Did that get your attention? Sorry to make it sound urgent, but the fact is, I’m not sure if it is urgent. But in case it applies to you, then I’ve just done you a big favor.

The thesis of this post is that there is a possibility that the PLDT DSL service, literally damages Apple devices that have gateway (i.e. routing) capabilities.

Background

A few years ago, I threw away my Time Capsule (TC). ¹ Of course, after cannibalizing the 1TB drive and assimilating it into the Drobo The reason for which was because its gateway/routing capablities died without any warning. It would always throw an error of not being able to authenticate with PLDT’s PPPoE server. When I try connecting the computer(s) directly to the modem, it/they would work. Hence I was convinced it was the TC’s problem.

That was then – now, I’m not so sure.

Recently

I eventually bought an Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS) to replace the TC. The reason I specifically want Apple hardware is because it has support for reserved DHCP mapping via MAC address. In short, you can have it assign a specific IP to a registered machine even if you’re on DHCP.

Granted, there might be 3rd party firmware for the famous LinkSys WRT54G series routers that can do the same, but my particular WRT54G is a WRT54G2 – and the firmware compatible with that is limited, and the one I had installed doesn’t have that particular feature I want.

Also, I like using the Drobo as a NAS ² Network Attached Storage device. The TC and the AEBS have a USB port where I can plug my Drobo in and have it accessible to any computer in the network. And again, the LinkSys model I have doesn’t have such USB support. Then there’s the whole issue of access via Samba and AFP (since I’m on a multi-OS environment) Accessing the Drobo via Windows requires Samba, while OSX can use both, AFP tends to be more reliable.

Whatever the case may be, lets just say that I prefer using the Apple hardware for my gateway needs. Period.

Going back to the story… just a few days ago, the exact same thing that had happened to the TC happened to the AEBS! That was too much of a coincidence if you ask me. So I started researching about it – and smacked my head to have found this thread.

Turns out it wasn’t my TC that had a problem… well at least not entirely.

Not Entirely?

When I try to put two and two together; I’m led to believe that the problem is both the hardware and the DSL service. But the latter causes the former.

The fact that the TC’s gateway never worked again, but plugging a new gateway (AEBS) did, clearly indicates faulty hardware.

However, that the new hardware would eventually act up now suggests that while it may be a hardware issue, something is triggering it… which can only be the DSL service itself. Furthermore, it’s specific to Apple devices because I always have my LinkSys router handy as a spare – and it always worked.

Then of course we have that whole thread of similar issues all related to Apple specific hardware – which automatically means my issue is not an “isolated” case.

It’s my belief that connections via PPPoE may have some data packets that can corrupt the ROM of Apple gateways in particular – and the corruption apparently is beyond a hard reset. Meaning once it hits you, it toasts your Apple-branded device’s ability to authenticate via PPPoE.

Tricky business

Now you can see the implications of having this issue resolved. Because it’s specific to Apple hardware, calling in tech support would always, as I’ve confirmed myself, result to them claiming that you have to buy another router, that their system is working just fine.

And they would be a bit justified in claiming that, it’s impossible to prove to them that there’s something in their system that’s wrong because it works on every other gateway device or machine – even on Apple hardware for the most part.

Solutions

Luckly, the thread did mention a workaround… which is to have the DSL modem itself authenticate with the PPPoE server instead of the router (or the machines) and act as a DHCP server itself.

This would mean that anything connected to the modem would only need to be set to get a connection via DHCP – which is a good thing as it literally makes your whole network topology “plug and play” in a sense. In cases like mine, it would mean we wouldn’t have to use our AEBS’ now-broken PPPoE feature to authenticate. All we need to do is set it to act as a bridge and we’re done.

The only “gotcha” according to the thread is that the solution only works for users that have a specific model modem: the Zyxel P-600. Other DSL modems are literally just modems – this particular modem is a modem with routing capabilities – but PLDT sets it up as just a modem by default.

Luckily, most new subscribers are given this particular modem. Unfortunately for me, I’m an early adopter – so the modem I have was the prehistoric Nokia one from the days when the DSL was still new.

Anyways, to cut a long story short, I filed a request to have the modem replaced. That has been done just this afternoon, then I appled the “fix” ³ Which is really a workaround, since I’m pretty sure PPPoE access on the AEBS is damaged beyond repair as dictated by the thread and viola! I’ve now got my network online again through the AEBS via DHCP instead of PPPoE.

Conclusion

If you experience the same problems as I did with your Apple branded base station, then try setting your modem as a router – and if you don’t have it, put in a request for modem replacement like I did.