Public bug reported:
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.
** Affects: Ubuntu
Importance: Untriaged
Status: Unconfirmed
--
DSL configuration is suboptimal.
https://launchpad.net/bugs/52167
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