PfSense as PPPoE Client(WAN Side)

[noone85]

Hello to you all.
First of all I'm sorry for my english. English isn't my mother-tongue.(I can speak greek fluently though)
Second, thank you for this awesome piece of software and this huge knowledge base(the forum).

So, I'm new in pfsense. I installed it to a Pentium MMX 233MHz with 128MB RAM.
I have four interfaces attached to it(2 WANs and 2 LANs).
Both of the WANs are configured with static IPs and are connected to other ADSL modem-routers(with routing capabilities and NAT off).
So far so good.

I'm aware that I can get only one of the WANs to work with PPPoE.
But, how can I make this work?
I mean, I connect an RJ-11 to RJ-45 cable from my telephone wall plug my WAN NIC, I setup my username and password and theoratically it should work.
But it doesn't.
What should I take care of?
I know that phone lines use only 2 cables. Those cables are the middle couple of wires in an RJ-45 adapter.
My NICs are all Realtek 8139 chipsets and I have noticed that they have all of the 8 contacts.
What am I doing wrong?

[GruensFroeschli]

??? You dont plug the telephone-cable into the NIC :o
You still need a modem….

Set the modem into bridging mode and let the pfSense handle the PPPoE authentication.

[noone85]

oh ok. I thought that pfsense could do all the decoding stuff needed.
Thanks for your response GruensFroeschli. Feel free to lock and trash this thread.

[jahonix]

You are lucky if this stunt didn't blow your NIC!
Check it on a regular switch port first to confirm it's still working.

[noone85]

Why should it blow my NIC?
If you mean it could blow my NIC because of current abnormalities, that thing doesn't exist because all my cables(power, telephone, TV) are filtered through current stabilizers.

[GruensFroeschli]

NIC = LVDS –> 1.5V or 3.3V with currents around 3.5mA

telephone = depending on where you are usually 48V DC with currents up to 20mA
and around 100V AC while ringing with currents up to 150mA

So if your card doesnt have some kind of protection it dies.
And even if it has such a protection.
That doesnt excluded that your card took damage and isnt fully functional or does suffer from a very shortened life-span.

[noone85]

ok thank you for this useful info.
I'll be more careful the next time.

[jahonix]

@noone85:

Why should it blow my NIC?

Just check it on a switch and monitor the link lights. It doesn't necessarily blow your NIC but chances are good, you know.

@GruensFroeschli: Thanks for the details! Smart as always   ;D