ISDN PPP for Dummies!

[Steve Roome]

> From: "Simon Clayton" <Simon at reftech.co.uk>
> To: <freebsd-users at uk.freebsd.org>
> Subject: ISDN PPP for Dummies!
> Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 11:38:00 +0100
> 
> Two questions -
> 
> Firstly, which PCI ISDN cards do people recommend and where can they be
> sourced from?
> 
> Secondly, is there an idiots guide to setting up a FreeBSD box to be an IP
> router out over ISDN?  Basically, do I have to have IPFW and NAT setup, if
> so how difficult is it? Then how to I setup PPP to route out to the internet
> (ppp.conf looks pretty straight forward) but I am conscious of the fact that
> I don't want the system to raise the line at every verse end with no good
> reason.

I've recently helped someone set up ISDN with one of the newer PCI
cards, but I really think i4b is still too harder than getting
something like a courier I-modem. Those little isdn modems are not
that much more expensive than the cards, plug into a com port and
function exactly like a normal modem. AT commands and all.

You can set one up, with normal user ppp and everything works a dream,
no nasty kernel configs required either, and IMHO, i4b seems a little
too untested. Hopefully that won't upset anyone, but I just didn't
like i4b myself, which could have been from bad experiences when it
was bisdn.

If you do use an i-modem instead of an ISDN card the idiots guide is
just the same as if it were a normal modem and normal ppp, and there's
a lot more knowledge available to help you if things go wrong with
userland ppp.

Good luck, although, your mileage may vary of course,

	Steve