Connect Linksys router to PPPOA?

[RalphG1]

Foreword:
My broadband ISP uses PPPOA not PPPOE so I have to supply a username and password to connect. I posted this in the VPN section but no-one replied so I think it must be more suited to here.

Problem:
I have a Linksys router (model BEFSX41) that I want to use as one end of a VPN over broadband (ADSL) connection
The Linksys router does not have an ADSL connector only Ethernet.
To overcome this problem I purchased an ActionTec ADSL/Ethernet modem.
The modem however, has built-in router capabilities.

I only want to use the ActionTec modem to provide the Linksys router with the broadband connection coming into the building.

[Broadband]---->[ActionTec modem]---->[Linksys router]---->[Computers]

I cannot find PPPOA as an option in the Linksys router’s setup software only PPPOE among others. I am presuming this is because PPPoE stands for point to point protocol over Ethernet and PPPoA is PPP over ATM and I only have Ethernet sockets on the Linksys modem.

With all of this in mind should I set-up the ActionTec modem to be a router (to provide the username and password to the ISP over PPPOA) with the Linksys router out on the ActionTec modem’s DMZ then plug the computers into the Linksys router.

P.S if anyone suggests static routes or gateways etc then please be totally transparent in your explanation as I don’t understand them totally yet and am reading about them frantically at the moment! : )

Thanks in advance Ralph.

 

[bcastner]

You have few choices, I believe. My concern is how much difficulty the VPN client will have negotiating the double NAT'ing that is going on.

I strongly recommend you use static IPs on the Linksys connected workstation. If using the Gateway model does not work for you, consider plugging the modem into a regular LAN port, disabling DHCP on the Linksys, and put it into router instead of Gateway mode.