A problem with netinstall (pppoe, Etch, no DHCP)

["Aleksei" <itasitihki@tao.ca>]

My ISP does not provide DHCP, so I configured network manually, all data I 
got from windows by ipconfig /all
command.

I left http proxy field empty, my LAN uses http proxy but internet 
connection does not so I supposed I do not need it.

However during installation, "configuring APT - scanning the mirror" phase 
does not work out, whatever mirror I choose.

My internet is through pppoe, but at no point netinstall asks
login and parol. So apparently I should install just base system, then 
configure pppoe and then go on with apt-get.

Here I found old tutorial for Sarge, according to which pppoeconfig should 
be in the base system:
http://www.debiantutorials.org/content/view/6/234/

However there is no pppoeconfig in my base system!

I would appreciate if someone could give me a hint what to do...

(x-posted to http://www.debianhelp.org/node/10759)