Posted by mahirsaid 12/20/2025
Most of the domestic IPv4 networks have port 25 blocked for incoming connections. Maybe in the IPv6 realm things are bit more relaxed.
I suspect that what will actually end up being implemented, will be a core subset of the spec.
We'll have to see what's still standing, when the dust settles.
As for the implementation: just about anything more powerful than an ESP32 has the entire protocol implemented and running already.
Look at Bluetooth, for an example, or TIFF.
I printed out the Bluetooth spec once, just for Ss and Gs. It was over 2,000 pages (double-sided).
I once tried writing a fully-compliant TIFF reader. Didn't go so well.
You could say the same for Bluetooth chips.
I've seen stuff, man...
I really should try an exercise like the one the author did. I’m not necessarily against IPv6, but I’m still a bit skeptical of it. We’ll likely be forced into it, as there’s no alternative, but that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement.
I presume Apples requirement is there so that all apps work on carriers like this.
The only times I've run into issues is when tethering and forgetting I can't ping an IPv4, or trying to tether a Nintendo Switch (which does not support IPv6)
You're right, and that's my plan.
I have heard, however, that quite a few folks stuck their oars into the IPv6 spec process. I've seen that kind of process before, and the end result can be ... less than ideal ...
Try connecting to your IPv6-only service on Hotel WiFi -- you usually can't.
It's unfortunate, but IPv6 doesn't really solve any problems for a home user. And I say this as someone that has deployed IPv6 at home before.
CG-NAT and strict NAT in general. Newer ISPs often force users onto CG-NAT, and my consoles have had numerous issues with NAT in general over the years. ISP routers also often make fixing this an opaque or impossible problem for the user.
I don’t think IPv6 is the best thing ever, but I do think it solves the problems IPv4 did along with some annoying issues IPv4 struggled with.
So you basically have a cloud server and a domain with a wildcard record, and you then forward IPv4 through IPv6?
I think this somewhat proves my point that IPv6 doesn't solve much for self-hosting. You still need some kind of working IPv4 setup. You are using IPv6 in place of either a reverse proxy or something like tailscale, which I suppose is more convenient.
If Reddit would finish adding IPv6, almost all of my browsing would be IPv6.
- random slowdowns
- horrible routing
- larger packet overhead
- hated by a lot of the people who run the internet
- hated by companies who provide ddos protection
- my poor TCAM cache in my budget routers
- supporting ipv6 is really expensive in chassis routers
However, I believe there is a solution: Swap ISP's to IPv6 only, swap to IPv4 unless there is an IPv6 route present then directly forward. This solves quite a few issues: Once every ISP has IPv6 you can drop ipv4 and swap directly to ipv6 without having to split your TCAM. This works because IPv6 can encode IPv4 in it.
- this is from speaking with various techs in the space and holding an ASN
- T1 ISP's will never put in the work to make switching to IPv6 easier.
IPv6 essentially enables "universal internet IDs" for every device, which could streamline a lot of things, but enable a lot of weird surveillance/power balance issues that the cruft of IPv4 is actually incidentally helping guard against.
Again, I'm old enough to remember when e.g. the ISPs were going to try to charge per device in each household.
Since the network half (leading 64 bits) is as fixed as your IPv4 address was, and the host half is random and constantly changing, an IPv6 address is exactly as uniquely identifying as an IPv4 address used to be.
I don't really see that coming again and if it does you can just do NAT66 just like you can do NAT4.
But, network effects.
But more generally, I think times have changed enough for per device billing not being a viable approach anymore.