RASPPPOE

PPP over Ethernet Protocol

for Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, .NET

by Robert Schlabbach

Last update: January 19th, 2003 by CHz - add new entry to compatibility list

NEWS

RASPPPOE Version 0.98 has been updated to fix the "Error 31" issue some Windows NT 4.0 users experienced. Thanks go out to Jason Birch for helping me figure out what the problem was.

This version offers the following improvements over RASPPPOE Version 0.96:

• Windows 95 support. Requires the Microsoft Dial-Up Networking Upgrade 1.2 or later to operate on the retail version. The OEM Service Releases of Windows 95 should require no updates.
• Windows NT 4.0 support. Requires Service Pack 4 or later.
• A number of minor bugfixes.

License and Disclaimer

This driver, installation files and documentation is all Copyright (C) 2000-2002 by Robert Schlabbach. All rights reserved. It is distributed without any warranty. Use at your own risk. You may use and copy it complete and unmodified free of charge for non-commercial purposes only. Commercial exploitation, redistribution for commercial purposes, especially redistribution by Internet service providers as "their" service to their customers, is strictly prohibited. Internet service providers must purchase a license for distribution to their customers. The licensed version additionally features an installer, which typically requires no reboot (except on Windows NT 4.0) and leads the user to the first login for an "instant success" customer experience. For licensing details please contact:

Monzoon Networks AG
Riedthofstrasse 124
CH-8105 Regensdorf
Switzerland

e-mail: raspppoe@monzoon.net
Web: http://www.monzoon.net

FAQ 1. What is this? Do I need it?

This is a PPP over Ethernet (short: PPPoE) implementation for Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, .NET. PPPoE as a method for establishing PPP connections through Ethernet adapters is described in RFC 2516 and is used by many broadband service providers to allow authentication and maintain the familiar "dial-up experience" when connecting to the Internet through a broadband modem. Note, however, that not all broadband service providers use PPPoE. If you know you need PPPoE to connect to your service provider and you happen to be using one of the supported operating systems, this implementation could be of interest to you.

FAQ 2. What is so special about this implementation of PPP over Ethernet?

Although there are several other PPPoE implementations for Windows, this one still has its unmatched strong points:

• Seamless integration into the operating system. This protocol makes Ethernet network adapters appear as "modems", allowing PPPoE to be easily used within the standard Dial-Up Networking framework.
• Compatibility: This protocol supports Internet Connection Sharing (including on-demand dialing), power management (Standby and Hibernate) as well as multiprocessor systems.
• Completeness: This protocol can not only act as a PPPoE Host (client), but also as an Access Concentrator (server), fully implementing RFC 2516.
• Compactness: The complete protocol is less than 250 KB. Yet no concessions were made in the implementation.

If this convinced you to try RASPPPOE, see Download and Install.

FAQ 3. Windows XP/.NET comes with builtin PPPoE support, why use RASPPPOE instead?

Even though Windows XP/.NET comes with builtin PPPoE support, Microsoft's implementation is not yet as sophisticated as RASPPPOE. See this feature comparison chart:

* To increase the autonegotiated TCP RWIN with RASPPPOE, use the Specify Link Speed option and specify a link speed of 101Mbps or greater, e.g. enter 101000 (kbps) as the link speed the protocol should report. Windows XP/.NET will then autonegotiate a TCP RWIN of approx. 64KB instead of the default 16KB, which is often too small for broadband connections.

FAQ 4. Does this protocol support internal or USB DSL modems?

Generally yes, but you require a driver for your modem that exposes the Ethernet medium type (NdisMedium802_3) in addition to this protocol. This medium type is sometimes referred to as RFC 1483 encapsulation or RFC 2684 encapsulation. You may also have to find out the VCI and VPI parameters your service provider uses. To check if you can communicate with your service provider, run RASPPPOE.EXE after installing the protocol and click the Query Available Services button. If you get at least one service offer listed, your setup is working.

Compatibility

A wholehearted THANK YOU to all the happy RASPPPOE users from all over the world who sent me their compatibility reports. By now it is apparent that this PPP over Ethernet implementation will work with pretty much every service all over the world that uses PPPoE. Again, thank you for all your contributions!

This PPP over Ethernet implementation has been reported to work successfully with the following Service Providers and Services:

Note 1: Bell Canada's routers reportedly have a problem with RASPPPOE's default MTU of 1492, which typically manifests itself in the inability to send larger e-mails. To work around this problem, use the protocol's Override Maximum Transfer Unit option (see the README for details) to override the MTU to 1460.

Note 2: To connect to the T-Online service, concatenate your Anschlusskennung, T-Online-Nummer and Mitbenutzernummer (typically 0001) and append @t-online.de (case-sensitive!) as the user name. To integrate RASPPPOE into the T-Online Software, install RASPPPOE and then, in the T-Online software, configure the Zugangsart and select Zugang über ein Modem oder ISDN... and ...innerhalb Deutschlands. You will then be presented with a list of modems, in which your network adapter(s) will appear. Select the network adapter your DSL modem is connected to and RASPPPOE will be fully integrated into the T-Online software.

Note 3: Mindspring's servers reportedly have a problem detecting when a connection is ended without proper termination. This is an issue when configuring an "always on" connection in Windows 2000/XP/.NET and shutting the machine down or rebooting - after three reboots, you may find yourself unable to log on to their service for up to an hour. To work around this problem, always disconnect your "always on" connection manually before rebooting or shutting down Windows 2000/XP/.NET.

Download and Install

32-bit release for x86 machines

1. Download the PPP over Ethernet Protocol, Version 0.98: RASPPPOE_098B.ZIP (153,664 bytes)
2. Unzip the downloaded archive to a temporary directory and read the documentation (README9X.HTM if you are using Windows 95/98/98SE/ME, READMENT.HTM if you are using Windows NT 4.0, or README2K.HTM if you are using Windows 2000/XP/.NET) thoroughly for installation instructions.
3. You can also preview the documentation online for Windows 95/98/98SE/ME users here, for Windows NT 4.0 users here and for Windows 2000/XP/.NET users here.

64-bit release for Intel Itanium machines

1. Download the PPP over Ethernet Protocol, Version 0.98, IA-64 release: RASPPPOE_098B_IA64.ZIP (120,036 bytes)
2. Unzip the downloaded archive to a temporary directory and read the documentation README2K.HTM thoroughly for installation instructions.
3. You can also preview the documentation online here.
4. Note that unless you have a brand-new machine with an Intel Itanium 64-bit CPU, this version is quite unlikely to do you any good.

Patch for 3Com modem users (only for the 32-bit release)

The modem manufacturer 3Com has "invented" their own flavor of PPP over Ethernet, simply by replacing the ETHER_TYPE values described in RFC 2516 (0x8863/0x8864) with their own ones (0x3C12/0x3C13). While I do not endorse such "innovation" and call upon 3Com to offer an RFC 2516 compliant firmware upgrade for their products to their customers, I still want to help customers suffering from this. After downloading above file, download the 3Com Patch: RASPPPOE_098B_3COM.ZIP (33,563 bytes) and replace the files RASPPPOE.SYS and RMSPPPOE.SYS from the original download with the one in this archive prior to installing. Note that with this version you will only be able to connect to 3Com modems, not to any RFC 2516 compliant servers anymore. Revert to the original RASPPPOE.SYS and RMSPPPOE.SYS to be able to connect to RFC 2516 compliant servers again.

I hope this piece of software is useful to you.

- Robert Schlabbach

*EOF*