A call to shun Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet

Currently, digital subscriber line (DSL) connections provide high-speed access to hundreds of thousands of users around the country. Under the assumption that it would save them money, numerous DSL providers decided to allocate IP addresses to DSL customers via PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet), an adaptation of the original PPP (Point to Point Protocol) used in analog modem dial-up connections.

Unfortunately, the PPPoE servers (the servers which issue out an IP address to a connecting customer) at numerous ISPs have been strained to capacity. Furthermore, the software offered to connect with PPPoE (most notably, WinPoET) is not compatible with systems running anything other than Windows 95 or Windows 98. The only solutions remaining are to either obtain RASPPPOE (another independently developed PPPoE connection utility), or to obtain a hardware router which can handle the PPPoE conversion itself (i.e.: Linksys BEFSR41). However, even these user-end solutions do not solve the problem of the DSL providers running overloaded PPPoE servers.

There is only one failsafe way to solve this problem: eliminate PPPoE altogether. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), a much more widely accepted protocol for dynamic IP address assignment, would solve all of these problems. For this change to be made, all of the DSL providers would have to dispose of their PPPoE servers and install DHCP servers to allocate the IP addresses. DHCP is the industry standard protocol for dynamic IP assignment, and is supported by every operating system that interfaces with a network. Furthermore, it does not possess the inherent qualities of PPPoE that result in increased latency and slowdowns. I call upon all the DSL providers in the United States of America to shun PPPoE in favor of DHCP. Doing so would mean a substantial revenue gain, relief for their technical support staff, a substantial reduction of the number of open trouble tickets, and a faster and more reliable connection to each and every paying customer.

Specifically, I call upon Verizon Internet Services, Pacific Bell Internet Services, Southwestern Bell, and Earthlink, Inc. These four companies all use PPPoE to issue IP addresses to customers, and have proven to be the four worst offenders when it comes to DSL downtime and lack of technical support. THIS MUST CHANGE.