in that state literally since 2012. Also, no static address allocation option, which makes me just infuriated.

I used my cable provider's SixXS PoP for years without any issues. With the handy integration into my home router it felt like a native IPv6 connection and I never noticed a performance drawback caused by the tunneling.

Now, SixXS is sunsetting and the same provider still has no native IPv6 for their DOCSIS customers. Why is DOCSIS a special case here? Is it harder to roll out IPv6 for us because of some technical reasons?

Telenet in Belgium has a complete IPv6 dualstack rollout on DOCSIS, so it's definitely possible. They've had it for quite some time now, and they're the reason why Belgium is near 50% Google traffic over IPv6.

It really just takes some planning and some guts to make the switch. If done right everyone benefits.

(Have to add that Telenet has the advantage that they have full control of every customer's modem, which usually includes the home network router / gateway, which does simplify a good rollout.)

Comcast uses DOCSIS and provides native IPv6. I think reasons are not technical - ISP needs to invest money to deploy IPv6 and ROI is not always > 1 for now.

What about the shared medium nature of DOCSIS? Do they share some infrastructure with the other cable ISPs or are these usually separate?

Usually this provider is very progressive [1][2][3] and because of these positive impressions I did not suspect them to hold back the cable IPv6 rollout due to financial reasons. According to [4] they even provide OpenWRT instructions for their native IPv6 and only their cable users are left without native IPv6. :(

[1] https://mirror.netcologne.de/

[2] https://www.sixxs.net/pops/netcologne/

[3] https://www.netaachen.de/ueber-uns/breitbandausbau

[4] https://www.netaachen.de/privatkunden/ipv6

Same issue, but I know about many DOCSIS providers that provide IPv6 pretty much since the first version that supported it came out, which was in 2006.

Local ISPs still (stupidly) claim that there is no demand for IPv6 so I will surely miss them. I really appreciate the stable service they have provided over the years.

In a way that is true - the majority of end users has no clue what IPv6 even is.

Years ago (~2005-2006) I called my ISP's hotline to ask if there was a way to get native IPv6 - the support person did not even know what it was.

It is baffling, though, how stubborn some ISPs are. All the hoops they have to jump through to keep IPv4 working must cost something, too.

There is demand - gamers want it for lower pings. They've been told all that NAT slows them down.

Running since years SixXS tunnels in Germany I wonder now, what are the alternatives besides https://www.tunnelbroker.net (Hurricane Electric Free IPv6 Tunnel Broker)?

Shutting down the most important IPv6 tunnel provider at the international IPv6-Day is not a good sign at all...

I still remember the first time I saw the turtle dance. Wouldn't have happened without SixXS. Thanks for the good work!

Who needs IPv6? Swisscom in Switzerland releases new products that give you IPv4 behind a carrier grad NAT. Its real awesome.

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