IPv6 Conundrum (the 15 characters thing is a pain)

Question

Apologies in advance if my question is lacking pertinent data or appears discombobulated. I'll try to make it as complete and coherent as possible. I was looking into the possibility of enabling IPv6 on my Windows 7 machine because it's an option in a game I play. I know my computer has it and it is enabled and my router has it available to use.

My ISP states, "We provide DNS resolvers in configuration information automatically provided via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP and DHCPv6). At this time, we are only providing the IPv4 addresses of our DNS resolvers. We expect to add IPv6 resolvers in the coming months.

As long as IPv4 is working, your dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously) configuration will still allow you to use IPv4-enabled DNS resolvers to look up IPv6 addresses."

This was as of June of 2018.

So, while looking up all this info I found an article stating why IPv6 is important and it led me to testmyipv6.com.

My browser reported "server not found" when attempting to connect to a page via the IPv6-only Test which testmyipv6.com explains, "If your browser returns an error that the host cannot be found then the DNS servers you are using don't know how to look up the address of the server based on the hostname (they are unable to resolve the AAAA DNS record)."

They go on to state, "If you are using DNS server addresses provided by your ISP then please ring them up and ask them to fix ASAP. If you are using your local gateway/router for DNS then either your router isn't capable and/or the forwarders used by your router (likely your ISP's servers) aren't capable."

I then attempted the Dual-Stack (IPv6 & IPv4) Test which resulted in my being told that I was connecting to the server via IPv4. The website explains, "The Dual-Stack Test is meant to test whether your client is choosing IPv6 over IPv4 when making a connection to the server since it is known on the Internet with both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses. The proper behavior of your client, assuming that the IPv6-only test works for you, is that the Dual-Stack Test would have an identical result to the IPv6-only test and confirming that you are preferring IPv6 over IPv4 when connecting to a dual-stack destination. If the result is a page with a red box stating that you are using IPv4, then your browser and/or IP stack are preferring IPv4 over IPv6, which is undesired/broken behavior."

It also suggests checking into using a "tunnel broker". Is this advisable? I did have a red box advising me that I am using IPv4.. There appears to be a free service named Hurricane Electric with a data center in Tampa..

This is from ipconfig /all:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix: tampabay.rr.com Link-local IPv6 Adress: fe80::4dbd:2b02:9114:b808%15(Preferred} IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.11(Preferred) Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1 DNS Servers: 209.18.47.61, 209.18.47.62

I'm not familiar with tampabay.rr.com, (my ISP is Spectrum), but I do know that my closest server to connect with when I do speed tests is in Tampa.

So, finally, my questions.. Should I contact my ISP and ask them to fix this ASAP as per testmyipv6.com? Or wait (for who knows how long) for my ISP to provide IPv6 resolvers? Since I did, in fact, connect to an IPv6 address (albeit via IPv4) would my dual-stack config work if I were to enable the option in the game "Enable IPv6 when available"? The game does indicate that the option requires IPv6 connectivity and that without it I may be unable to play the game. Would a tunnel broker help at all in this case? Should I just drop the whole thing since IPv6 isn't really necessary for a PC gamer? Changing my ISP is not an option at this time.

Answer 1

Should I contact my ISP and ask them to fix this ASAP as per testmyipv6.com? Or wait (for who knows how long) for my ISP to provide IPv6 resolvers?

Resolvers (DNS servers) are not your problem here. Having the resolvers themselves accessible via IPv6 is a step towards full IPv6-only capability (and shaking off the reliance on IPv4), but it is not technically required. It is perfectly normal to contact a resolver via IPv4 and ask it about a website's IPv6 address, or the other way around.

(And in any case, you're not required to use the ISP's resolvers – the popular Google's "8.8.8.8" and Cloudflare's "1.1.1.1" resolvers have IPv6 addresses as well.)

What you really need is just IPv6 connectivity itself. Spectrum seems to provide it (and according to their website it's always on, so you shouldn't need to call and request it), so the next step is making sure your router requests and configures it.

Since I did, in fact, connect to an IPv6 address (albeit via IPv4)

No you didn't; these are different protocols and do not interact with each other, and that statement makes zero sense. IPv4 only supports IPv4 addresses (the header doesn't even have nearly enough space for an IPv6 address).

A computer may have both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and use both for different connections, but each individual connection (and/or individual IP packet) is either using IPv4 between two IPv4 addresses, or using IPv6 between two IPv6 addresses.

(It is possible that an ISP may translate between the two using e.g. NAT64, but even then, the IPv6-capable side still thinks it's communicating with another IPv6 address, while the IPv4 side also thinks it's communicating with another IPv4 address, so that is not an exception.)

I'm not familiar with tampabay.rr.com, (my ISP is Spectrum),

rr.com is Road Runner High Speed Online, the original (1995–2012) name of Spectrum. Many ISPs retain their old DNS configuration for years even after rebrandings.

would my dual-stack config work if I were to enable the option in the game "Enable IPv6 when available"?

Your ipconfig output doesn't show any "dual-stack config". You have IPv6 enabled as a feature, but you do not have a usable IPv6 address. (The link-local 'fe80…' address is only for local network management – to access the Internet, you need a global address, which currently starts with '2…' or perhaps '3…')

You should check whether your router

1. has received its own IPv6 address from the ISP;
2. has obtained a prefix delegation (address range for your LAN) through DHCPv6-PD;
3. has the "router advertisement" (SLAAC) features enabled, annoucing that prefix to LAN devices.

It also suggests checking into using a "tunnel broker". Is this advisable?

It depends on how much you want IPv6, really. Yes, a tunnel broker would provide IPv6 connectivity that e.g. games could use. "Tunnel brokers" are just a specific kind of VPN; they provide you with IPv6 addresses and let you relay all IPv6 Internet traffic through their servers. The service quality (bandwidth and latency) depends on how far you are from the selected tunnel server.

For example, Hurricane Electric (aka tunnelbroker.net, practically the last surviving international tunnel broker) offers a tunnel server in Miami, FL.