Static WAN IP Address.

[Archie07]

Hi,

I have a static WAN IPv4 address on my broadband account. Since earlier in the week I have noticed that I now also have a WAN IPv6 address. Does anyone know if this would also be a static address? It does not show in my online account, only the IPv4 one.

I ask as I had to correct the geolocation of the static WAN IPv4 address so I could access certain content on a Rep. of Ireland website form N.Ireland. This worked fine for the past 10 months but now I have the IPv6 address and it's geoloction is incorrect I can no longer access the content on the website. I don't want to correct the geo location of the WAN IPv6 address if it is not static.

Thanks for any help.

[Cynric]

@Archie07 It's likely to be static as the idea with IPv6 is that all devices are unique and directly referenced. However VF has had some problems getting IPv6 working and there have been problems that were only resolved by turning IPv6 off.

Geo location is nearly always wrong. Search from some location providing/testing websites and be amazed just how wrong the locations are.

[Ripshod]

It's dynamic. Write down your WAN IPv6 the reboot the router - you'll see it changes. Applies to all your connected devices too. 

[Cynric]

@Ripshod Thanks. I had a foggy memory from when the v6 standard was being defined that the original idea was that the address was to be static. There is some interesting discussion here; https://superuser.com/questions/1479327/why-is-ipv6-still-dynamic 

Nerdy geek stuff here; https://www.packetmania.net/en/2022/03/13/IPv6-Addressing/ 

[Ripshod]

Yeah, the original idea was for static IPs but that was soon left on the bench. I'm undecided whether static or dynamic is better for security, though after years of using IPv6 I'm tending towards dynamic.

By the way: Like you I run my own Asus router but I've been plugging the vodafone router back in weekly for half an hour to see if IPv6 gets activated. It happened a few weeks ago and I must say I've had zero issues with it so far. Try it out. It'll work with the 'Native' setting on your Asus once it's active.

[Archie07]

Just an update on this issue.

The IPv6 wan address remained the same until today when there seemed to be a drop out last night, so it wasn't static as I had been advised by vodafone on 4th May. Contacting them today I eventually got the following info from them:

" I have double checked and can confirm that with the dual stack, IPv4 will have a static ip address and ipv6 will have a dynamic range"  - so only IPv4 can be static.

However having been put thro to a manager I have been advised that Vodafone are working on static IPv6 addresses and will advise customers when available. I won't hold my breath for it but just thought this might help someone else.

[Cynric]

@Archie07 You shouldn't need a static IPv6 on the router anyway because any of your devices that have a IPv6 address of their own are uniquely identified, that's one of the main reasons behind the IPv6 protocol.