Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 07:16:54 -0800 From: gabriel <normal1.lists@gmail.com> To: Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: "R. W." <list-freebsd-2004@morbius.sent.com> Subject: Re: DSL support Message-ID: <efb858204110707166b6bd6e1@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNCEJLEPAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> References: <200411070039.45830.list-freebsd-2004@morbius.sent.com> <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNCEJLEPAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>
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lol, do you work for cisco? - Overall, his views are agreeable. Or get cable! :\ On Sun, 7 Nov 2004 01:49:34 -0800, Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> wrote: > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of R. W. > > Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 4:40 PM > > To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > Subject: Re: DSL support > > > > > > On Saturday 06 November 2004 15:34, Mark wrote: > > > I am on sbc dsl and found this page covered the setup. > > > > > > http://renaud.waldura.com/doc/freebsd/pppoe/ > > > > > > On Fri, Nov 05, 2004 at 09:54:30AM -0800, William Scott wrote: > > > > Dear Sir or Madam, > > > > > > > > Is there any support/documentation for configuring FreeBSD for > > > > use with a DSL modem (my ISP is SBC)? > > > > I recently had some trouble in setting up an ADSL modem (it didn't work > > with 5.2.1). What I did in the end was buy a 4-port ADSL NAT router, > > and I think it's actually for the best. They are quite cheap these > > days, and they have some strong advantages over a basic modem. > > > > Hi R.W., > > I work at an ISP and before anyone goes running off and buying a > ADSL router please consider this. > > We have recommended these for the past 3 years now, for DSL lines, > ever since we started selling DSL. The big advantage of them from > our point of view is that windows systems tend to not get infected > with viruses as rapidly - thus we get fewer support calls. The > primary one we have always recommended has been the Linksys BEFSR41. > This one has several advantages - it can act as a router -or- address > translator, it has logging, and can send the log to a remote syslogger > host. (there is a program someone wrote for FreeBSD that captures the > log output, BTW) > > HOWEVER - we are no longer recommending the Linksys devices. Why - > because over the last 3 months we have had an increasing number of them > which have been installed for several years, just fail. And the failures > aren't pretty. Usually the packet flows through the router start getting > slower and slower, and the user gets an increasing number of disconnections > from websites and such that they go to. It is insidious, and very very > difficult to tell the difference from either a congested ISP or virus > activity, so most often the user just gets more and more dissatisfied > with their DSL line, never realizing it's the cheap router that's the > problem. When things get bad enough they start power-cycling the router > and that 'fixes' things for a few hours, and the customer > gets the impression that this is 'normal' for these devices. > > It has almost cost us several customers as the customer blames the ISP > for slowness and not their $35 cheapass device. And initially when it > started happening, we didn't catch on that quick. And we have spent > far too much time with troubleshooting them now. Unfortunately a number > of business customers we have, put these devices in a couple years back > when they signed up, and now these are coming back to haunt us. > > And the thing that really scares me is that we have recently had a > few of these problems show up with dlink and other manufacturers devices. > I am just hoping that this isn't the start of a trend. > > Today what we recommend ethernet-to-ethernet Cisco routers or Cisco > PIX firewalls for businesses. The PIX and modern Cisco IOS can be > setup to speak PPPoE directly. And a used 10-user PIX 501 can be had > on Ebay fairly cheaply, I have seen them go as cheap as $200, and it > is ideal for a home setup - assuming that is, that someone at the house > is really in to networking and wants to work with the real equipment > that industry uses, not the toys that you get at Fry's. > > And for home users that are technical but too cheap to do that, I tell > them to use a PC setup as a router, NOT one of these. > > Unfortunately we have way too many nontechnical windows users who these > devices are pretty much the only way they have of putting up a firewall. > Nowadays when I talk with one of them I put the Fear of God into them > about these devices with instructions to call immediately if they notice > the slightest problem with their connections, and I cross my fingers > that when the time comes for the device to die, that they remember what > I told them. > > One last thing with these, while they can do a lot, if you need to > run a pptp server, it is very problematic to get them to work. At least > when using a FreeBSD system as a router, you get a real public IP number > on the outside interface, rather than everything being private, and > if you want to run a server, you will have fewest problems with this > setup over the long run. > > Ted > > > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > -- gabriel, Member of: FreeBSD-Announce FreeBSD-Hardware FreeBSD-Multimedia FreeBSD-questions
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