[Starlink] Info on IP country ranges

[Steven Honson]

Hi Alex,

As an experienced network engineer with extensive experience with IPv6, I'm confident this is native IPv6.

Cheers,
Steven

On Tue, 12 Dec 2023, at 2:30 AM, Alexandre Petrescu wrote:
> Steven,
>
> Thanks for the clarifications. It is indeed very advantageous to use 
> DHCPv6-PD from a Client in home to starlink Server, and obtain a /56.
>
> But to be native IPv6, it would need the IPv6 packets to travel natively 
> (sit directly on the link layer) between home and starlink network.  If 
> these IPv6 packets are encapsulate in IPv4, then there would be a risk 
> of additional latency compared to v4.
>
> A possible way to find out whether it's IPv6 native (and hence no 
> additional latency) is to browse speedtest.net from an IPv4-only client 
> vs from an IPv6-only client.  An IPv6-only Windows client can be made by 
> unchecking the IPv4 box in interface Properties window.
>
> Ideally, if it is IPv6 native, the latency reported by speedtest.net is 
> approximatively the same on IPv4 vs on IPv6 (sometimes the IPv6 latency 
> is even lower than on IPv4).  If the latency reported on IPv6 is higher 
> than on IPv4 it could be for many reasons, and one of them could be that 
> IPv6 is not native, but encapsulated in IPv4.  The IPv4 encapsulating 
> endpoint could be on Dishy.
>
> Alex
>
> Le 08/12/2023 à 13:24, Steven a écrit :
>> Alexandre,
>>
>>> Are you sure the DHCPv6-PD server is in Starlink network and not on the
>>> MikroTik router?
>> That would be quite the unusual setup, and even so would require that I obtain said /56 from elsewhere (such as via a tunnel) to then delegate back to myself...
>>
>>> It could be that the MikroTik router runs tunnelbroker, obtains a /56
>>> from HE, splits that /56 into multiple /64s and puts it on the DHCPv6-PD
>>> local server config files.
>> I am confident this is not the case since I configured these routers from scratch.
>>
>>> It could also be that the DHCPv6-PD server is run on the Dishy.
>> It is unlikely that it is on the Dishy, as the latency to the DHCPv6 servers IP address, as well as the first IP hop, indicates the usual Ground->Space->Ground latency I'd expect.
>>
>>> It could also be that the DHCPv6-PD server is run on the starlink ground
>>> network: maybe on the teleport, maybe deeper on the starlink network.
>> Yes, this is the most likely place they are running this, likely the PoP you are being routed through.
>>
>>> Do you know the IPv6 address of your DHCPv6-PD Server?
>> The DHCPv6 server address is a Starlink IPv6 address, the same one as my default gateway (`2406:2d40:xxx:xxx::1`). The /56 I am being allocated is also from the same /32 as this DHCPv6 server, with the /32 being 2406:2d40::/32, which you'll note is allocated to Starlink.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Steven