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Re: Slow download speeds from 8:15pm to middle of the night?
dslr595148
Community Leader
Community Leader
‎04-29-2022 01:30 PM
@gs0b wrote:
@beatle wrote:

What if you don't use a router?

That would be a very unusual use case.  Without a router, you're subject to the following issues:

  • Only one device can be connected to the Internet
  • The device is exposed to full internet traffic - no protection from a network firewall, SPI or other security basics.
  • The device will need to meet very high security standards to prevent security risks and hacks.

While it is sometimes appropriate to connect a device directly to an ONT for testing, this should never be more than a few minutes.

I agree and disagree at the same time. Disagree part: More than likely based upon their post, I believe that they have their own NAT router (non ISP provided).

No comments as to why I agree.

So what about IPv6 when it comes out? I heard/read that with IPv6 there is no NAT for it.

Please and thank you

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Re: Slow download speeds from 8:15pm to middle of the night?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader
‎04-29-2022 02:32 PM
@dslr595148 wrote:

So what about IPv6 when it comes out? I heard/read that with IPv6 there is no NAT for it.

A router is still needed.  Remember, routers existed long before NAT.  Their job is to... route.  As in move packets between different networks.

NAT is a hack that was added for IPv4 to allow multiple devices to share a single public IP address.  It is needed because 4^32 IP addresses are not enough for all devices.  NAT is a function that is most often installed in an end-user router.  In the early days, NAT was a separate function.  Back in the 90's I purchased NAT software for one of my computers so I could use it to share the single IPv4 address I got from my pre-DOCSIS cable provider (a blazing 1Mbps!)  I had a dedicated machine with two Ethernet ports and NAT software to create my two node wired LAN (my home computer and my work laptop.)  I thought it was great when I purchased my first router with built in NAT.  That was the bees-knees!

Anyway, don't forget that NAT is not a firewall.  It's just a hack to save IPv4 addresses.  With IPv6, a router is absolutely required to route traffic between the internal LAN and external WAN.  And end-user router should also run firewalls and other security software to protect the LAN, independent of IPv4 or IPv6 traffic.  The Verizon routers and any recent consumer router have good firewalls for both protocols.

If you do some googling, you can find lots of good articles about this stuff.