The Cisco 678 is an awesome choice for plain old DSL connectivity. It has very 
limited firewalling capabilities and no VPN capabilities. You could then use 
a second device running $OS_OF_CHOICE for your firewall/VPN needs. I use and 
support (at US Internet, yes the Minneapolis wifi company) and the Actiontecs 
have time and again been a poor excuse for a DSL router. The Cisco 678 is 
always a dream to use/support. As mentioned, you can no longer get new ones 
from Cisco but there are lots of places selling them. I have two for example, 
in case one dies. Can also check here for a local seller at 
http://www.cisco678.com

There is of course other PPPoA capable DSL equipment but I don't have much 
experience with them.

On Monday 11 September 2006 17:36, Adam wrote:
> John,
> I've been running an old qwest Cisco 678 for a few years now that I got
> from ebay and it has served my needs quite well. Its been EOL for quite
> some time now. Cisco's new version is the 800 series. 857 and 877. I
> know a few people running the 875 and have really liked it.
>
> -Adam
>
> John Meier wrote:
> > Helping out a friend who has DSL though qwest at his small office (one
> > of the business offerings - not residential).
> >
> > We're trying to achieve 3 things:
> >
> > 1) get something more stable than the actiontec modem (fried a couple
> > in the last year or so, dropped connections etc..).
> > 2) wireless and vpn access
> > 3) off site backups of one of the LAN computers (windows box which
> > acts as a "fileserver" as well as a day-to-day workstation)
> >
> > I don't have all the details of his connection - and I've never had a
> > DSL connection :) - just cable modem...  Anyway, it seems Qwest's
> > modem options are an actiontec 701 and a Qwest 2wire 2700HG - the
> > latter having wireless built in.  I suggested trying out the 2wire
> > modem - but he's kinda sick of qwest and the "crappy equipment" he's
> > been getting.
> >
> > At this point we're looking for a modem, firewall, wireless and vpn
> > endpoint all-in-one unit that we can use with Qwest DSL - we'll be
> > using linux, OSX and windows over the VPN.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
> > Money's not a problem for this project (within reason) as long as the
> > stuff works!
> >
> > He doesn't like keeping any computers up and running at full power
> > over night, so I'm hoping for an all-in-one unit to do the firewall,
> > modem and VPN .  I'll be using linux, VPN and Wake on Lan to backup
> > the windows "file server".  He'll be using OSX and VPN and Wake on LAN
> > for remote access - sure hope wake on lan works like I've been
> > reading  :)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > tclug-list at mn-linux.org
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>
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