AT&T West → PPPoE on my 5100b or Router? Which way is best?

I am an SBC user.

I am wondering if it is better to set my SpeedStream® 5100b to do PPPoE or let my router do it.  I use the Linksys BEFSR41 router.  I also have a 5100a I can use.

What offers the best performance?
What offers the best security?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

I have a 5100b and set it for pppoe on computer and use my dlink router to handle the pppoe.

Then if I need to check stats I just plug a machine directly to the 5100b. As far as performance no difference really. If you have mulitple machines I would let the router do pppoe.

said by gdm:

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I have a 5100b and set it for pppoe on computer and use my dlink router to handle the pppoe.

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I have same modem and router. I did the above and so far have not had any problems. I've heard that some folks set the modem to "PPPoE not used (Bridged)" and have no problems either so I don't know what the difference is in the settings. Anyway, do the above and you will be fine.

Al

Personally, I'd suggest leaving the modem at default and setting up the router to just grab an IP by DHCP.

said by sechs:

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Personally, I'd suggest leaving the modem at default and setting up the router to just grab an IP by DHCP.

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Why? I'm not saying that's wrong or anything, just curious as to why you like doing it that way.

1. I don't have to jack the the modem's setup, beyond providing my username and password.
2. This isn't a major change for my router setup than when it was doing the PPP. It still gets the WAN IP.
3. I can still get the to modem interface to check stats, etc.

Thank you for every ones input.

I guess it really doesn't matter how I use the 5100b; PPPoE or not.

I was just searching to see if one way or the other had better performance and security.

Thanks to all!

I have a Netgear MR814v2 wireless B router (cable/dsl router) and I am going to get a DSL modem. My netgear is currently using 192.168.0.1 as the router's configuration. I understand that if I plug in the DSL modem it'll most likely take the address 192.168.0.1 , resulting in a conflict with the router. I've set the router's internal IP to 192.168.1.1 , when I get my modem and plug it in the router, will I be able to access the router's config at 192.168.1.1 and access the modem's configuration at 192.168.0.1 ? Thanks

I decided to leave PPPoE on the modem. I also have a Linksys BEFSR41 v2 router and I like being able to access both GUIs via their web addresses without having to unplug cables. I saw Toaster2k post that he recommended having the router doing PPPoE as it's one less software program running between your computer and the internet, but I haven't had any problems.

I did some testing and I left it on the modem b/c I get better performance that way. It is also nice that the DSL modem can get a signal independently of all other hardware.

If you do decide to let PPPoE stay on the 5100b be sure to set your DHCP renew time to 1 day or so. The default time is every 10 mins. which actually renews every 5 mins. If you ever decided to use a VPN you would be kicked off every 5 mins. for about 10 or 15 seconds. It's bad.

I haven't changed any of the default settings and haven't had any issues with VPNs.

It sure was an issue for us. Once I changed the DHCP renewal to 1 day the disconnect problem went away. I suppose if you use software VPN that runs on your laptop or PC it may not be a problem. Our IPSec VPN runs on the same firewall/router as the DHCP so the VPN tunnels breaks down and has to be rebuilt with every DHCP renewal.

I'd say that's a poor VPN implementation.

Some VPNs, namely the Nortel Connectivity, are very sensitive to DHCP lease renewals if the main site has set it up a certain way. Whenever there is a IP address renew (even if it is to the same address), the client breaks the VPN tunnel. Most of the VPN products do not have this problem. Even Nortel doesn't do it all the time. It depends on the main site configuration.