Tata Indicom Broadband is....weird!

Heh! Imagine my posting this after a full month of getting my connection! I am finally posting this from GNU/Linux

It was the same old story all over again. I thought I had clinched it, and using my connection with Linux would be a very easy task, but I was Wrong. Tata Indicom, like many other broadband service providers, uses PPPOE (Point to Point Protocol Over Ethernet), which means that it sells the very line it has sold to you many times over. Sarcasm apart, it goes like this:

I have installed a lan card (ethernet card) to which Tata have connected their LAN (WAN) cable. I am now part of an always-on network. I use a connection manager, which acts like a dial-up connection dialer (ahem), which helps me to log on to the broadband service. This method of using PPP over the ethernet, instead of a dial-up network, is PPPOE, where the PPP packets are encapsulated within standard-sized ethernet frames. Thus, the ISP has perfect control over authorising who connects, how much data passes through the connection. In itself, it is a cumbersome mechanism, but looks easy on Windows as usually people tend to design the protocols and frontends for the dominant OS.

On Linux, it is the exact opposite of easy. First, Tata Indicom doesn't 'support Linux', which means they won't (usually) help you configure your connection, or most of the time, even offer help over the phone.

Rather than go for a ball-by-ball commentary, I will just post the things I know:

1. On Windows, the Tata Indicom Broadband Manager loads a virtual Tata Indicom Broadband Adapter, which is actually a proprietary protocol developed by one Divinet Technologies of Pune. No mention of Linux support anywhere.
2. You connect with the Broadband Manager, which is basically a command to invoke a network connection, with the following properties: IP configuration through DHCP, and two DNS server addresses. And, your user ID and password. Of course, the tool doesn't have a Linux version.
3. On Linux, you have to search for, and discover some PPPOE connection managers such as RP-PPPOE (www.roaringpenguin.com).
4. You need to first set up your ethernet connection to the LAN/WAN. If you are a normal subscriber, you will need DHCP. Important notice: configure your ethernet card (eth0) to work in half-duplex mode.
5. Download and install rp-pppoe. Configure it. Run it. Waste one month trying to figure out what's wrong. Read lots of documentation, downloaded from within Windows.
6. Try everything under the sun, or within your box, including webmin, drakeconf or system-config-network or ifconfig, or whathaveyou. Fail.
6. Almost give up.
7. Wake up one day and discover that the internet is on automagically. I won't give you much of a clue here.

To make a long story short, IT'S WORKING!!!

p.s.:
8. Live in the constant fear of the magic running out suddenly one day, and your being left to reinvent the wheel once more.