Is PPPoA better than PPPoE?
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office politics
It's all just 1s and 0s
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from http://www.bbarrera.com/networks.htm
CHOPPY WATERS: Does your ISP use the PPP over ATM (PPPoA) protocol? Then protecting and sharing your Internet connection with a home router/gateway/firewall will be a problem. This is true for Dual Link firmware version 1.0.14, and I haven't seen any firmware updates on the 3Com website (last checked May 7, 2001).
PPPoA: The "Problem Protocol" for LANs
PPPoA is a "problem protocol" for your LAN because it can't be used over standard Ethernet connections. To enable Ethernet-based LAN connections, the Dual Link converts PPPoA on the ISP side of modem into "PPPoE:3com" on the LAN side of modem. Why? Without converting the packets, your computer would need an ATM network interface card instead of an Ethernet interface. However, PPPoE:3com is a non-standard implementation of PPPoE (per IETF RFC2516), and that raises interoperability issues with routers and PPPoE client software (if you don't have a router).
Other ADSL modem vendors chose different approaches to converting the "problem protocol" into an Ethernet compatible protocol. These other approaches have few or no interoperability issues. For example, Alcatel STH converts PPPoA into PPTP (and most consumer routers support this standard), Cisco consumer modems terminate the PPPoA session and act as a gateway/router, and PairGain Megabit modems also use the gateway/router approach.
CHOPPY WATERS: Does your ISP use the PPP over ATM (PPPoA) protocol? Then protecting and sharing your Internet connection with a home router/gateway/firewall will be a problem. This is true for Dual Link firmware version 1.0.14, and I haven't seen any firmware updates on the 3Com website (last checked May 7, 2001).
PPPoA: The "Problem Protocol" for LANs
PPPoA is a "problem protocol" for your LAN because it can't be used over standard Ethernet connections. To enable Ethernet-based LAN connections, the Dual Link converts PPPoA on the ISP side of modem into "PPPoE:3com" on the LAN side of modem. Why? Without converting the packets, your computer would need an ATM network interface card instead of an Ethernet interface. However, PPPoE:3com is a non-standard implementation of PPPoE (per IETF RFC2516), and that raises interoperability issues with routers and PPPoE client software (if you don't have a router).
Other ADSL modem vendors chose different approaches to converting the "problem protocol" into an Ethernet compatible protocol. These other approaches have few or no interoperability issues. For example, Alcatel STH converts PPPoA into PPTP (and most consumer routers support this standard), Cisco consumer modems terminate the PPPoA session and act as a gateway/router, and PairGain Megabit modems also use the gateway/router approach.
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