[ILUG] Eircom PPPOE, MTU and ADSL Debian confusion

[Michael Christopher Woods]

Hi All,

I'm trying to set up my Debian Sarge box with Eircom's ADSL stuff.
However when using the Debian box net access / browsing is painfully
slow. I've done some trawling on goggle about ADSL - I've not used it
before, in the past my net connection came from an NTL cable modem. And
I've seen comments about changing the MTU size, and setting up PPPOE.

I gave up in the end and ran the PPPOE tool 'pppoeconf', and entered the
default user name / password provided by Eircom. My net connection now
seems better. But I'm confused, has the connection improved because I
changed the MTU settings ? or because the PPPOE demon is running? - I
don't know much about PPPOE. Have I done the right thing my running
pppoeconf and setting that up ?

Is PPPOE an authentication protocol ? wouldn't that be hidden by the
ADSL modem / wireles router Eircom provides ?

Any enlightenment would be most welcome !
Confused,
Chris Woods