With a router DSL package: If the plan that you have with Primus includes a router, you do not have to install the PPPoE package on your computer. Your PPPoE connection is maintained by your router.

Without a router DSL package: You will need to install a PPPoE client on your computer to be able to use your DSL connection.

PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet) is a specification for connecting multiple computer users on an Ethernet local area network. The PPP protocol information is encapsulated within an Ethernet frame. Basically, your IP address is leased when you log on with PPPoE software using a username/password combination. Also, PPP over Ethernet provides a major advantage for service providers by maximizing integration with - and minimizing disruption of - service providers' existing dial network infrastructures. Through tight integration with existing back office automation tools that ISPs have developed for dial customers, PPPoE enables rapid service deployment and cost savings. From authentication, accounting and secure access to configuration management, PPPoE supports a broad range of existing applications and services

DSL will work if you put a filter on the alarm system.

Your alarm system uses your phone line in order to send signals to your alarm company. Ensure that you put a telephone line filter between your alarm system and the phone jack it is connected to. If there is no phone jack and the alarm system is permanently wired into your phone line, call your alarm company and ask them to send a technician to add a phone jack so that you may plug in your DSL filter. Note that your alarm company may charge you for the service call.

Without a router: These service plans are not designed to support multiple connections. It is possible to have multiple computers share the DSL connection but Primus Technical Support will not offer any assistance in this area.

With a router: Yes it is possible to have multiple computers share the DSL connection. For the 1.5 Mb Pro ADSL plan and 3.0 Mb Pro ADSL plan, the customer is responsible for configuring the computers on his LAN while Primus will configure the router as well as the access lists on the router.

DSL uses the same copper wiring as regular voice telephone service. DSL equipment at each end of the line transforms the telephone line into a high-speed digital connection. The DSL provider is the telecommunications company that supplies the DSL portion of your high-speed Internet access. The Internet service provider (ISP) adds the Internet Protocol (IP) networking services that ride over the DSL connection. If you are using ADSL, your DSL service runs over the same telephone line as your voice service. The data service is split off from voice service at the CO. Your voice communications goes to the telephone network and the data goes to the DSLAM (DSL Access Multiplexer) of the DSL provider and on to the ISP. COs house DSLAMs, which consolidate data traffic from individual DSL connections into large high-capacity backbone networks (like the ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) that Primus is currently building.

In the case of an ISP like Primus, we need access to copper wiring, which the Telco has mountains of. ISP's need to lease the copper wiring from the client's home to it's point of presence or from the client's home to the CO, which would entail renting co-location services. With the rules insuring competition in the Telco and Internet markets, Bell Canada must open its lines to competition.

People who make the jump to broadband often leave themselves open to online prowlers, hackers and identity thieves. In the old days, a computer with weak security was vulnerable only during the short periods it was on the Net. But with "Always On" broadband service, it's like leaving a door wide open around the clock. So how do you protect yourself?

The solution is to develop safe Net habits: Don't open attachments you aren't expecting, especially when they come from people you don't know. Use anti-virus software and install a firewall on your computer, especially if you have a broadband connection. A firewall keeps the Internet from peeking into your computer and your computer from reaching out to the Internet. You decide which programs, such as your e-mail package, get free access.