nanog mailing list archives

Re: PPPoE vs. Bridged ADSL


From: Saxon Jones <saxon.jones () gmail com>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:44:23 -0600

On Cisco hardware PPPoE was cleaner if you have other ISPs' customers on
your network and you want to put them in their own VRF's. I've been out of
that world for a while now, so maybe it's changed.

-saxon

2009/10/28 JD <jdupuy-list () socket net>

There is a debate among our engineering staff as to the best means of
provisioning broadband service over copper facilities. Due to our history,
we have a mix out in the field. Some customers are on DSLAMS set up for
bridged connections with DHCP; isolated by a variety of means including
VLANS. Some customers are on PPPoE over ATM. Some customers are on PPPoE
over ethernet (PPPoEoE ?? :) ).

There seem to be pros and cons to both directions. Certainly true bridging
has less overhead. But modern CPEs can minimize the impact of PPPoE. PPPoE
allows for more flexible provisioning; including via RADIUS. Useful for the
call center turning customers on/off without NOC help. But VLAN tricks can
sometimes do many of the same things.

Opinions on this? I'd be interested in hearing the latest real world
experience for both and the direction most folks are going in.

BTW, I doubt it is relevant to the discussion, but most of our DSLAMS are
Adtran TA5000s (or are being migrated to that platform.) We are mostly a
cisco shop for the upstream routers.

Thanks,

John




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