ADSL Modem

B

balanga

Does FreeBSD provide any support for ADSL? If not I guess I'm unlikely to find a modem which will run ADSL... Alternatively is there any LTE box I could install FreeBSD on? It looks like there are ARM based devices around which may be able to provide me with what I'd like.

I'm currently looking to replace an ASUS DSL-N14U and would be interested in any recommendations... A good (cheap) old one on which I could install OpenWrt would be ideal.

Optical fibre is not an affordable option at the moment. Maybe LTE could be an alternative...
 
balanga said:
Does FreeBSD provide any support for ADSL?
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Try and find a PCIe or PCI card for xDSL. There are none. None that are affordable anyway.

balanga said:
If not I guess I'm unlikely to find a modem which will run ADSL.
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There should be plenty of those around, it's quite common, at least in the Netherlands.

balanga said:
A good (cheap) old one on which I could install OpenWrt would be ideal.
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Find one that allows for 'bridge' mode, instead of 'router' mode. Then you won't need alternative software on the modem itself.

balanga said:
Maybe LTE could be an alternative...
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Why not 5G? Or is that not an option in your part of the world?
 
The "xDSL" part is handled by the modem - the OS only has to handle the PPP(oE) that runs over that connection.
And yes, FreeBSD supported PPPoE since the dark ages (where stuff like DSL/PPPoE belongs...)

The major caveat usually is if the modem or plastic-router correctly supports passthrough. (hint: most IPS-supplied gear doesn't)
We've used the Allnet BM100VDSL2v at one of our branches for the (hoplessly crappy) Telekom DSL uplink. They work reliably and support passthrough so you can handle everything on the router and have the public IP directly applied to that (i.e. no double-NATing or other wonky setups).
 
On my first ADSL modem I had to use PPPoA. Those modems were basically just glorified media converters. Later modems created the connection by themselves and you just needed to plug in an ethernet cable, the modem would take care of getting 'online'. Then more elaborate modems appeared, they included a bunch more functionality, DHCP, routing, NAT, Wifi, etc.

Last xDSL modem I used was one of those fancy ones. But it could be put in 'bridge' mode, you just connected one machine to it (your firewall system) and it would simply DHCP to get your internet IP address. And you do all the NAT, firewalling, DHCP, DNS, etc. yourself on the 'firewall' system.
 
most of the hw supports bridge but sometimes the isp will block it in firmware so they dont have to explain pppoe to the customer
often the "restriction" can be defeated by writing an oem firmware or sometimes just by hacking some javascript or knowing a direct access url on the device admin page
 
covacat said:
most of the hw supports bridge but sometimes the isp will block it in firmware so they dont have to explain pppoe to the customer
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Bridge mode is different from passthrough. With bridge mode the modem would still make the PPPoE connection (so you don't have to) and you simply run DHCP on a machine connected to the modem to get the internet IP address on that machine. But yeah, some providers lock down their modems, can't configure anything on them anymore. Even the most basic configuration settings are locked down. They typically also don't allow any other modem to be connected. Not allowed in the Netherlands anymore though, customer must have the option of using a modem of their own choice.
 
its mostly the same if you are "bridged" you can run pppoe or dhclient at your end and isp runs dhcpd or pppoed on theirs
sometimes its ran shared so you see pppoe and normal traffic on the same pipe
they prefer pppoe to dhcp probably for easier accounting better use of the ips (no huge bcast domains)
 
Years ago I looked for a modem and got the Allnet thing. However, it was unable to do more than 16MBit. The technical support of Allnet confirmed me that this is the upper limit the modem can handle.
For this reason I sold the modem again and got an used Fritzbox. These cost next to nothing (at least in Germany) and do all these extras discussed in the thread. The only thing they don't do too well is their DNS cache; thus I prefer not to use that feature.
 
In any case, for xDSL you are stuck with a modem. Locked down or not, with or without bridge mode, is going to depend on your local provider.

skunk said:
However, it was unable to do more than 16MBit.
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Lucky you. I never got passed 12Mbit on xDSL even with a 20 or 40Mbit provider connection. That's why I switched to cable internet back then. Cable is a whole other story, those modems are even more locked down. And there's only one provider per region in the Netherlands. In order to switch cable providers I would have to move to a different province. Last summer I finally got fibre connected at home, it only took 10 years :rolleyes:
 
In my previous house I had to use cable, too, because the phone line to the DSLAM was 4300m long and the DSL performance was abysmal.
The Wikipedia page illustrates the effect of line length on performance.
So it might be a good idea to ask the provider for the length of the "last mile", as it can be several miles...

But here, the DSLAM is directly at the street corner, the line is about 100 meters long, as my FritzBox's DSL information menu shows:

fbox_dsloverv.png



But even at this short cable length there are already losses, so the maximum speed cannot be achieved:

fbox_dsl2.png


I really like and recommend the FritzBox over the Allnet modem, not only because of its power to fully support the DSL line's speed, but also because it is not at all locked down, but instead very configurable, and gives detailed information.

fbox_dsl3.png
 
balanga said:
Maybe LTE could be an alternative.
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Not exactly. I know a few people that tried this, but the connection is rather terrible. The connection often drops or switches to a different tower. That's fine for casual use, like a browser or some low-rate streaming on your mobile device. Not so nice if you try to have a constant connection. xDSL sounds like your best option. It'll give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to a stable internet connection.

balanga said:
I always lump LTE and 5G together.
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LTE is closer to 4G, in a way it was an improvement of 4G. 5G is entirely new, much higher bandwidth, and much lower latency.

balanga said:
As for 5G, how can I tell if my SIM or phone is 5G capable?
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It'll tell you in the specifications. It's not the SIM, but your provider may have an option to choose to have 5G enabled. If there's no 5G infrastructure, your provider obviously can't support it. Rollout of 5G has been going on for a while now, but it may not have coverage everywhere. Ask your provider.

balanga said:
I have a Redmi Note 10.
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Doesn't support 5G. Newer model phones usually do though, the latest Samsung and Apple phones certainly do. Compared to 4G/LTE, 5G should be much better suited as a potential replacement for your home internet connection.
 
Recently my provider switched me from ADSL2 to VDSL2 (without ever telling me). So my current modem-only failed to work, and I replaced it with a Zyxel VMG1312-B30A (that one was cheap on ebay a few years ago, as it has no built-in VoIP support). This runs now in "Bridge" mode and gives me the same PPPoE as before (but a lot faster).
 
SirDice said:
Not exactly. I know a few people that tried this, but the connection is rather terrible. The connection often drops or switches to a different tower. That's fine for casual use, like a browser or some low-rate streaming on your mobile device. Not so nice if you try to have a constant connection.
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True. Especially on the rush hours, when the transfer rate can drop below the sub-megabit range, and you need multiple attempts to load pages/download documents, all fully counting into your data volume.
 
balanga said:
How do I tell if I have ADSL or VDSL?
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When more than 24 Mbit downstream, it must be VDSL.

Then, the contract should state it. Usually when you buy a service via a certain protocol, that protocol should be clarified between the parties, as otherwise things cannot work. But this seems no longer the case when treating cattle, eh, customers.

Finally, the modem might show it. Mine has a green/amber led for the WAN light.
 
balanga said:
How do I tell if I have ADSL or VDSL?
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Your provider will tell you, when providing details of modem and connection requirements.

The net/mpd5(8) port was popular here, superseding the userland ppp, both written by FreeBSD developers. I used it till 2019.

As others have mentioned, you want a modem, be it ADSL or VDSL, configured in bridge mode. This makes it just a modem, with PPPoE, routing etc handled by mpd5' setup.

Popular brands here included Dlink, TP-Link, Zyxel and Billion BiPAC. You'd be unlucky to pay more than $30 posted for these on eBay (ono) from millions of eJunk boxes nowadays.

Still used in some more remote parts of Australia, there's a couple of decades' of accumulated DSL wisdom at

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/

E.g:

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/?action=search&q=DSL modem
 
SirDice said:
Doesn't support 5G. Newer model phones usually do though, the latest Samsung and Apple phones certainly do. Compared to 4G/LTE, 5G should be much better suited as a potential replacement for your home internet connection.
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Are there such things as 5G USB dongles? Wherever I look, they turn out to be LTE/4G.
 
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