I have a basic understanding of the application of RADIUS/DIAMETER technologies to Dialup users. However, where I start to fall short is how this technology, or its equivalent, applies to Cable/DSL/802.1x users.
How does an ISP perform the same AAA activities for a Cable/DSL/wireless user as it would for someone who inherently has to connect/disconnect frequently, and can be redirected accordingly? For example, as a dialup user, if you are seriosuly delinquent paying a bill, your access can be suspended and you are redirected to a page requiring payment before access is restored. What technology forces this behavior for a PPPOE/IPoE user? In the case of Cable, I have heard reports of bandwidth throttling for delinquent users. I presume if bandwidth can be throttled, that technology could be applied to redirect a customer who was delinquent paying their bill. My thought was that all access could be restricted by using a proxy server, which then intercepts all HTTP requests and can force a user to the desired area. However, this does not seem practical if it is not implemented at inception. If a user has a persistent connection, do you have to wait for an IP Address lease to expire/refresh to redirect? What about the implications of interrupting a critical activity due to a redirection flag (say a E911 call over VOIP, or an ecommerce transaction in general)? Essentially, I'm trying to figure out if RADIUS is the vehicle by which a consistent redirection experience can be rolled out to all users regardless of access type, and whether the ISP has a high level of control over that experience. Is RADIUS along with other tecnologies the way to go to control broadband access (i.e. pushing sync-disable files for cable modems, PPPoE account suspension for DSL???). And lastly, can a small ISP roll this level of user authentication out to all users (DUN/Broadband/Wireless), or is it cost prohibitive? Sorry for all the questions... Just trying to understand how to speak the right language here. -DRB - List info/subscribe/unsubscribe? See http://www.freeradius.org/list/users.html
