Internet expert warns IP addresses could run out within two years

Internet users could be forced to pay up to hundreds of dollars in order to access the internet on personal computers and mobile phones if available protocol address locations are used up in the next two years, an internet expert has warned.

Additionally, ISPs and software vendors must update their products and connections in order to allow access to new technology which creates billions of new addresses and will solve the shortage dilemma.

Geoff Huston, chief scientist at the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, says the number of “IPv4” addresses could run out within the next two years without a suitable replacement. This could result in users paying for protocol addresses on market, with each address potentially worth hundreds of dollars.

Huston says while the number of addresses consumed by users declined by 5% during 2009, there is not much time left for the number of protocols remaining.

“In order to connect to the internet, the website you want needs an address, and you yourself need an address. You and I can’t share an address, because it would be like sharing a phone number. But we’re running out, and we knew this back in 1990.”

“Back then, before the internet really got anywhere, the mathematics of the situation dictated that if we ran out, we were hosed. So there have been lots of debates, and we’ve devised a new network system to essentially do the same thing.”

Huston says the internet industry needs to adopt new “IPv6” addresses quicker than the current adoption rate. While a number of countries, including Australia, have begun to use the new internet protocol 6 addresses, Huston says the current rate of use isn’t good enough.

“Every day we wait, the network gets bigger and we chew up more addresses every day. It’d be good if we could point to someone and say it was their fault, but it’s everybody’s fault – and I really do mean everybody in this situation.”

“ISPs need to offer both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, and we need things like 3G networks and mobiles like the iPhone to have “dual-stack” technology. We need to have customers who are willing to update their firewalls and so on to accompany the new technology.”

IPv6 protocol addresses differ from IPv4 addresses due to the number of characters used, and the number available. The IPv6 protocol can handle billions of different locations, with more digits used to handle new technology such as devices which require multiple addresses.

Huston says if the new technology isn’t adopted quickly enough, it could result in a market where users would be forced to pay high premiums for internet usage.

“Interestingly you would go on the internet and you don’t see anything different at all. But your son, your neighbour or whoever, they’re going to go and buy an iPhone and find that connecting through IPv4 is hard for them. They might need to pay a high fee, like $1,000, for an address.”

“If we get to the point where we run out and people still need addresses, then the folks who can afford to pay a premium will get connected and the folk who can’t pay will be left out.”