If you’ve ever checked your network settings or looked at your hosting dashboard, you’ve probably seen two types of IP addresses. One is a simple set of four numbers, like 192.168.1.1. The other is a long string of letters and numbers that looks like it came from a science fiction movie.
This difference is what separates IPv4 from IPv6. It might seem like only network engineers need to care, but moving from the old system to the new one has big effects on performance, security, and the future of WordPress hosting.
Why the Internet Needed a “Version 2.0”
When the internet was new, engineers created IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) with about 4.3 billion addresses. Back then, that seemed like more than enough. But they didn’t expect a world where everyone has a smartphone, homes are full of smart devices, and even refrigerators need their own IP address.
By the 2010s, we ran out of available IPv4 addresses. We’ve kept IPv4 going with tricks like Network Address Translation (NAT), which lets many devices share one public IP address, but these are only temporary fixes. IPv6 was created to give us more space and to solve the problems that came with IPv4.
The Scale of the New Frontier
Calling IPv6 “bigger” doesn’t really capture it. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses, but IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses. That means we go from 4 billion addresses to about 340 undecillion. To give you an idea, that’s enough to give every atom on Earth an IP address, with plenty left over. For developers and hosting companies, this ends the problem of running out of addresses and the complicated workarounds needed to manage them.
Performance and Speed: Which Protocol Wins?
Many people think IPv6 is automatically faster just because it’s newer, but it’s a bit more complicated. On its own, IPv6 can be more efficient because it has simpler packet headers and doesn’t need routers to break up data. Since IPv6 was made for modern hardware, it also makes things easier for the routers that move your data around the world.
Right now, both IPv4 and IPv6 are used at the same time, so sometimes IPv4 seems faster because the systems supporting it are older and more developed. But as big content networks and mobile companies switch to IPv6-first setups, the difference in speed is shrinking. In fact, on many mobile networks, IPv6 is already faster because it doesn’t have the delays caused by sharing addresses.
The Hurdles of the Great Migration
If IPv6 is so much better, why haven’t we all switched? The main problem is backward compatibility. IPv4 and IPv6 can’t talk to each other directly, so they need special tools to connect.
- Hardware and Legacy Systems: Many older routers, printers, and smart devices don’t support IPv6. For big companies, replacing all this old equipment is a huge and costly job.
- The Learning Curve: IPv6 isn’t just about longer addresses. It also changes how we handle security and networking. For example, features like SLAAC (Stateless Address Autoconfiguration) let devices set their own addresses without a central server, so network monitoring and firewall management need new strategies.
- Human Error: It’s much easier to remember and type 12.34.56.78 than something like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. Because IPv6 addresses are more complicated, it’s easier to make mistakes when setting them up by hand.
Security in a Post-IPv4 World
IPv6 was built to be more secure, and at first, IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) was required. Even though it’s now optional, encrypted communication is a much bigger part of IPv6 than it ever was in IPv4.
Also, because there are so many IPv6 addresses, it’s almost impossible for hackers to scan every possible address to find a weak spot. With IPv4, someone can scan the whole internet in minutes, but with IPv6, finding one device by random scanning would take ages.
What This Means for Your WordPress Site
If you own a website, you don’t need to worry about the details of IP addresses, but you do need a hosting provider that understands how things work. Your host should support both IPv4 and IPv6, so visitors can reach your site whether they’re using older office networks or the latest 5G mobile connections.
At Pagely, we take care of the complex parts of large-scale hosting so you don’t have to worry. Our managed WordPress services are designed to keep up with changing web standards, so as the world shifts to IPv6, your site will stay fast and reliable.
