Windows Vista Broadband PPPoE (WAN miniport) - what is this?

Hi all. Working on a Vista laptop (Acer 4520) that has a facility labeled as above. My guess is that it's a kind of inbuilt broadband modem. In which case I guess I'd plug a telephone line into the phone socket and supply a username and password to make this connect to my ISP. Can anyone confirm this?

I should add that this is only of academic interest. I've seen this facility on many laptops over the years and have never been quite sure what it does. It's obviously not necessary when there's a modem\router to connect via an ethernet cable.

So, is this thing an inbuilt broadband modem?

Cheers

 

I'm confused. How widespread are ISPs that require this protocol? I mean, I've seen this WAN Miniport PPPOE thingy on many laptops over the years but I've never seen it actually being used. Also, it occurs to me that I've only seen it on certain brands of laptop, though I don't recall which ones. It's certainly not a choice on either of my Acer or IBM laptops.

 

Google it, you will find all the info you need.

 

Google, as always, is my first port of call. My second is WindowsBBS. Telling me to search elsewhere isn't really helpful. It's like saying, 'Well, I don't know the answer, but someone else might'.

 

Sorry, and I admit I am not an expert in this subject so the best I could do was suggest searching on line where you will find all the expert advice that you require. You don't appear to have a problem with your PC you are only requesting information so I told you where to find it.

Perhaps another member would like to step in here.