The newest PLMN in Norway is ice. I had heard rumours that they supported IPv6, so I decided to order a subscription to try them out for myself.

IPv6 support

IPv6 did unfortunately not work out of the box on my Android 10 phone. The reason was that the APN protocol and APN roaming protocol settings were set to IPv4 by default. That is very unfortunate, as it ascertains that essentially none of their customers will actually use IPv6.

That said, IPv6 started working fine after I changed those settings to IPv4/IPv6, as demonstrated by a quick visit to test-ipv6.com:

Figure 1: test-ipv6.com screenshot

IPv6 also worked just fine in my Linux laptop:

[:~] $ mmcli -b 10
  --------------------------------
  General            |  dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Bearer/10
                     |       type: default
  --------------------------------
  Status             |  connected: yes
                     |  suspended: no
                     |  interface: wwp0s20f0u3c3
                     | ip timeout: 20
  --------------------------------
  Properties         |        apn: ice.net
                     |    roaming: allowed
                     |    ip type: ipv4v6
  --------------------------------
  IPv4 configuration |     method: static
                     |    address: 100.83.189.109
                     |     prefix: 30
                     |    gateway: 100.83.189.110
                     |        dns: 185.83.167.68, 185.83.167.4
                     |        mtu: 1500
  --------------------------------
  IPv6 configuration |     method: static
                     |    address: 2a05:9cc4:7e:85fb:5a2c:80ff:fe13:9208
                     |     prefix: 64
                     |    gateway: ::
                     |        dns: 2a05:9cc4:f000:1::4, 2a05:9cc3:f000:1::4
                     |        mtu: 1500
  --------------------------------
  Statistics         |   duration: 30

As shown above, ice are using Carrier-grade NAT with IPv4 addresses assigned from RFC 6598 space. I can not fault them for that, given that there are no new public IPv4 addresses to be had from the RIPE NCC.

The IPv6 address is public, as expected. I can ping it from external sources using ICMPv6, but it appears that all other externally initiated IPv6 traffic is blocked somewhere inside ice’s core network. This is true for their mobile broadband APN internet as well, unfortunately. This overzealous firewalling means that the usefulness of IPv6 in mobile broadband and IoT use cases is unnecessarily limited.

Mobile broadband: wifi router mandatory

One of the reasons I wanted to evaluate ice was to see if their offerings were suitable for a mobile broadband IoT project I manage at work. (They were not, due to their IPv6 firewalling.)

However, while investigating this I noticed something I found rather odd, namely that ice do not allow their customers to order mobile broadband subscriptions without also purchasing a wireless router from them.

I have zero use for a wireless router; the IoT devices I was considering them for all have built-in LTE modems. So does my laptop, for that matter. Why ice do not offer a SIM card-only mobile broadband subscription is beyond my comprehension. Hopefully they will do so in the future.

GDPR violations

After I logged in to the online customer portal for the first time, I noticed this interesting section on my profile page:

Figure 2: Consents section in portal

This basically states that I have given consents (Norwegian: samtykker) to two different categories of marketing as well as to customer surveys. I am certain, however, that I was never asked to consent to any of these while signing up as a subscriber - thus making this a clear violation of Article 7 GDPR.

I certainly do not appreciate companies not treating my personal data responsibly according to the GDPR, so I promptly sent a request to ice’s data protection officer, requesting that they document when and how I gave these alleged consents. It shall be interesting to see what they answer.