ARIN IPv4 Waitlist Is Moving Faster Than Ever — Here’s Why

Mustafamw3 · October 14

This October 2025, the ARIN IPv4 Waitlist made its biggest jump ever — positions moved from the 900s down to the 400s in just a single quarter.

The sudden movement came after a large IPv4 reclamation, including a /15 (131k IPs) and multiple /16–/22 blocks that ARIN recovered and reissued.
It’s the first time in years the list has advanced this quickly — showing that ARIN is actively reclaiming and redistributing unused IPv4 to organizations waiting for space.

At the same time, ARIN continues to emphasize the need to transition to IPv6, since reclaimed IPv4 space can only delay full exhaustion for a short time.

cybertech · October 14

nah IPv6 isnt for humans

somik · October 14

@cybertech said:
nah IPv6 isnt for humans

IPv4 isn't for humans either. That's why we use domains that point to that IP.

AaronEUGameHost · October 25

From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

wadhah · October 25

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

somik · October 26

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

How about join my server on game1.gamehost.com ? You can use a dynamic DNS tool to update your subdomain with the correct IP.

terrorgen · October 26

@somik said:

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

How about join my server on game1.gamehost.com ? You can use a dynamic DNS tool to update your subdomain with the correct IP.

This is the way

Mustafamw3 · October 31

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

the nice thing about IPv6 is you don’t get random port scans like on IPv4. On IPv4, the moment your server boots up it starts getting hit by hundreds of automated scanners and bots. On IPv6, that just doesn’t happen — there are practically no wide port scanners, and the address space is way too big to brute-scan anyway.

AuroraZero · October 31

@Mustafamw3 said:

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

the nice thing about IPv6 is you don’t get random port scans like on IPv4. On IPv4, the moment your server boots up it starts getting hit by hundreds of automated scanners and bots. On IPv6, that just doesn’t happen — there are practically no wide port scanners, and the address space is way too big to brute-scan anyway.

Complaining? Want me to make a couple million? fact is ipv6 is not holding up against ipv4 as well they thought it would. Ipv4 has been around so long it is cosidered the default and it will take a huge push to move people to 6. Until that happens 6 will always be deleagated to number 2.

somik · November 1

@AuroraZero said:

@Mustafamw3 said:

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

the nice thing about IPv6 is you don’t get random port scans like on IPv4. On IPv4, the moment your server boots up it starts getting hit by hundreds of automated scanners and bots. On IPv6, that just doesn’t happen — there are practically no wide port scanners, and the address space is way too big to brute-scan anyway.

Complaining? Want me to make a couple million? fact is ipv6 is not holding up against ipv4 as well they thought it would. Ipv4 has been around so long it is cosidered the default and it will take a huge push to move people to 6. Until that happens 6 will always be deleagated to number 2.

As long as IPv4 are still available, people will go with it. Most ISPs are still not willing to upgrade their infra to IPv6, specially in those 2nd and 3rd world countries, where the ISPs prefer to buy second hand cheaper hardware (if any at all). So they will still go with IPv4 with CNAT. Heck, they are using CNAT IPv4 here in Singapore if you dont sign up with the big 3 ISPs... Some do offer IPv6, but other thæn the big 3, it's hit or miss...

So give it anther 10~20 years thæn maybe we'll see much wider IPv6 adoption. For now, IPv4 is still king with IPv6 the jester. It's good to have, but necessary.

Mustafamw3 · November 1

@AuroraZero said:

@Mustafamw3 said:

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

the nice thing about IPv6 is you don’t get random port scans like on IPv4. On IPv4, the moment your server boots up it starts getting hit by hundreds of automated scanners and bots. On IPv6, that just doesn’t happen — there are practically no wide port scanners, and the address space is way too big to brute-scan anyway.

Complaining? Want me to make a couple million? fact is ipv6 is not holding up against ipv4 as well they thought it would. Ipv4 has been around so long it is cosidered the default and it will take a huge push to move people to 6. Until that happens 6 will always be deleagated to number 2.

50% of global internet traffic already runs over IPv6, and in some countries like the US it’s over 70%. I honestly don’t get why people keep underestimating IPv6 or calling it “number 2.” Maybe that’s true only in some third-world regions. The average end user doesn’t even know or care whether it’s IPv4 or IPv6 — as long as the website loads, it’s fine. Nearly all major sites are reachable over IPv6 anyway. And with NAT64 (which translates IPv4 to IPv6, not the same as CGNAT), many big mobile ISPs in the US are already running IPv6-only networks with a translation layer.

Mustafamw3 · November 1

@somik said:

@AuroraZero said:

@Mustafamw3 said:

@wadhah said:

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

It works the same, better actually.

the nice thing about IPv6 is you don’t get random port scans like on IPv4. On IPv4, the moment your server boots up it starts getting hit by hundreds of automated scanners and bots. On IPv6, that just doesn’t happen — there are practically no wide port scanners, and the address space is way too big to brute-scan anyway.

Complaining? Want me to make a couple million? fact is ipv6 is not holding up against ipv4 as well they thought it would. Ipv4 has been around so long it is cosidered the default and it will take a huge push to move people to 6. Until that happens 6 will always be deleagated to number 2.

As long as IPv4 are still available, people will go with it. Most ISPs are still not willing to upgrade their infra to IPv6, specially in those 2nd and 3rd world countries, where the ISPs prefer to buy second hand cheaper hardware (if any at all). So they will still go with IPv4 with CNAT. Heck, they are using CNAT IPv4 here in Singapore if you dont sign up with the big 3 ISPs... Some do offer IPv6, but other thæn the big 3, it's hit or miss...

So give it anther 10~20 years thæn maybe we'll see much wider IPv6 adoption. For now, IPv4 is still king with IPv6 the jester. It's good to have, but necessary.

It’s 2025 — even second-hand gear supports IPv6 these days. It’s not about hardware anymore (unless an ISP is buying 15–20-year-old hardware, which would be a terrible idea for reliability and power use). The real issue is that many ISPs are just too lazy to train their staff and properly implement it.

somik · November 1

@Mustafamw3 said:

@somik said:
As long as IPv4 are still available, people will go with it. Most ISPs are still not willing to upgrade their infra to IPv6, specially in those 2nd and 3rd world countries, where the ISPs prefer to buy second hand cheaper hardware (if any at all). So they will still go with IPv4 with CNAT. Heck, they are using CNAT IPv4 here in Singapore if you dont sign up with the big 3 ISPs... Some do offer IPv6, but other thæn the big 3, it's hit or miss...

So give it anther 10~20 years thæn maybe we'll see much wider IPv6 adoption. For now, IPv4 is still king with IPv6 the jester. It's good to have, but necessary.

It’s 2025 — even second-hand gear supports IPv6 these days. It’s not about hardware anymore (unless an ISP is buying 15–20-year-old hardware, which would be a terrible idea for reliability and power use). The real issue is that many ISPs are just too lazy to train their staff and properly implement it.

In many developing countries, buying 15–20-year-old hardware is still considered "pretty new". When it comes to reliability, they often have in-house repair teams; soldering irons, spare chips from China, the whole setup. Electricity is cheap too (around 5–10¢ per kWh, depending on demand), and in many cases, they can get a "flat rate" plan where usage doesn’t affect the bill.

As for training, I completely agree with you there.

The main issue, however, is that implementing IPv6 costs money and doesn’t generate any extra profit. Nobody’s going to choose ISP-ABC just because they support IPv6 while others don’t. Every website still works over IPv4, so there’s no real incentive to switch.

And since most ISPs don’t support IPv6 yet, websites can’t realistically go IPv6-only either.

So it’s the classic chicken-and-egg problem.

Mustafamw3 · November 1

@somik said: The main issue, however, is that implementing IPv6 costs money and doesn’t generate any extra profit. Nobody’s going to choose ISP-ABC just because they support IPv6 while others don’t. Every website still works over IPv4, so there’s no real incentive to switch.

the main incentive to migrate to IPv6 is that IPv4 subnets are getting more and more expensive, and managing NATs is becoming a real headache

@somik said: And since most ISPs don’t support IPv6 yet, websites can’t realistically go IPv6-only either.

So it’s the classic chicken-and-egg problem.

I totally agree with your point here, Hopefully in the next 10 years we’ll see wider IPv6 adoption — the internet will eventually move to IPv6, but it’ll take time… 20, 30, maybe even 50 years — who knows.

somik · November 1

@Mustafamw3 said:

@somik said: The main issue, however, is that implementing IPv6 costs money and doesn’t generate any extra profit. Nobody’s going to choose ISP-ABC just because they support IPv6 while others don’t. Every website still works over IPv4, so there’s no real incentive to switch.

the main incentive to migrate to IPv6 is that IPv4 subnets are getting more and more expensive, and managing NATs is becoming a real headache

@somik said: And since most ISPs don’t support IPv6 yet, websites can’t realistically go IPv6-only either.

So it’s the classic chicken-and-egg problem.

I totally agree with your point here, Hopefully in the next 10 years we’ll see wider IPv6 adoption — the internet will eventually move to IPv6, but it’ll take time… 20, 30, maybe even 50 years — who knows.

IPv6 started in 1999 and became an Internet Standard on 14 July 2017. So it's been around for 8 years already. Singapore started to take IPv6 seriously (all major ISPs started offering IPv6) since around 2013 using IPv4 to IPv6 tunnels, and started issuing IPv6 capable routers since 2018.

Here is a quick google statistics to show how much of the world is using IPv6: https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html

So ya, i think your 30 to 50 years is a more reasonable estimate compared to my 10~20 years...

AuroraZero · November 1

Seriously, between @somik and me, we’ve laid out exactly what’s happened and what’s going to keep happening. Unless IPv4 is completely gone, nobody is going to run IPv6 only. All this talk about IPv4 disappearing is just fear mongering. Too many systems are built on IPv4 and they aren’t going to get upgraded, the costs are just too high, or people just won’t bother.

Sure, maybe there will always be an IPv4 shortage, but unless you eliminate it entirely, nothing’s really going to change. Dual stack works fine, as long as you’ve actually got someone who can diagnose and fix it when it goes sideways, and believe me, it will go sideways. There’s just too much OS and kernel automation now; software thinks it knows better than the person running the network, but when something breaks, you need a real human who actually understands what’s going on.

gremeyer · November 4

Cogent and Hurricane Electric still refuse to peer with each other over IPv6 and that's been going on for over a decade. As long as that keeps happening, IPv6 won't be widely adopted.

Also, routing can be better on IPv4 than IPv6, it depends on the provider and what kind of blend they have for IPv4 vs IPv6.

Mumbly · November 4

@AaronEUGameHost said:
From a gaming perspective Join my server on [2001:4860:4860::8844]! doesn't really have the same ring

What about Join my server [2001:4860:4860::babe] on [2001:4860:4860::cafe]?

Mumbly · November 4

@somik said: Here is a quick google statistics to show how much of the world is using IPv6: https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html

So ya, i think your 30 to 50 years is a more reasonable estimate compared to my 10~20 years...

20% within the past 5 years on that graph, though.

backtogeek · November 4

@AuroraZero said:
Seriously, between @somik and me, we’ve laid out exactly what’s happened and what’s going to keep happening. Unless IPv4 is completely gone, nobody is going to run IPv6 only. All this talk about IPv4 disappearing is just fear mongering. Too many systems are built on IPv4 and they aren’t going to get upgraded, the costs are just too high, or people just won’t bother.

Sure, maybe there will always be an IPv4 shortage, but unless you eliminate it entirely, nothing’s really going to change. Dual stack works fine, as long as you’ve actually got someone who can diagnose and fix it when it goes sideways, and believe me, it will go sideways. There’s just too much OS and kernel automation now; software thinks it knows better than the person running the network, but when something breaks, you need a real human who actually understands what’s going on.

I agree with this, as someone who has been involved in some way with the hosting space since around 2009 in various capacities and angles, what I see is that there is a deafening minority that promote and want IPv6, yet in the day to day backend operation of things, even when you provide an IPv6 only service with a NAT IPv4 backup for initial access 95% of people dont actually use the IPv6 provided, if you offer free IPv6 subnets with dedi's or VPS of any kind, 90% of those that take it dont actually use it.

There are, for sure, great and latency-saving use cases right now. Still, my controversial opinion is that due to the way IPv6 was designed, it addressed the modern requirements for address space well, but utterly failed to consider anything else properly.

There is a huge difference between actively using IPv6 and having (adopting) it, I don't know about other countries but i noticed when at my parents' house not so long ago, they have IPv6 enabled (available); they dont even know what IP is, never mind 4 or 6.

somik · November 4

@Mumbly said:

@somik said: Here is a quick google statistics to show how much of the world is using IPv6: https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html

So ya, i think your 30 to 50 years is a more reasonable estimate compared to my 10~20 years...

20% within the past 5 years on that graph, though.

adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

backtogeek · November 4

@somik said:

@Mumbly said:

@somik said: Here is a quick google statistics to show how much of the world is using IPv6: https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html

So ya, i think your 30 to 50 years is a more reasonable estimate compared to my 10~20 years...

20% within the past 5 years on that graph, though.

adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

and even then people will be like.... well, how slow are we talking?

somik · November 4

@backtogeek said:

@somik said:
adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

and even thæn people will be like.... well, how slow are we talking?

Haha, I know, right!!!

Well, for now, 2 of my dedicated servers still dont come with IPv6. Seems like many lowend/budget dedicated servers with old hardware dont come with IPv6, only IPv4...

backtogeek · November 4

@somik said:

@backtogeek said:

@somik said:
adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

and even thæn people will be like.... well, how slow are we talking?

Haha, I know, right!!!

Well, for now, 2 of my dedicated servers still dont come with IPv6. Seems like many lowend/budget dedicated servers with old hardware dont come with IPv6, only IPv4...

I am working on something now, and I started the planning phase with IPv6, and just kicked it the fuck out, it will be available, but as an add-on and on my terms when I own the block entirely and implement it exactly as I want it, if one chooses to use it.... great, but I won't hold my breath haha.

somik · November 4

@backtogeek said:

@somik said:

@backtogeek said:

@somik said:
adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

and even thæn people will be like.... well, how slow are we talking?

Haha, I know, right!!!

Well, for now, 2 of my dedicated servers still dont come with IPv6. Seems like many lowend/budget dedicated servers with old hardware dont come with IPv6, only IPv4...

I am working on something now, and I started the planning phase with IPv6, and just kicked it the fuck out, it will be available, but as an add-on and on my terms when I own the block entirely and implement it exactly as I want it, if one chooses to use it.... great, but I won't hold my breath haha.

Well, even docker doesn't come with IPv6 support out of the box. You have to enable and configure it manually...

Mumbly · November 4

@somik said:

@Mumbly said:

@somik said: Here is a quick google statistics to show how much of the world is using IPv6: https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html

So ya, i think your 30 to 50 years is a more reasonable estimate compared to my 10~20 years...

20% within the past 5 years on that graph, though.

adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

You're correct, it's not linear, but that actually goes against your argument - the last 5 (or rather some 10) years show an acceleration in adoption, not a slowdown.
In the first 5-10 years, we saw about 5% growth, in the last 10 years, around 45% growth.

backtogeek · November 4

@Mumbly said:

@somik said:

@Mumbly said:

@somik said: Here is a quick google statistics to show how much of the world is using IPv6: https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html

So ya, i think your 30 to 50 years is a more reasonable estimate compared to my 10~20 years...

20% within the past 5 years on that graph, though.

adoption rate is not linear, so in my opinion, it would take 30+ years, unless some big giant steps in to say we are switching fully to IPv6 and you can only access our slower servers over IPv4.

You're correct, it's not linear, but that actually goes against your argument - the last 5 years show an acceleration in adoption, not a slowdown.

Do we have any info on what counts as adoption? genuine question.

As I said, my parents have IPv6 at home so they can watch netflix etc, they did not adopt it but they do use it, if 100% of home ISP's fall to pressure and just start enabling IPv6 as standard, does that make it 100% "adoption" ? is Microsoft forcing the windows live login for 100% adoption of an online account? (note, I just heard about this I dont know much about it)

Mumbly · November 4

@backtogeek said: Do we have any info on what counts as adoption? genuine question.

Yeah, you're right about that - we're specifically commenting on Google’s statistics about visits to their site via IPv6 https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html which someone posted above.

Mumbly · November 4

@backtogeek said: is Microsoft forcing the windows live login for 100% adoption of an online account? (note, I just heard about this I dont know much about it)

I'm not so sure about Microsoft's incentive to migrate to IPv6. Around 10 years ago, or even earlier, Microsoft started buying large IPv4 subnets (we discussed this on another green forum back then). They invested millions upon millions in acquiring IPv4 addresses.

edit.
One example: https://www.networkcomputing.com/network-infrastructure/microsoft-heats-up-ipv4-market - They didn't stop there, they made a few more purchases similar to this one.

backtogeek · November 4

@Mumbly said:

@backtogeek said: Do we have any info on what counts as adoption? genuine question.

Yeah, you're right about that - we're specifically commenting on Google’s statistics about visits to their site via IPv6 https://www.google.com/intl/en/ipv6/statistics.html which someone posted above.

Yeah that was my thinking, like now my parents as the example I keep using sorry, probably hit google on ipv6, not because they "Adopted it", because their ISP enabled it.

I suppose if you zoom out, and forget individuals, that counts as adoption because their ISP adopted it, but passive inclusion vs active adoption are different.

Mumbly · November 4

But that's what adoption means in terms of IPv6 availability and usage, or what?

edit - again
Ah, you said something similar in the second part of your post - sorry.

ARIN IPv4 Waitlist Is Moving Faster Than Ever — Here’s Why

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