AOL move from PPPoA to PPPoE

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Neo
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AOL move from PPPoA to PPPoE

Post by Neo » Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:13 pm

AOL plan to move from PPPoA to PPoE - this primarily affects modem users (USB or Ethernet) but they also appear to be operating on both PPPoA and PPPoE for routers, so one may find that they need to change their router to PPPoE for it to sync. correctly.

See the post on ADSLGuide for more info.

"Old" settings on AOL

PS: Thanks to eMuNiX for passing on the info ;)
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Post by markybrooknow » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:00 pm

Thanks Neo... good grief this looks like a complete cockup! As a later post says AOL haven't changed their advice on the aol.com website :roll:
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreade ... ew=&sb=&o=
Does this now mean that the RT software is incorrectly setup for AOL through either BT ipstream or LLU, and we need to set up AOL as PPOE (not PPOA), LLC (rather than VC) and MTU of 1450 (instead of 1400) and "ISP" as "other ISP"???
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Post by biro » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:28 pm

markybrooknow wrote:62464&page=&view=&sb=&o=
Does this now mean that the RT software is incorrectly setup for AOL through either BT ipstream or LLU, and we need to set up AOL as PPOE (not PPOA), LLC (rather than VC) and MTU of 1450 (instead of 1400) and "ISP" as "other ISP"???
Unlike on the old "quick setup" ( caused more confusion than assistance for novices ) ALL settings are editable even after selecting an 'ISP'.
And of course ISP details can be added / edited in future firmware ( although would require reseting to 'factory' for changes to be active )

:wink: Or if someone asks Neo nicely then should be possible to write a util to add any new ISP settings to an existing config ( although a util can't change the factory config! )

Edit :oops: Wasn't thinking properly (was @ work :lol: ) is nothing to do with the configuration is just a 'menu' item in the html code
Last edited by biro on Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by eMuNiX » Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:00 pm

markybrooknow wrote:Thanks Neo... good grief this looks like a complete cockup! As a later post says AOL haven't changed their advice on the aol.com website :roll:
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreade ... ew=&sb=&o=
Does this now mean that the RT software is incorrectly setup for AOL through either BT ipstream or LLU, and we need to set up AOL as PPOE (not PPOA), LLC (rather than VC) and MTU of 1450 (instead of 1400) and "ISP" as "other ISP"???
Agreed Marky I see an influx of people, on many forums, complaining of not being able to connect. This seems to have been a test implementation by BT that AOL may have sponsored and have taken up as default (coz thats what AOL uses in the US or something). The information given out to customers doesn't seem to be quite as well communicated as it could have been. For the Netgear router that my mother in law has, the documentation indicates the usual PPPoA connection (for those that do things manually) but the quick setup wizard appears to use PPPoE. Luckily the Netgear is easy to setup, just like the Safecom etc, so no great shakes. Users with a Speedtouch, with UK firmware may have more fun as this only has PPPoA (as far as I know) as an option so you have to either change the .ini file or choose an international firmware (which I run now) and pick the settings from there. A little more work with using the setup wizard but okay......the Speedtouch is a pain to use without the wizard if you aren't happy with CLI or changing .ini files.
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Post by Kieran » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:51 pm

On the plus side if we put info about how to change router settings in a sticky on our home page then we might get more hits when people google for help :wink:
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Post by markybrooknow » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:50 am

I can't seem to get the new AOL settings into the RT firmware. If I use other ISP (or indeed AOL) and put in PPPOE, the LLC/VC encapsulation check disappears. How can I therefore put in PPPOE, LLC, MTU=1400? Also you can't change MTU, only MRU so I assume MRU=MTU - is that right?

I spoke to AOL yesterday and they confirmed that for LLU lines (not BT IP stream) solely PPPOE with LLC encapsulation will be used from the start of October 2006 with an MTU of 1400 (although sometimes their own advice says MTU=1450!)
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Post by eMuNiX » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:19 pm

Pretty sure that MTU and MRU can be interchanged, even though one is maximum Receive unit and the other is maximum Transmission unit, can't answer about the size. It used to 1400 but now seems to be raised to 1450, I saw this in my mother in laws user manual and has been posted by an AOL rep, however this may only be good for LLU rather than BT provision, safest bet is to start with 1400 and get connected, then raise it and see if you get packet loss or no access to certain sites. As for the LLC/Vcmux disappearing, perhaps LLC is the only option available with PPPoE so it defaults to that?
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Post by thechief » Thu Sep 28, 2006 12:59 pm

Yes, you shouldn't worry about encapsulation settings for PPPoE.
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Post by markybrooknow » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:33 pm

Thanks for your advice. I can't get ANY router to work with this LLU AOL connection now (it did last week) with either PPPOA or PPPOE and yet the USB modem connects perfectly. Mind you DS signal is only 58dB which may explain the router not connecting. I suspect there may be other AOL router horror stories coming in the near future. :evil:
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Post by markybrooknow » Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:03 pm

Update...
Although I cannot get any RT firmwared router to connect to above AOL LLU customer, I have just tried a Netgear DG834G and it works. Thechief please take note that the netgear offered a choice of encapsulation for PPPOE and I was able to select LLC. Could it be that the RT firmware is not working correctly for PPPOE/LLC? This is the first AOL LLU customer I have seen so this situation hopefully is rare. Although according to AOL PPPOE/LLC should work on AOL BTipstream lines as well. Has anyone checked this yet?

Also I noticed that AOL have released a special setup tool for the Dg834g that converts the Netgear settings to PPPOE/LLC through the tool and ethernet cable.
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Post by thechief » Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:29 pm

There is no reason that I can see why the RT firmware should not work correctly with PPPoE/LLC. If AOL had to release a special program for the Netgear, that suggests to me that the problem is at their end.
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Post by eMuNiX » Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:57 pm

If I get time I will take my SART2 with RT firmware to my mother in laws and try it out. I know that setting up the DG834G that she has was a bit painful with AOL but nothing too bad. If not this weekend then certainly within the week.
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Post by Alan » Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:41 pm

Emu, know thats what I call commitment. you are willing to go to the Mother in laws to help RT :lol:
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Post by markybrooknow » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:18 am

If AOL had to release a special program for the Netgear, that suggests to me that the problem is at their end.
The customer tried this program and it didn't work through wireless. I set up the DG834g manually through the web interface. Although the previous running of this program may have altered something, I don't think it did.
Emu, know thats what I call commitment. you are willing to go to the Mother in laws to help RT
Alan You've been watching those reruns of "Bewitched" where Darren has to set up AOL without using any witchcraft haven't you? :lol:
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Post by thechief » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:41 am

markybrooknow wrote: The customer tried this program and it didn't work through wireless. I set up the DG834g manually through the web interface. Although the previous running of this program may have altered something, I don't think it did.
The only way we'll know is to see a copy of your config file and the contents of /proc/ticfg/env. Perhaps you could send me those via email or PM (after removing all sensitive information of course).
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