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.

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

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