DSL bridges

[Reid Linnemann]

I am about to venture off school campus, and I'll be subscribing to an ADSL 
provider for net access. I'm pretty well seasoned in my IP knowledge, but I'm 
pretty foreign to leased line connectivity.

I'm planning on ditching the modem+router+firewall magic fluff boxes because 
I'm a control freak and I want complete control over what routes, what 
firewall is in place (and that configuring it is sensible), and plain old BSD 
robustness. So I'm going to get a DSL bridge (modem) and use PPPoE or PPPoA to 
establish connection.

I'm trying to decide on a modem. I have had good experiences with USR and 
Zoom; they're always made damn good modems. I've found one item from each 
company that fits the bill for what I want - the Zoom 5515 DSL bridge and 
USR's 9002-ISP bridge. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with 
these pieces of hardware with any BSD, and what recommendations you may have. 
I plan on having either a FreeBSD or NetBSD box be the router behind the 
bridge for the local net, and I'd like to tackle any potential problems before 
I go out buying equipment.