FIOS versus Comcast?

[Wombat]

But nothing you've said is an advantage of PPPoE, it's the rest of the network.

[Gurm]

PPPoE is bad for several reasons.

1. Username/password. I just don't like the idea of this. I know, I know - my IP/MAC address can be used to trace me too. But I just hate having my username and password appended to all the porn packets I might potentially hypothetically request on the IntarWeb.

2. Overhead.

3. Poor implementation. Across the nation, DSL is implemented poorly in many areas. Like I said before - in my PA locality, DSL ... REQUIRED ... that the PC use an MTU of 1400. Do you have any idea what this does to your networking? UGH.

[az]

You're correct, Wombat. But as I see it, at least our implementation of PPPoE doesn't really do any horrible things. It may not be the most elegant solution, but it's certainly good enough, IMHO.

Gurm: I have no idea what that does to my networking Our DSL here likes the MTU to be somewhere around 1470 to 1492, IIRC. I don't know what that means, though.

[Gurm]

You're correct, Wombat. But as I see it, at least our implementation of PPPoE doesn't really do any horrible things. It may not be the most elegant solution, but it's certainly good enough, IMHO.

Gurm: I have no idea what that does to my networking Our DSL here likes the MTU to be somewhere around 1470 to 1492, IIRC. I don't know what that means, though.

Well the first thing that happens is that if you DON'T change your MTU, some protocols from some sites... just... don't... work.

That was what clued me in down in PA. Some web sites (like buy.com for example) just never showed up.

Then even AFTER you change it, the packets get fragmented. In terms of real-world performance at the 768k level? Not too much impact. But at 15MBit... damn that could SUUUUUUUUUCK.