PPPoE

Technology & Computing abbreviation · Networking

PPPoE
Stands forPoint-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
CategoriesTechnology & Computing

PPPoE stands for Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet, a networking abbreviation.

Carries PPP sessions over Ethernet so DSL and some fiber ISPs can authenticate each subscriber with a username and password and assign an IP address. The customer's router establishes the session whenever it starts up.

Example: Enter the PPPoE username and password from your welcome letter on the router's WAN page.

Usage notes

Published as RFC 2516 in 1999. Its 8-byte header reduces the usable MTU from 1,500 to 1,492 bytes, which can break some websites unless MSS clamping is enabled. Many fiber ISPs have moved to plain DHCP-based connections instead. Pronounced letter by letter.

More networking abbreviations

  • PAN – Personal area network
  • PAT – Port address translation
  • PDU – Protocol data unit
  • PoE – Power over Ethernet
  • PoP – Point of presence
  • POP3 – Post Office Protocol version 3
  • PPTP – Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
  • PSK – Pre-shared key
  • PTR – Pointer (record)
  • QoS – Quality of service
  • QUIC – QUIC (originally Quick UDP Internet Connections)
  • rDNS – Reverse DNS

See all 113 networking abbreviations →