Okay, so without a bit of networking knowledge and a ton of patience, I never, ever would have gotten my SBC Yahoo DSL up and running with our Linksys router.
First problem? Absolutely no documentation. You are required to install their software, which also installs some spyware, hijacks your browser, changes many settings, adds unnecessary programs, and puts 5 new icons on your desktop without asking you if any of this is ok.
Next, the required registration software is buggy. I had to reinstall it three times. The first time, it threw script errors at me when I tried to register. The second time, it couldn't find its own built-in server connection. The third time, it worked. Installation took almost 20 minutes each time. It installs 125 MB of crap on your computer.
Finally I got to the point where I could figure out what the IP address it was assigning me was and the DNS servers. I used those to configure my router settings. SBC Yahoo could *not* automatically configure it for me like Charter Pipeline did. I could ping, I could use nslookup, but I couldn't use an internet browser.
I had to figure out that I had to switch my router to use PPPoE. Customer support didn't tell me that, the "help software" didn't tell me that.. I only figured it out by catching the "attempting connection" screen flash by, where I saw the phrase "Attempting to create PPPoE Connection."
At any rate, this was a pain in the ass. After Angst punched through all the options on the phone support menu, he spent 15 minutes on hold. The customer support was having trouble with their phones, and we were on a poor connection. The phone operator yelled for me to "HANG UP AND CALL BACK ON A REAL PHONE" and then hung up on me.
If we ever lose power to the DSL modem, I'll apparently have to disconnect the network, plug my computer directly into the DSL, and go through the authentication process again to get a new IP address.
So far, piss-poor experience. But then again, I've had a really crappy day, and didn't expect to spend over 2 hours setting up our network.
But hey, I'm back online.
