Q: Airport Extreme and Cox Internet IPv6 Problem

Gino - nice to see another Happy Eyeballs advocate on here!  It is indeed a cool feature and if every browser, OS, and app implemented it we'd all be a lot better off.  Last time I checked, Microsoft IE still did not and the iOS/Android apps are hit or miss.

There's a subtlety though - the Airport does play a role in fallback and this is one of the improvements that Apple made.  I know because their developer was at my desk for two days working with me on it

When your CPE sends a DNS query, regardless of whether it's over IPv4 or IPv6, it typically sends that query to the Airport which is serving in the role of DNS-proxy.  The Airport then relays the query to the ISP DNS server on your behalf.  The catch is, the Airport uses IPv6 for its transport to the ISP network if IPv6 is available.  Prior to 7.7.7, the Airport did not fall back gracefully to IPv4 if v6 didn't work.  That is fixed now.  So prior to 7.7.7, your CPE client could be as smart as it wanted, and implement Happy Eyeballs, but if the DNS Proxy is insisting on using a broken v6 connection, you're dead in the water.

Thanks for the additional info.

askin6305B wrote:

 

YatBob - no, not giving up, still working on some things in the background.  Hope to be able to share more soon.  We still have some levers we can pull, but it takes time to do the due diligence first.

Now that the dust seems to be settling, what is your conclusion about why this problem has occurred for weeks for some people, and yet others, like me, only suffered the problem for a short while back in February? In the three months since then, including well before 7.7.7 was issued, my system has been rock solid using Cox default DNS and 1pv6 Auto throughout. Based on that, the only conclusion I can reach is that some Cox glitch has caused the problem in various areas. And Cox is now getting it cleared up, coincidentally, during the same time 7.7.7 was issued by Apple a couple of weeks ago to fix other stated problems. I'm not aware that Apple ever stated 7.7.7 was issued to fix this problem with Cox. If I'm wrong, can you tell me where?

Lots of people have wasted a lot of time on this, and should it recur some time, it will be good to know the final conclusion as to cause. You have insight into continuing Cox problems, as indicated in your quote, above. So, your providing this conclusion will be a useful capper to the good help you have been trying to provide on this thread. Thanks.

Just checked and I now have ipv6 10/10 & 19/20 respectively on test, hopefully when or if there is fall back i won't have to do any resets

jimpal wrote:

Now that the dust seems to be settling, what is your conclusion about why this problem has occurred for weeks for some people, and yet others, like me, only suffered the problem for a short while back in February? In the three months since then, including well before 7.7.7 was issued, my system has been rock solid using Cox default DNS and 1pv6 Auto throughout. Based on that, the only conclusion I can reach is that some Cox glitch has caused the problem in various areas. And Cox is now getting it cleared up, coincidentally, during the same time 7.7.7 was issued by Apple a couple of weeks ago to fix other stated problems. I'm not aware that Apple ever stated 7.7.7 was issued to fix this problem with Cox. If I'm wrong, can you tell me where? 

Lots of people have wasted a lot of time on this, and should it recur some time, it will be good to know the final conclusion as to cause. You have insight into continuing Cox problems, as indicated in your quote, above. So, your providing this conclusion will be a useful capper to the good help you have been trying to provide on this thread. Thanks.

I don't have conclusions yet because I don't consider the dust settled.  We're still actively investigating reports of IPv6 inconsistency and working on ways to improve the network.  You are correct that Apple did not every specifically mention fixes for Cox IPv6 issues, or even IPv6 at all.  But the fixes are in there - I have confirmed with Apple and tested them in our lab as well.

For those still following the thread and still willing to help - and I understand if you're not - we made some changes to the network yesterday that should improve IPv6 robustness.  If you're willing to keep IPv6 set to "Auto" and the "Share" box checked, please reboot your Airport and let me know if you see v6 stay up better than it has in the past.  I think that it will.

As I posted yesterday I have ipv6, did nothing to implement it, no reboot modem/router, it just showed up and it has been up for almost 24 hours, the longest previously was approx 12 hours and I had to reboot to reestablish internet.

So far everything working very well

askin6305B wrote:

 

I don't have conclusions yet because I don't consider the dust settled.  We're still actively investigating reports of IPv6 inconsistency and working on ways to improve the network.  You are correct that Apple did not every specifically mention fixes for Cox IPv6 issues, or even IPv6 at all.  But the fixes are in there - I have confirmed with Apple and tested them in our lab as well.

I think we are both trying to reach the "truth" here. But there still are questions:

Why did my system work flawlessly for two months after initial Cox problems in February, before 7.7.7 came out. I installed 7.7.7, no change, all still works flawlessly. That certainly confirms 7.7.7 had nothing to do with it.

I find your 7.7.7 comments hard to believe. Why would Apple not have listed 1pv6 issues when they put out 7.7.7? They listed three other problems it fixed, as they always do. Why would they have left the Cox 1pv6 issue out? Comcast has a much larger slice of the cable internet market, yet where is the thread reporting problems with Apple and Comcast? Seems to me Apple didn't fix it, because there was nothing to fix. Once again, this proves to me that the real issues are with Cox, and apparently still are, in some cases. Cox will help many avoid "wild goose chases" if they simply own up to it.

YatBob wrote:

 

As I posted yesterday I have ipv6, did nothing to implement it, no reboot modem/router, it just showed up and it has been up for almost 24 hours, the longest previously was approx 12 hours and I had to reboot to reestablish internet.

So far everything working very well

Good to see. This is the way mine has been performing for the last three months here in Williamsburg, VA. Looks like Cox is getting there.

You have my MAC address for my Netgear CM400 so if you are doing anything at your end with it please monitor.

I reverted just now to the settings I had posted images of above

Internet Options:

Configure ipv6 Automatically / Native / Enable ipv6 Connection sharing

Network Options:

Block Incoming ipv6 connections

Allow incoming ipsec authentication

for the Time Capsule

and then for the three Airports all set to Extend a Wireless network

the same except on Internet Options I left the enable ipv6 connection sharing UNchecked.

---By the way, on the Airports under Internet / Domain Name I just noticed the word "local" on two of them is that correct?

As far as tests I get 10/10 on the first ipv6 test but still just 16/20 on the other (Fallback fails on the iMacs both hard wired and wifi).

I get 19/20 Fallback is okay on the iOS WiFi devices (iPhone / iPads).

Not sure what switch you flipped over there but IPv6 passed all tests 10/10 and 19/20. Didn't even require a reboot. Hopefully this issue is fixed, I'll continue checking IPv6 for a few days and report back if any problems show up.

I've been following this thread for awhile. I had some issues with the way I was setting up my network and I also had the issue where if my settings were anything but the "local-link" I would get disconnected after an undetermined amount of time. I see your point on both sides of "this is a Cox issue" and "this is an Apple issue". First let me point out that I've been an Apple product user and IT professional for 10 years. I used to work for Apple and know first hand that they don't always include every "fix" in their release bullet points that we all see right before we hit update on our devices. Think of it when you see the big first release of an update, say for iOS 9. Did you see EVERY new feature in the list? No, you saw the ones Apple thought you wanted to see. It works the say way with app updates. you normally just see "bug fixes" or something to that extent. Same thing here. Just because Apple doesn't specifically mention there is a fix for something, doesn't mean it isn't included. Hope this helps you so we can move forward with the troubleshooting needed in this thread.

Now I believe I have my settings correct. I live in Riverside, RI and ever since early May-ish time frame, I had the issue where my internet would seem to drop out. I changed my settings to Local-Link and was good to go. When the 7.7.7 (7.6.7) update came out, I did some messing around with the settings so I wasn't sure if that was my fix or if my settings were the answer. I have a brand new AC Extreme directly in to my modem and 3 extenders (2 express and another extreme). I believe my problem has been fixed but I just need a little more time to make sure my issue is resolved.

askin6305B, COX Internet customer down here in San Diego, just changed my Airport Extreme and (2) Airport Express units from "link-local only" to "configure IPv6 automatically" with sharing on. No speed difference, and have not run any IPv6 tests like the others, but will let you know how stable our connection is with this change.

Thank you for posting this.  I switched back to IPV6 about a week ago and connection worked well for a week and then frizzed out.  I tried to go back to link-local and that no longer works for me.  I was pulling out my hair yesterday trying to figure it out, could not maintain a connection with link-local.  This morning I made the changes you suggested and will monitor it.

Crome, are your iMacs connected to your time capsule base station, or to one of the extension routers?  Have you tried turning off the additional airport routers to see if you get different results?  When I have an additional router set to extend our primary wireless network, i don't get the option to enable IP connection sharing on the additional router, as i have it in bridge mode.  And I do see a domain name on that additional router (ri.cox. net).   I did notice something odd, however, when I went to check these settings to see how mine compared to yours.  I had set up our 2nd router to strengthen wifi on our 2nd floor, and had used the "extend" an existing network setting.  When I checked the settings today, however, it was set to "create a network".  The only way i can think that setting may have changed was by default when I installed the 7.7.7/ 7.6.7 firmware updates.  The upstairs router is an older airport extreme (n) router for which only v 7.6.7 was available.   When i reset it to Extend a network today, our whole home network became unstable for the first time in weeks, since I applied the 7.7.7 / 7.6.7 updates.  We lost internet connections, the Airport Utility could no longer connect to the routers, etc.   Everything is fine with the 2nd router unplugged, or when i reset it to "create a network".  Even with the "create a network setting" (in Wireless settings), the second router is in Bridge mode (in Network settings), possibly because i have it hard-wired to our primary base station.   You might want to experiment a bit with your additional router set-up.   I also noticed the network was a bit faster, as expected, when I am in range of the primary router and the 2nd router is unplugged.