Ah - now I understand why you said to use the LAN rather than the usual WAN. Which I might try but has also given me another idea.

I seem to have it sorted. Incidentally using the supplied ZyXel in modem/router mode rather than the supplied router mode fed from the HG612.

I did an ipconfig /all at a command prompt and the relevant part is:-

Text

1 23 45 67 89

IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:8b0:aaaa:0:0123:1234:2345:3456(Preferred) Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2001:8b0:aaaa:0:4567:5678:6789:7890(Preferred)Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : bbbb::0123:1234:2345:3456%3(Preferred) IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2(Preferred)Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 03 December 2016 14:42:12Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 03 December 2016 16:12:13 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : bbbb::zzzz:zzzz:zzzz:zzzz%3                                    192.168.1.1

aaaa is the WAN /48
bbbb is the LAN part that the router self-sets, replacing the aaaa above. Note the double colon following it giving in effect a single 0.
bbbb-zzzz is the address to log into the router itself on the LAN (the %3 not needed). Again a double colon.

The "Temporary IPv6 Address" is what outside checkers such as the thinkbroadband "What is my IP address" shows and tests 10/10. That is what, in my ignorance previously, what I was giving to the BQM and also trying to make "static" in my router config - that being the sort of thing that the Help docs say to do on other routers.

As described, the IP address seen outside is the "Temporary" one that keeps changing. What I did last night was overwrite the "Temporary" one thinkbroadband defaults to with Line 1.

That has maintained the BQM I now have in my sig, despites several changes to the publicly presented (Temporary) address.

Early this afternoon is where I switched off for about 20 seconds, then back on, and everything fired up perfectly. Contrary to everything I've read about it losing IPv6 capability on a reboot, (as a ZyXel bug that won't be fixed), and needing a complete re-flash (remote download from AAISP) to get it back.

So all in all I'm quite chuffed. Looks as if I don't need a new modem/router.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 03-Dec-16 18:04:34)

Glad you got it sorted! Take a look at this for a brief explanation as to why the changing temporary address is setup by some operating systems.

I think you can also determine the IPv6 address of your router's LAN side by using traceroute as it will be the first hop address

'tracert -6 www.google.co.uk'

You can then use this as the target for your BQM, assuming it doesn't change (or set a a static address as mentioned earlier)

Edited by ferretuk (Sat 03-Dec-16 16:23:00)

I got the idea from what you suggested about pinging the LAN but didn't want to do that as it shouldn't be necessary. I'm now pinging a WAN address as explained.

As for setting the IPv6 address as static, that doesn't seem to work on the ZyXel (and possibly the ASUS). It just gets ignored. Though once I had it working as now, I did replace the static IP address in the ZyXel settings with the one that is now used in my BQM and is retained on bootup.

That's purely to prevent confusion in the future. Whether or not things will still work if I return to the default "Request IP Address" I didn't think of checking.

I think you're terminology is still a little awry and perhaps this has contributed to the confusion?

AAISP allocate a /48 per customer and then, by default, a /64 per connection. That /64 is for you to use on your network, just as a block of routeable IPv4 addresses would be (if you have them). The router presents this /64 to your network and consumes an address to do so (on it's LAN port).

The router WAN port is on AAISPs network is and is given an address by them (as per the details on their support pages) that is not part of your /64 (or /48). Think of this like the WAN side being in a different subnet in IPv4 land.

Your BQM is not pointing at a 'WAN' address - It's pointing at a public IPv6 adddress on your network. In this case, it's your PC rather than your router.

Edited by ferretuk (Sat 03-Dec-16 18:08:18)

Ah! Major typing error in my earlier post! So I have confused you. I shall correct it in a few minutes.

Suffice to say, I have a laptop, and iPad and an Android phone connecting. Overnight they were all turned off. The BQM is pinging the address on Line 1. The address detected by the tbb and placed by default into the BQM is Line 2. My obfuscation in Line 2 is wrong.

Detail post corrected - I hope .

So are you using LAN to mean Link Local (i.e. an FE80 address)? and WAN to mean a public IPv6 address (2001 etc etc)?

You later say that you took the entry from Line 1 (the PC's IPv6 address) and entered as a static IP in the router. In other words you configured the router LAN port with the same address as your PC? Has the PC address changed as a result?

What does ipconfig say now and what is the address on hop 1 of an IPv6 traceroute?

To explain my setup (and understanding)

I have a /48 that starts 2001:8b0:xxx
From that I use a /64 2001:8b0:xxx:yyyy

My router LAN address is manually set to 2001:8b0:xxx:yyyy::1 i.e

2001:8b0:xxx:yyyy:0000:0000:0000:0001

My PC has an address eg

2001:8b0:xxx:yyyy:1234:1234:1234:1234

This PC address is the equivalent of your Line 1 (as I've ignored any temporary addresses).

A BQM could be setup to either of the addresses above but, of course, would fail when the PC is turned off.

Note that my router's WAN port has an address of the format shown in the support page and is not part of my /48

Does this help?

Edited by ferretuk (Sat 03-Dec-16 18:25:01)

No! No! No!

Far too convoluted . I have basically not set anything in my router config that matters except a static IPv6 address that has always been ignored by the system since. It never appeared anywhere after its first use where I copied it from tbb's "What is my IP". Within hours my visible IP address changed and the BQM stopped working. That was the problem I have solved much more simply than yourself.

So lets start again, using a single capital letter per hex block.

I have A:B:C::/48 and A:B:C:D::/64

Note that I have never ever seen D appear anywhere.

Text

1 23 45 67 8

IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : A:B:C:0:F:G:H:I(Preferred) Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : A:B:C:0:J:K:L:M(Preferred)Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : Z::F:G:H:I%3(Preferred) IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2(Preferred)Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 03 December 2016 14:42:12Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 03 December 2016 18:26:06 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : Z::N:O:P:Q%3

The Temporary IPv6 Address is the one visited websites see. It changes frequently, as in several times a day. I assume that is some sort of security defence against DDOs attacks and the like, as within hours of a site acquiring it, it ceases to exist/go anywhere.

What I also noticed was that the IPv6 address in the first line, and the Default Gateway at the bottom, never change. The default gateway is the one used to access by telnet or browser. Whereupon building on you idea of pinging a device but not wanting it to be something attached to the router, I used the A:B:C:0:F:G:H address to overwrite whatever the tbb BQM defaulted to, which was of course my Temp address at the time.

Job done. No setting up my own /64 address range and fixed-allocating any addresses. I just took what was presented, once I understood it, and used it.

Then, hours after I got it working, and after a switch off and on of the router which worked, I put the pingable address into the fixed IP address field replacing the one that gets ignored, purely so as not to confuse things in the future. I assume it is still ignored.

What I may try for fun in a couple of days is remove that and set the IPv6 address acquisition back to Automatic. I get the feeling the top line is preset by AA in a similar way to the static IPv4 address. I shall also probably find out when I put the ZyXel into bridge mode and feed my ASUS WAN port from it.

I have an unrelated problem to ask AA about first. I want the line stable for now instead of me messing about any more .

As an incidental point, when examining the Info on the Network Map page of the ZyXel, I see it gets the SLAAC IPv6 address of attached kit wrong.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

What I may try for fun in a couple of days is remove that and set the IPv6 address acquisition back to Automatic.

That killed it, so setting to static is needed. So I put it back. Thinks - I could try it static with blanks. That could work, depending on how they have the account set up.