Ubuntu
pppoeconf package

DSL configuration is suboptimal.

Bug #52167 reported by lp-void on 2006-07-07

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	pppoeconf (Baltix)	Fix Released	Medium	Unassigned
	pppoeconf (Ubuntu)	Fix Released	Medium	Unassigned

Bug Description

I recently installed Dapper onto my wife's computer. She, unlike me, connected to the Internet via DSL (with no router in between). When I installed Dapper for her, I also decided to get it net connected. (I didn't bother with this for Breezy since she only used Ubuntu at the time to play Supertux. Don't ask.)

After a while of scraping around the system I found the program pppoeconf. It is not related in any way to the "System->Administration->Networking" network configuration utility and nor is it referred to by said utility. It is, instead, an aging, clunky CLI application.

Copying the settings I needed from the Windows side of my wife's computer (and copying the password from her original invoice), I proceeded to try and get Dapper to talk to the outside world. Every attempt failed with "authorization failure" error messages from plog. I did note a couple of points, however. (I apologise if comparing Ubuntu to Windows hurts feelings.)

1. In Windows, I have three fields to enter: service provider, userid and password. Pppoeconf gives me only two: userid and password.

2. In Windows, I provide those three values and it Just Works. In pppoeconf, if I read the help, I find that I have to try about a dozen different variations of userid that incorporate the service provider and userid.

3. It took me literally less than a minute to make a new network connection in Windows and have it up and running with that same information. (This was a test to see if the password, et al were indeed the correct ones.) After about a half-hour of wrestling with pppoeconf I gave up without once having seen it work. Except for...

4. If I booted into Windows and connected to the Internet, then quickly restarted the system and booted into Dapper, the pppoeconf setup that refused to work suddenly connected. But...

5. If I repeated the experiment, delaying the restart (putting the GRUB menu up and leaving it there for a minute or so) the pppoeconf setup failed to connect again.

I gave up after that and just shelled out the cash for a Netgear router. After plugging it in and setting up the wiring, I fired up Dapper and connected to the router. The router gives three values for PPPoE configuration: service provider, userid and password. And just like under Windows it connects on the first try with no hassles. (There seemed to be a short delay the first time I did it, but every subsequent connection was like lightning. I'm not sure what this signifies.)

What this leads me to conclude is that it is, in fact, possible to have good quality, simple tools for connecting over PPPoE to DSL connections. I know from direct experience that Windows and Netgear routers both offer this functionality and I know from Mac users of my acquaintance that MacOS has had this functionality for a while too. I also know that Dapper does not. What is needed are:

1. In the short term, a good, well-written, easy-to-follow document needs to be provided <b>and made visible to end-users</b> (perhaps a Help click on the network configuration utility?) to point to pppoeconf and give simple instructions, replete with many examples, on how to get a DSL connection working.

2. In the longer term, the network configuration utility needs to be enhanced to work like Windows, Mac and Netgear (and likely all other routers for the mass market) do: you enter three fields, click "OK" and it Just Works.