IPv4.1 should have just had 39 bits, to be written like 999.999.999.999. (I know this wouldn't have actually had much effect, nobody is going to add new routes in the middle of "class A" spaces that already existed, so it would just give those that already had IP addresses more IP addresses. Additionally, people really abuse decimal addresses in horrifying ways; for example, Fios steals 192.168.1.100-192.168.1.150 for its TV service, and that range doesn't really correspond to anything that you can mask off in binary. It only makes sense in decimal, which is not what any underlying machinery uses. They should have given themselves a /26 or something. You get 3 for yourself (modulo the broadcast and gateway address), and they get 1 for TV.)