Re: t-dsl

[Sean Richardson <ghent@Dartmouth.EDU>]

A friend of mine asked his provider (SWBell) the same question
when they thrust the PPPoe software into his hands and made him use it
for his connection.

They said that they had started using it because it provided easier
administration of accounts...tracking and such...and because it limited
the user to one ip address. Apparently some of their initial customers
were setting up home networks and not masking the machines behind a
router(of whatever sort) and so their machines were each grabbing an IP
address. This was quickly eating up their valuable address space. Well,
rather than configure their end of the system so users could only get on
address they just switched to PPPoe so they didn't even have to worry
about it. It also makes it a bit more of a pain to use...b/c its PPP and
not just a straight TCP connection.



But he is the lucky one... 

--Begin Rant--
I places my initial order 5 months ago...and
they were unable to get it working after coming out. Of course they
billed me for it (though that was quickly fixed...by me calling and
harassing them), and when I recently called to have them try again (they
have been working on the lines) they were unable to process my order b/c
their computer still thought I had a connection..and it still does.
Apparently it takes several weeks to erase records from a computer
database and a new order can not be started until the computer decides
my old one really doesn't exist....
--End Rant--

-sean

> 	This may sound like a silly question, but what is the
> use/purpose of PPP over Ethernet? Why is it better than setting up a
> connection with ifconfig eth0?