IPv4 and IPv6: When the Internet was born, no one could have imagined that at some point there would be no more IP addresses. This was of course before your toaster needed an IP address to connect to the Internet.
So IP addresses started to run out on IPv4. Then came the solution called IPv6. Do you know the differences between IPv4 and IPv6? Which one are you using? Should you switch? 
IPv4 and IPv6
The terms IPv4 and IPv6 refer to both the IP address standards that define how IP addresses are allocated and what they are. The numbers 4 and 6 indicate the version number (v4). But there are some key differences between IPv4 and IPv6 ,and also in IP addresses:
IPv4 is the older version whose IP addresses have been exhausted, and IPv6 is the new version that has new IP addresses for your computer and your toaster.
IPv4 has IP addresses that are displayed as 32-bit numeric values written in decimal, while IPv6 uses IPs written in hexadecimal, which is 128-bit.
What do you use?
IPv6 has been around for a while. IPv4 allocated all the IP addresses it could in 2012, and upgrades to IPv6 have been rolling out since then. But in 2018, too many devices are still using IPv4. How? If IPv4 doesn't have new addresses, how can all the new smartphones access the Internet?
Right now, routers seem to play a major role. Your router is the device that gets an IP address, and the devices you use and connect to your router have internal addresses. Your router uses the internal IP addresses to make sure that traffic is routed to the right device. So if you have the newest Macbook, or the latest Surface tablet, you're probably using IPv6. Those devices also support IPv6, so there's no problem. The problem, however, is with older devices.
It's also worth mentioning that while all the IP addresses available under IPv4 have been allocated, not all of them are in use all the time. Many of them are not being used, which means that the transition to IPv6 will likely be delayed.
Switch to IPv6
The transition to IPv6 is not easy. Although the IPv6 standard is much superior to v4, the change to IPv6 costs money, as it requires hardware and software. The ISP will have to upgrade its infrastructure to support IPv6. But that is not our concern.
Next comes the router. It will have to be upgraded and not many people buy their own router. Most people use the router provided by their Internet service provider. So when ISPs upgrade their network to support IPv6, they will have to include the new routers in the same bill.
But if you have internet at home, there is no reason to rush, and your provider knows this. IPv6 exists, but no one can force ISPs to make the new standard available. Current router technology uses IPv4 a lot. So don't expect miracles unless there is some new legislation or unless there is a serious risk from a security flaw in IPv4.
Yes IPv6 is better
The biggest advantage of using IPv6 is that all devices can connect directly to the internet. Right now, your devices connect through a router and don’t have their own IP addresses. If you need to find a device on a network, you have to look it up by its MAC address. This of course slows things down. A router is only as fast as your web requests are answered. So when devices can connect directly to the internet, browsing will be faster. That doesn’t mean you don’t need a router. But connecting directly to the internet without internal IPs works much more efficiently.
The IPv6 standard is also much more secure. It encrypts traffic and ensures the integrity of each packet. This gives you VPN security. No, VPNs are not useless anymore. You can use them to hide your activity from your ISP. But with IPv6 even without them, your traffic will be more secure than with IPv4.
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