Hi,
If you just have the one IPv4 address on your VPS then you can
safely stop reading as nothing is going to change for you.
As for the 11% of paying customers who do have more than one IPv4
address, read on…
For a long time now I have been unsatisfied with our policies for
granting requests for additional IPv4 addresses.
For the last 9 years we've done what was considered the proper thing
in a world where available IPv4 addresses were running low: we
haven't charged for additional IPv4 addresses, we've only asked
customers to technically justify their requests.
That had a number of problems:
- It's often very difficult to pin a customer down on what exactly
it is they're doing. The ideal scenario where one network
engineer talks to another about requirements is rarely the case
here.
This very often left me in a position where I wasn't convinced
that use of extra IPv4 addresses was technically required, but
it's what the customer wanted and the sale depended upon it.
There is no sane administrative fee that could be charged that
would cover that amount of work.
- Once a request was granted it has been very difficult to audit.
There has been no incentive for customers to return IPv4 addresses
that they are no longer using.
- I don't know of another company in this same space that is
bothering to require technical justification for IPv4 use.
- We're no longer in a world where IPv4 is running out. IPv4 has
already run out.
The point of recording why any given IPv4 address was in use was
for the case where BitFolk had to go back to RIPE to ask for more
IPv4. Those records would have been used to prove that the IPv4
allocation that BitFolk already has really is all used up. BitFolk
won't be going back to RIPE because there's no IPv4 left to go
back for. We just have to manage what we have.
So, from Monday 14th March we're going to start charging for each
IPv4 address after the first one. The charge will be £0.50+VAT per
IPv4 per month (£1.40+VAT per quarter or £5.00+VAT per year).
This will take effect immediately for new signups, but existing
customers will only see it on invoices falling due on or after 14th
March. Those with PayPal subscriptions will have the subscriptions
altered, and those with Direct Debit authorisation will see the
authorisation cancelled (they're for a fixed amount) so will need to
re-authorise.
If you're paying monthly or quarterly and your next bill falls due
some time between now and March 14th you could consider switching to
yearly, as you then won't be charged for this until that year runs
out. You'd therefore save £6.00+VAT per IPv4 per year (£0.50 x 12
monthly payments).
I should point out that (under either this or the previous regime)
BitFolk is not in any realistic danger of running out of IPv4
addresses; this is just about managing what we already have in a
better, fairer and more transparent way which is also more in line
with customer expectations.
IPv6 /64s and /56s remain entirely free and there are no plans to
change that.
If there is something I have forgotten to cover, please do let us
know, either by replying here to to support@???.
Cheers,
Andy
--
http://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
"It is I, Simon Quinlank. The chief conductor on the bus that is called
hobby." — Simon Quinlank
