The disadvantage that the complete depletion of IPv4 addresses brought and will bring is not being spoken about as much as you would think. Every device that can connect to the internet, needs an IPv4 address to do so. This means that any new device that is made to connect to the internet, won’t be able to as IPv4 addresses have all run out. Because of this issue, the Internet Engineering Task Force or IETF developed IPv6. This new version of the internet is meant to be the successor of IPv4. It brings quite a lot of benefits as an internet protocol, yet it has not been completely implemented yet on its own. If you are interested in checking out the IP transfer market that emerged due to the IPv4 shortage, check out Prefixbroker.com.
The benefits of IPv6
The address space IPv6 has compared to IPv4 is astounding. IPv4 only provided us with 4 billion possible addresses, and back in the ’80s when this internet protocol version was launched, it felt like enough. However, as we see now, it definitely was not. The internet protocol version 6, however, has so many more possible addresses that everyone alive right now would be long gone before the number of addresses are even close to finishing. Other benefits include no more NAT (Network Address Translation), Auto-configuration, efficient packet processing, and more.
Non-permanent solutions to the IPv4 problem
Before the internet protocol version 4 ran out officially, engineers were trying to find a solution for over a decade before. Unfortunately, all they came up with were solutions that were not permanent and just temporary. The Network Address Translation, or NAT, was one of those solutions that became quite a common one to use, especially in homes. This temporary solution virtually permits a router or modem to function as an IP access point for all of the devices and appliances in a home or office. The router itself is the only apparatus that is given a unique IP address, which is then used to be able to communicate with the world outside. This method, as common as it is, did not solve the problem of IPv4 depletion, though it did slow it down.
Why hasn’t IPv4 been replaced yet?
This unfortunate issue is due to IPv6s incompatibility with IPv4s. This incompatibility is due to the fact that the basic programming of most of our devices and websites is not able to process IPv6 addresses or the extra features of IPv6 overall. There are types of technologies that we have that is able to translate between IPv4 and IPv6, though this too is a non-permanent solution.