Presentations at successive IPv6 related forums, summits and other conferences tend to become rather repetitive and some even in need of an urgent slide dust-off. Luckily some fresh perspectives emerge occasionally such as at the Taiwan IPv6 Summit early September. Being in the market for a new home router, I could not but pay attention to a presentation by D-Link extolling their IPv6 support for home routers! Back here in Canada, the local D-Link site provided me some info on IPv6 but only for DGS series, nothing yet for the wireless home routers I am looking for. I checked also Linksys but found nothing at all on their IPv6 support. Granted, my high-speed internet provider, Videotron, our local cable co, does not support IPv6 yet but they claim it is coming but not sure exactly when. Still I’d prefer to buy an IPv6 ready box, even if I have to continue some tunnelling for a while. Could our dear home router suppliers start to use the IPv6 ready logo as a competitive differentiator in the market place? After all, the people selling flat screen TV’s in the same stores will recommend HD1080p models at a premium to be future proof. Why not do the same praising the day IPv6 and its virtues will permeate the internet and its applications.

It so happens that Montreal hosts an IETF IPv4-IPv6 coexistence meeting this coming week to iron out IPv6 transition issues and mechanisms and that my internet service supplier will also be represented. While “Real” IPv6 connectivity in my neighbourhood might still be some time off, I feel it is getting closer. In the meantime I think I’ll wait for that IPv6 ready logo before buying a new home router. To his credit, the sales rep at Future Shop had vaguely heard about IPv6 and intelligently suggested that I could probably upload a new firmware version later on; true but still, I prefer that “IPv6 ready” gold label; would make me more comfortable, just like that HD1080 label on the television set.

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