Requirements

IPv6 requires an IPv6-enabled network. IPv6 connectivity delivered directly by an ISP is ideal. Some ISPs deploy a dual stack configuration in which IPv4 and IPv6 are delivered simultaneously on the same transport. Other ISPs use tunneling or deployment types to provide IPv6 indirectly. It is also possible to use a third party provider such as Hurricane Electric’s tunnelbroker service.

In addition to the service, software must also support IPv6. pfSense® software has been IPv6-capable since 2.1-RELEASE. Client operating systems and applications must also support IPv6. Many common operating systems and applications support it without problems. Microsoft Windows has supported IPv6 in production-ready state since 2002 though newer versions handle it much better. macOS has supported IPv6 since 2001 with version 10.1 “PUMA”. Both FreeBSD and Linux support it in the operating system. Most web browsers and mail clients support IPv6, as do recent versions of other common applications. To ensure reliability, it is always beneficial to employ the latest updates.

Some mobile operating systems have varying levels of support for IPv6. Android and iOS both support IPv6, but Android only has support for stateless auto configuration for obtaining an IP address on Wi-Fi and not DHCPv6. IPv6 is part of the LTE specifications so any mobile device supporting LTE networks supports IPv6 as well.