For what it's worth, and it isn't worth much, I used Ameritech dial-up service for almost a year, and was very happy with it. I left only because I wanted a cable modem. Of course I was happy because everything worked for me straight away, and I didn't have to ask their technical department for help. I'm a bit confused by this whole thread. I thought dsl was a static always on connection. Why ppp? Why pppd? Why ppp0? Don't they give you a box that looks like a cable modem, with a nic interface, and don't you just plug into that, like an ethernet? Don't you just set up for an ethernet connection and go? I guess I don't know much about dsl, so I'll stop talking now, before I do more harm than good. Karl