Mondo Knows Facts
The world ran out of IPv4 addresses in 2011
The last five free blocks were handed to regional registries that February, forcing a move to 128-bit addressing IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses, giving about 4.3 billion possible values, a number that seemed ample when the protocol was written. The central registry allocated its final five blocks on 3 February 2011, and networks have since traded, shared and rationed what remains. IPv6 uses 128 bits, but adoption is gradual because every device along a path has to understand it. It sits in Mondo's technology collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Tags: ipv4, ipv6, internet
The world ran out of IPv4 addresses in 2011: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The last five free blocks were handed to regional registries that February, forcing a move to 128-bit addressing. The figure is taken from IETF, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a technology fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.