AT&T UVERSE Native IPv6, a HOWTO

Wed Nov 27 08:58:04 UTC 2013

On 11/22/2013 10:22 PM, Andrew D Kirch wrote:

> Ok, is this core routing? not really, but it's nice to see a major clue 
> injection over at AT&T Uverse.  I'm using this to document the MASSIVE 
> bureaucratic PITA which is getting native IPv6 on uverse.  You'll start 
> from the default service on a 2wire "modem" (for values of modem that 
> equate to profanity).  If you have the Motorola NVG589, count yourself 
> lucky and skip most of these steps.

Does it still work? Are you *SURE*? Better go check...

IPv6 on Uverse was working for me until this evening. Now it's broken again.

I almost gave up on Uverse in disgust last month when AT&T pushed down
that software update to the 2WIRE/Pace 3801 that broke all IPv6 tunnels.

Then I read on the forums about the new "Power" service tier that
requires pair bonding and the NVG589, so I signed up more to get the 589
than for the higher speed.

Sure enough, the NVG589 is a *V A S T* improvement over the 3801. It
even provides native IPv6! (Well, "native" in that the box emits IPv6
router advertisements on my LAN; I know it's still implemented with 6rd.)

Until tonight.

Now my NVG589 won't even respond to pings to its own local IPv6 address.
Attempts to ping6 machines on my LAN from the 589's diagnostic page gave
"unreachable network" errors even though the 589 was still emitting IPv6
router advertisements for my /64 subnet.

Restarting the box didn't help. Now its status page says that IPv6 is
"unavailable". At least it's no longer emitting router advertisements
for a service it can't provide.

I had also been able to use AT&T's 6rd gateway with one of my static
IPv4 addresses, but that's also broken now.

I think it's time to dump Uverse and switch to cable. The only drawback
is that AT&T gives me a /29 IPv4 address block for $15/mo while Time
Warner makes static IP addressing available only with their "business
class" service costing several hundred/month.

But Hurricane Electric's IPv6 tunnels work so well that I'm not sure
static IPv4 even matters anymore. I only use them to reach my systems
myself from the outside, I'm not running any public services that really
need them.

--Phil