On 2/19/26 8:36 AM, Andy Smith wrote:
Hi,
On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 08:14:21AM -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:
I date from era of CPUs with 12AX7s powered via 5U4GBs with attached KSR33.
I bump up against my 2GB/mo bandwidth allowance maybe 3 times a year ;}
How would I check?
If you type "ip address show" (can be abbreviated to "ip a" and see any
line with "inet6" (not "inet") giving an address with "scope global"
(not "scope link" nor "scope host" then you are using it.
The only "scope global" I see is associated with "inet" not "inet6"
So, as expected, I'm connected to web via IPv4.
I also see references to "scope link" and "scope host".
Time to visit manpage to learn more.
(You could still be using it locally over localhost or private addresses
but this is splitting hairs.)
For such as I, is there a relevant distinction between IPv4 and IPv6 except
address space?
You have described your network configuration before and I seem to
recall it is somewhat unconventional for the 21st century.
Me? Unconventional? *ROFL!!!*
I left my former ISP when they terminated "dial-up".
Not wanting to be restricted to using laptop only at home - I went cellular.
T-mobile's salesman was the only one that:
1. actually listened to what what I wanted to accomplish.
2. did *NOT* tell me I had no choice but a "smartphone"(sic).
He offered a WiFi Hotspot which I treat similarly to my old acoustic
coupler (the WiFi portion disabled by software ;).
If what you
have works then I don't think you need to spend any time wondering about
IPv6 unless you specifically want to. You may even be using IPv6 on your
end without knowing.
If you do want to learn about it then even if your current provider
doesn't offer it, you can use it through a free tunnel, but it isn't
going to provide much except a learning experience.
There are things I do explicitly for that purpose.
Thanks,
Andy
