WAP supporting IPv6 for Comcast

[LrngToFly]

Hello-

I got bit a month ago- my Comcast CMTS (cable head-end) began to support IPv6, so I ordered a new (wired) router to support IPv6. I originally purchased a Cisco Small Business class router (I can't recall the model #), and it didn't support a required piece of IPv6 that Comcast needs- DHCPv6-PD. I ended up having to eat $25 in shipping and restocking feels. Anyway, I then purchased a DLink DIR-860L and disabled the wireless on it.

So, my router lives in my basement, at one corner of the house. When I had my house built, I had the electrician put in a Ethernet jack and power in a cabinet that happens to be on the middle floor of my house, in the middle of the house. So I put a WAP there...

I'm interested in replacing my 802.11n WAP with a 802.11ac WAP that also supports IPv6 (the 802.11n WAP does not support IPv6.) I know I could purchase another DIR-860L and put it in WAP mode, but I'd kind of like to purchase a dedicated WAP, where I know the firmware coders have concentrated on created quality WAP code, not router code (I'm a software engineer- I know that engineers spend most of their time on the functionality that most of the customers use...) So anyway, I've been reading on the DLink DAP-1665 that apparently came out recently (last month or so.) Looking at the PDF documentation, it supports IPv6. I don't know if a WAP needs to support anything special for IPv6, like the router does. I don't know much about IPv6- when I was learning about the inadequacies of the Cisco router, I found IPv6 to be very confusing... The DAP-1664 has a IPv6 "Autoconfiguration (SLAAC/DHCPv6)" mode for IPv6 (in addition to IPv6 Stactic and Local-Link Only- I assume I don't want those?)

Does anyone know if this DAP-1665 will work for me properly with Comcast IPv6? I don't want to eat another $25 in return shipping and restocking again!

Thanks! AL

 

[azazel1024]

Why do you need IPv6 on the WAP? Your router can do NAT from IPv6 to IPv4 internal addresses.

 

[LrngToFly]

I'm planning on getting a 802.11ac WAP - I might as well get one that does IPv6 and is compatible with my Comcast service. Thanks.

 

[azazel1024]

My point is, unless you are going to run it as a router, anything behind your router does not need IPv6. You had mentioned you didn't know if the WAP needed anything special with it, it does not. Only your router needs IPv6, unless you plan on running your internal network on IPv6 as well (which I don't know why you'd bother). Most current routers work with IPv6 (or at least I haven't seen any that don't in the last 2-3 years, but I guess you may want to check). I've never bothered checking access points.

 

[RogerSC]

My point is, unless you are going to run it as a router, anything behind your router does not need IPv6. You had mentioned you didn't know if the WAP needed anything special with it, it does not. Only your router needs IPv6, unless you plan on running your internal network on IPv6 as well (which I don't know why you'd bother). Most current routers work with IPv6 (or at least I haven't seen any that don't in the last 2-3 years, but I guess you may want to check). I've never bothered checking access points.

The Netgear R7000 stock firmware does not work right with Comcast DHCP-PD here. Once it's started, it's fine, but if I power-cycle or reboot my router I lose my internet connection if IPv6 is enabled. So I need to remove the WAN connection from the router for about 15-20 seconds to get internet connection back. Then IPv6 works fine again until I power-cycle or reboot the router. Netgear has had about 6 months to fix this, and keeps talking with me about it, but has not managed to fix this.

Since I'm using dd-wrt firmware most of the time, testing a new stock firmware version is kind of a pain, but I'm glad to do it in hopes that they'll figure this out and fix it someday. I always make a saved settings file after getting a new firmware version configured, so it's easy to go back to the dd-wrt version I was using.

 

[stevech]

In consumer-world, I have no interest in struggling with IPV6. I can see it makes sense in consumer gear if you are trying to learn.

 

[Nerre]

Are access points really aware of what they are shuffling? I thought they just handled ethernet frames?

The exception would of course be the management interface where it would have to listen to a tcp/ip socket.

I think my computers at home get an IPv6 address when they are connected by WiFi to my old DIR-300 (need to double check that though).

 

[azazel1024]

AP, they mostly operate on the L2 level, so no IP details. A router does need to be L3 aware though, so, yes, the router has to handle IPv6 if that is what the ISP is using. Of course it also needs to handle IPv6 if that is what you are using on your internal network/IPv6 DHCP.

 

[stevech]

A WiFi router is a router + an 802.11/WiFi access point.
The AP itself just chucks 802.3 data packets with some IP aware use of packet header priority and so on.
The web server for admin purposes is independent of the AP traffic functions.

 

[LrngToFly]

I got the DLink WAP-1665 last night and got it set up- IPv6 works just fine. Apparently it needs to be configured as "Link-Local Only" for it to allow clients to obtain IPv6 addresses, IPv6 DNS servers etc from my router (a DLink DIR-860L running in wired only mode.) When I ran Comcast's IP Readiness Test on my WiFi-only connected computers, they passed all the IPv6 tests. Tablets and cellphones are also now getting IPv6 addresses in the Comcast address range that my router is obtaining.

That and the 802.11ac is a nice boost.

 

[stevech]

IPv6 at home: But Why? Just for experimenting?