[ale] Cablemodem problems (Charter); DSL maybe

[Ken Cochran]

(See bottom of message)

>Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:14:02 -0400
>From: David Tomaschik <ozone at webgroup.org>
>To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>Subject: Re: [ale] Cablemodem problems (Charter); DSL maybe
>
>Ken Cochran wrote:
>>> Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:19:31 -0400
>>> From: Brian Pitts <brian at polibyte.com>
>>> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [ale] Cablemodem problems (Charter); DSL maybe
>>>
>>> Ken Cochran wrote:
>>>  nastiness just to have Internet access that works at all. :-(
>>>
>>>> b.  NAT issues
>>>>     I see the little Westell modems from Bellsouth at customers'
>>>>     homes & notice the following:
>>>>     -  The modem itself handles the PPPoE/PPPoA stuff nowadays,
>>>>        so no need for that on the client computer.
>>>>     -  The client computer gets a gets an RFC1918 private
>>>>        address, 192.168.100.x iirc.
>>>>
>>>>     My own internal private network is also RFC1918 & 192.168.x.y.
>>>>     If I change to DSL with its required PPPo{EA}, it appears
>>>>     that I'll become "double-NAT"ed; is this a problem?  If so,
>>>>     how do I deal with it?
>>>>
>>> Solution 1 is turn off your existing network equipment or modify it to
>>> disable NAT functionality. Solution 2 is put the Westell in bridged
>>> mode. There should be old ALE threads about this.
>>>
>>> http://fastaccess.drivers.bellsouth.net/documents/Westell_Guide.pdf
>>>
>>> -Brian
>>
>> Don't know how feasible Solution 1 is; my "main machine" is also
>> the NAT/firewall (multiport NIC, FreeBSD, etc.).  Looks like to
>> turn off NAT would mean exposing all internal machines directly
>> to the Westell, thereby negating any of "my" firewall.
>>
>> I was thinking about bridged mode but I'm leery of my own
>> machine(s) handling PPPo{AE}.  It really looks like I'm between a
>> rock & a hard place.  Cablemodem has been fine when it works but
>> I think I'm getting pretty much nothing but BS from Charter.
>>
>> -kc
>>
>>From my experience, a westell in bridged (passthrough) mode actually
>handless PPPoE for you, so your PC doesn't need to authenticate, just
>needs to be a DHCP client.
>
>David

Oh really?  Well, then, if bridged mode = the thing works
like the cablemodem (vis a vis fixing little things like MTU)
& just becomes a DHCP server I might just be good to go,
e.g. DSL on an available Ethernet port (which I have :) &
voila, backup broadband...

Anyone competing with Bellsouth/ATT deal?

-kc