jonesnco

After testing in Dallas using an GS5 (which I was told supported dual-stack in Spark areas) running 4.4.4 and verifying I was in a strong Spark area, I found no evidence the phone was using IPv6 over the cellular interface. The same phone does IPv6 over wifi regularly so the local stack isn't an issue. This is very disappointing and contrary to what I was told by Sprint's exec office in Aug 2014.

I was talking about a test using the cellular interface, not WiFi, etc. I want to see if what Sprint is telling me is correct.

Pestered Sprint for....quite some time. Apparently Spark is the key. Spark-enabled phones in Spark supported areas should be dual-stack. Unsure how things like Happy Eyeballs might work. Sadly, my phone isn't supported, my area isn't listed as having or to be getting Spark in the near-term so I can't test this from a store and the closest city to try and test is a 3 hour drive away. Anyone here willing to try it? Easiest test IMO is just go to http://ip6.me and click the 'IPv6 only test' link since depending on how preference for one protocol over another is implemented might affect the test to the main page and end up using IPv4. If IPv6 isn't working you should get a server not found error (or the like). If it does work, an IPv6 address.

I think it is safe to say since LTE has been designed with support for IPv6 in mind, the legacy manufacturers might not be updating their devices to support IPv6. IPv6 support exists in revisions to the 3GPP standards but it was up to the equipment manufactures to implement it and carriers to route it. Since the carriers are deploying LTE anyway their need to demand support from a non-supporting 3G equipment manufacturer is pretty low. Your success with a non-LTE tower would depend on the 3G manufacturer's support for IPv6 AND the carrier's willingness to enable it AND route the IPv6 traffic AND the phone supporting IPv6 over the cellular interface connecting to that tower. I suspect the chances are low but that isn't an area I work in so there is a good deal of guessing there. On an iPhone 4 (IOS 6) I don't see anything in the iPhone's GPRS interface for an IPv6 address while the WiFi interface has IPv6 enabled and configures a global address when on an IPv6-enabled network. My guess is IPv6 isn't enabled (and maybe isn't even an option) on the GPRS interface on that phone otherwise I should see a link-local address but no global address.

The easiest way to know if you have a publicly routed IPv6 address (IMO) is to go to a RIR homepage. For most of us it is www.arin.net. They have an applet that runs at the top that tells you your IPv6 (or IPv4) address. IPv4 address = no IPv6 connectivity. Separately, it might be good to email this address: ipv6-support@sprint.net about IPv6 in Sprint's cellular networks. Based on one press release from 2010 they planned IPv6 deployment in 2012. Clearly that hasn't happened.