[aclug-L] Re: ADSL, SWBell & Linux

[Steven Saner <ssaner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There are reasons other than IP space to go with PPPOE. The primary
one is security. There are some fairly interesting security issues
that come up with the bridged service. However, PPPOE is somewhat more
complex to implement from the ISP side. Do you know what kind of
equipment your provider is using to provision the service?


On Sun, Jan 30, 2000 at 01:16:27PM -0600, Dale W Hodge wrote:
> > Now, there is yet another way that ADSL service can be
> > provisioned. That is PPP over Ethernet. I believe someone on this list
> > said that this is what they were doing. I am curious who you are
> > getting the Internet service from. Is SWB doing this? In this case you
> > would need a NIC in your "router" connected to the ADSL modem. You
> > would then need to run a PPP client on that router to establish
> > connection with the provider.
> 
> That was me, and I'm out in Clearwater, where we have our own little
> monopoly serving us Telephone/Internet/Cable TV.  They've decided to go with
> PPPOE, which by the looks of things is what many of the ISP's in larger
> markets are going to.  The reasoning behind it is mostly conservation of IP
> addresses.  With PPPOE you don't have a network IP until you log onto the
> server.  It allows for the provider to have a 'pool' of IP's much like they
> do with modems.  Since most residential users don't require a 24/7
> connection, it let's the provider get by with fewer IP's.  Providers like
> Bell Atlantic are offering PPPOE for about $10 less than a bridged
> connection. Whether SWB will follow it's siblings in moving to this is
> unknown.
> 
> FWIW, I have PPPOE *and* a fixed IP. For a single IP, this was just a change
> in the RADIUS server. The interesting thing is, this means that whether I
> connect by DSL or by modem, I always get the same IP.  This does offer a bit
> of redundancy should my DSL connection fail for any reason.
> 
> Finally, I should mention that for now, PPPOE is a user space client. There
> are about five different clients out there, with varying amounts of
> complexity.  I've settled on RoaringPenguin's client, as it seems the be the
> current client of choice.  It has a relatively low CPU usage, approximately
> 2% on a 200MHZ Pentium.  I've heard that one client can chew up 20% usage on
> a 200MHZ Pentium! (Which was the one that came with my modem!) I've been
> told that the 2.4 kernel will likely support PPPOE, but that's still a ways
> off.
> 
> If anyone has other questions, drop me a note.  I've done lots of studying
> on DSL, including how to set up a point-to-point DSL link over a dry pair.
> It's in my current business plans to set up such a link (from my home office
> to my business)later this year.
> 
> --dwh
> 
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> Dale W Hodge * dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * dwh@xxxxxxxx * dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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