[ih] IP addresses are not phone numbers, was Some Questions over IPv4 Ownership

[johnl at iecc.com (John R. Levine)]

> Does anyone on the list know if there is a plan to more geographically 
> allocate IP addresses in V6?  It seems like doing that might make it 
> easier to control routing table sizes.

No, and it wouldn't help since in the Internet unlike the phone system 
there is little relationship between routes and national boundaries.

Route tables are a different issue.  IPv6 will make them smaller, since 
people are more likely to be able to get a single allocation that's big 
enough for the long time, but it's also easier for people who aren't 
network operators to get their own PI space.  But none of this has to do 
with whether they're geographic or not.  The most effective way to limit 
route table growth is to figure out some way to charge a small amount for 
publishing an entry, since fully half of the current table is redundant.

R's,
John