[address-policy-wg] insufficient availability of IPv6 address space for end customers

Florian,

I believe the problem is twofold - the usual hen-and-egg-problem. On the
one hand, many (especially larger) providers have been slow to adopt v6
in their networks. Partly due to the technical requirements (which, if
you want to do it right, will cost them more man-power and real money
(tm) than for a small ISP that only has a hand full of routers to take
care of), but also due to business case - barely anybody actually wants
or needs v6 at the moment. Which is "the other hand". With barely
anybody requesting v6 - even if it is available - there is no pressure.
e.g., we've had v6 since the 6bone-days, applied for and received and
activated our /32 when it became available at RIPE, and to this day had
3 (!) actual requests for v6 throughout our customer base. And that even
though we actively promoted v6 use through our newsletter, explained how
easy it is to use, etc. Apart from those 3 users, we also have a couple
more that have active v6 "by accident", because their DSL CE routers
just request and receive their addresses (btw, for dynamic dialup
without fixed configuration, we use a /64 ... which IMHO is sufficient
for the "everyday" user who only cares about having reliant Internet
access) - which is, btw, another 7 connections at the moment.
None of our leased line customers could be convinced to set up their v6
connectivity, though at least one reserved his PI network once RIPE made
PIv6 available. Not active, though.

In essence, then, where do we stand? Sure, more and more providers in
the net set up their v6. For probably 95% (or more) of the customers, v6
isn't an issue. And they couldn't care less. They want internet. If it's
transported via v4 or v6 isn't their concern. They just want their
Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. to work.
On the provider side, the lack of actual interest in v6 makes the
business-side of the decision easy - v6 won't make them a single buck
more, rather it will cost them money in the short run.
For ISPs smart (or stupid?) enough to invest time and money now, it is
somewhat depressing - knowing you have all those shiny, new, untainted
v6 addresses, and nobody wants them. And you can't even recuperate the
cost for the additional service. At least not in a market where most
customers just want to pay as little as they can for the service they
want. Which gets me to my final point:
> free to drop me an email--but be warned that I don't really intend to spend
> much money on it, though I'd think it should be easily earned if you have
> the infrastructure in place, I don't need much traffic and I know to help
Service costs money. In our case, we're a (mostly/almost exclusively)
business provider, setting up business networks utilizing all sorts of
lines (apart from Voice services and network monitoring consulting). We
don't have the numbers to cover all of Telekom's OVSt's with our
equipment in order to get the end customers' lines at some (perceived)
low prices, we have to get the service indirectly from Telekom. Which
means we will never be able to compete with the dumping price wars that
large providers like Telekom or the cable companies have. Instead, we
provide SERVICE to our customer. You can reach a tech person usually
relatively quickly (and not some first level drone at a call center
without any real technical knowledge and ability), we allow for custom
setups for all our lines, and we try to keep up to date with technical
development. In turn, all of this does one thing: it costs us money. Not
v6 specifically (which I see as part of doing business without the
danger of being pushed out of business some time down the road), but the
whole package. Most of the additional cost is earned with the high-end
products and services for leased lines, but we still need to make some
of it from our "low-end" DSL services, which means we will be more
expensive than your 1&1, Congstar or whoever the dumping-ISP of your
choice may be (* just in case - no, we are even . So just as in
"physical" life, where a cheap Fiat may (well, rather "will") not
include all of the amenities of a Beamer or Merc, you will need to put
your money where your mouth (and your requirements) are.

(Side note: and no, even with our service we're by far not as expensive
as the "premium" product of your current provider, but we can't compete
with his "flex" product ... so if the latter is your desired rate, don't
even look at our page - but don't complain that you don't receive the
professional services you would like to get)

-garry