Re: Metallic DSL in Tokyo

[Jonathan Byrne <jq@example.com>]

Tod McQuillin (devin@example.com) wrote:

> Apparently they used to be NATted (private IP) but now they are not
> (global IP) -- the press release is
> here: http://www.metallic.co.jp/topi/20001019.html

My Japanese reading ability isn't what it once was, so I'm
not sure if they mean the DSL modem/router was changed to a global
IP, or the boxes connected to it also where given global IPs.
Do you know?

> That's fine unless they are using PPP over ethernet, which I've heard can
> be a nightmare.

It's PPP on the WAN side of the router, but I'd be pretty surprised
if it was on the LAN side, since there is no technical reason to
do that, and it would just create more work for them.   Since
AFAIK neither Win nor Mac support encapsulating PPP over Ether,
they'd need to give some software and support to all their customers
to get it working.  More headache, less profit.  If it just runs
Ether, all you have to do on the computer end is turn on DHCP and
plug it in.

Jonathan