What are IP's? What is IPv4?
IP's are assigned to every device connected to the internet (computers, smartphones, etc..). Since 1977, the internet has been using the IPv4 standard convention, where ip's are numbered in a 32-bit system, which follows the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx pattern (ie: 192.168.0.1). With each of the 4 numbers ranging from 0 to 254, the total internet ip address pool is capable of generating up to 4.3 billion possible addresses. As more and more devices connect online, the IPv4 infrastructure came under stressed and in 2012 most providers have officially depleted their IPv4 reserves.
What is IPv6?
To address the impending limitations of IPv4, the IPv6 standard was released. IPv6 features 340 undecillion ip's (340 followed by 36 zero's: 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). Unfortunately, adaption has been very slow and most ISP's have yet to take advantage of IPv6. The catch is that a user with an IPv6 address is limited to accessing websites and services that also have an IPv6 address (and that user will not be able to see IPv4 address's or websites).
Why should I care about IPv6?
If you get assigned an IPv6 ip from your provider, you are going to be stuck only being able to see only certain sites on the internet that are IPv6 enabled. On the flip-side, if your site isn't IPv6 enabled, you are going to lose customers who will be unable to reach your site!
How do I switch?
The best solution is to run your server and websites on both IPv4 and IPv6 in dual-compatibility mode. Unfortunately most internet service providers have yet to offer this kind of support - leaving users who have been switched to IPv6 in the dark (and costing your website visitors from those users!). T35 Hosting is proud to be one of the few hosts to start offering dual IPv4 and IPv6 support across all of our hosting plans. We expect to complete our IPv6 rollout to all accounts by the end of June, 2012.
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