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Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

community.roku.com

31–40 of 233 posts

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#31

Who the hell is giving their Roku a public IP? How is this remotely a problem? This is 100% not the fault of Roku, and 100% the fault of the ISP. The ISP should have an IPv6 to IPv4 gateway built into their modem/router. You have a WAN port that is IPv6 and an LAN port that IPv4. IPv6 for local networks, makes no sense is completely unnecessary, and is a hill I will die on. IPv4 is here to stay.

> IPv6 for local networks, makes no sense is completely unnecessary, and is a hill I will die on. IPv4 is here to stay.

Why would you make everything gratuitously complicated by having two separate forms of addressing? All that IPv4 gains you is new and exciting ways to mess up your networking. Just give every device a normal public address (of course you probably want to firewall off inbound traffic from the WAN to the LAN, but that's got nothing to do with addresses) and have a normal network rather than some bizzare frankenstein mashup.

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#32
post #4

My #1 step in troubleshooting any network issues is to disable IPv6. Step #2 is so rarely needed that I no longer remember what it was. IPv6 has been a failure, it is about time we openly admitted it. Why? Simple - it causes consumer pain and no consumer gain

I feel similarly, but what is the solution? IPv4 blocks are all but impossible to get anymore, there's a waiting list at ARIN that doesn't really ever move. The company I was working at signed up 3 or 4 years ago for a /24 and never heard back to this day. Sure you can rent/buy them on the open market, but that's only going to last so long, and eventually puts anyone without FAANG money out of the running...

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#33

By traffic it seems like "if only we didn't have these Rokus!" but it's a streaming device, it generates a lot of traffic compared to the other IPv4 only devices. Inevitably the long tail of devices is what's costing them extra (sounds like CG-NAT dual stack or 464xlat at the gateway) not just the Roku devices. As someone who operates their own ASN with IPv6 because I like v6 so much the problem here was simply poor…

It may not reduce the need for IPv4, but it will reduce the need for costly CG-NAT devices and capacity for IPv4 when the streaming can happen over IPv6 which does not require the costly CG-NAT devices.

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#35
The amount of idiocy and ignorance around ipv6 is crazy.

I’ve seen many supposedly senior engineers that claimed they didn’t want to implement ipv6 because anyone could connect to hosts from “outside”.

Nat has become so engraved in people’s thinking that they can’t even understand the actual role of a firewall anymore.

We’re going to see many stories like this, where networking incompetence will start costing pretty pennies to companies.

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#36
post #31

Who the hell is giving their Roku a public IP? How is this remotely a problem? This is 100% not the fault of Roku, and 100% the fault of the ISP. The ISP should have an IPv6 to IPv4 gateway built into their modem/router. You have a WAN port that is IPv6 and an LAN port that IPv4. IPv6 for local networks, makes no sense is completely unnecessary, and is a hill I will die on. IPv4 is here to stay.

> IPv6 for local networks, makes no sense is completely unnecessary, and is a hill I will die on. IPv4 is here to stay. Why would you make everything gratuitously complicated by having two separate forms of addressing? All that IPv4 gains you is new and exciting ways to mess up your networking. Just give every device a normal public address (of course you probably want to firewall off inbound traffic from the WAN to…

A pipe dream, but the best case seems to be a total standardization on v6

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#37
post #2

For a company who thrives on making cheap devices and charging for licenses/platform, this is almost a crime especially when supporting ipv6 on Linux based devices is much easier now. Wonder why don’t support it.

Are Rokus Linux based? I'd love to install an alternate distribution on one.

What would the point be, exactly? The stuff that makes a Roku worthwhile are all the apps and the proprietary drivers and networking stack stuff. If you're going to put an alternate distro on it, you might be better off getting a whitebox Android TV/Kodi/whatever box off of Aliexpress than trying to get around the limitations on the Roku hardware.

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#38
post #2

For a company who thrives on making cheap devices and charging for licenses/platform, this is almost a crime especially when supporting ipv6 on Linux based devices is much easier now. Wonder why don’t support it.

Are Rokus Linux based? I'd love to install an alternate distribution on one.

This is an area that seems surprisingly empty from my observations. There doesn't seem to be much interest in rooting Rokus, and even if you did there doesn't seem to be a good open source replacement. The closest would be to install Android TV, but that's just exchanging one closed garden for another.

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#39
post #25
post #9

I really hate Roku as a product, ads on the home screen and the remote(??) of something I paid for? No thanks. Though, I will concede it is cool to load mostly "unapproved" apps if the developer shares the app ID. (Certain x-rated sites liked to advertise they have a Roku app, something that would never make its way to most other TV boxes)

That's par for the course nowadays, unfortunately. I couldn't name a smart TV system that doesn't have ads. Roku is far from being the worst offender, my LG C2 that I paid out the nose for has the majority of the home screen taken up with ads.

> I couldn't name a smart TV system that doesn't have ads.

What do you consider to be ads? Apple TV is pretty tasteful in this regard. It never feels like I’m getting served an ad at all. In fact, with all Apple products I never feel like I’m getting served an ad.

Re: Roku devices don't support IPv6 in 2023 and it's costing ISPs

#40
I just bought a brand new motherboard that still has VGA and PS/2 ports, so I would guess IPv4 isn't going away any time soon. Old standards seem to hang around forever for legacy support. Why an ISP would assume they could set up an IPv6 only network is beyond me.
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