On Wed, 21 Jun 2000, Nick Hudson wrote:

>Does anyone know if a USB ADSL modem is likely to work with NetBSD?
>BT are lauching an ADSL service that uses this type of setup next month
>and I'm desparate to get my hands on the extra BW.

From the discussion in uk.telecom it seems that the USB-terminated
("domestic") service won't actually be available until around September.
This costs GBP 40 per month.  AFAIK, only the 10baseT-terminated (business)
service (which costs GBP 117 per month) is available next month.

The USB-terminated service uses an Alcatel USB ATM modem (provided by BT)
and runs PPPoA.  There's some information about the modem on the Alcatel
web site.  It's a strange-looking thing (a bit like the mini-sub from
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea").  Allegedly someone is working on
a Linux driver, but is there a chance it might Just Work with the NetBSD
umodem driver?  Also, does NetBSD have support for PPPoA?

BT say that only W98SE and W2000 are supported.  I don't posess either of
these pieces of shit, and have no intention of ever buying them, so I'll
wait at least until it's known to work under Linux (and maybe the price
has dropped a bit).

Non-UK readers may be amused by the name of the service : BT Openworld.
It certainly is!  Their web site exposed the personal details of hundreds
of customers who had signed up early to have the installation charge waived.


Roger

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