Connecting to Plusnet With OpenWrt

mrbronz61 · February 21, 2021, 3:21pm

I have just received a BT Home Hub 5 pre-installed with OpenWrt 18.06.4 r7808-ef686b7292.

There is little to no help online, or on these forums on how to set up the connection using the built-in DSL interface. Well, unless you already know how to do it.

So the question is: Is there a simple set of step by step instructions or youtube, that will guide me through setting up my OpenWrt router utilising the built-in DSL/VDSL interface using PPPoE and then allowing me to connect to the Wifi to get internet connectivity?

I have googled so many things that my head is now spinning

Help ... Please

KAD · February 21, 2021, 3:38pm

I have long left DSL hell, so I have no idea how to solve your problem. But the ISP page on the OpenWRT wiki looks promising. Have you checked the UK section? There is a section for BT VSDL.

mrbronz61 · February 21, 2021, 3:47pm

Thanks for the reply

But these tell me nothing

Do you actually need to be a fully qualified Network engineer to use this software?

dlakelan · February 21, 2021, 3:50pm

Who is your ISP? What country?

mrbronz61 · February 21, 2021, 3:55pm

plusnet England

KAD · February 21, 2021, 4:00pm

Right. To follow the wiki, you at least need some generic Linux/Unix knowledge, so that you can log in with SSH, edit files and run commands. And yes, networking knowledge will absolutely make things easier.

It seems like luci (the web interface) should have options to set up ADSL, which combined with the BT-specific instructions should make it possible to set up your modem through the GUI. But since I don't have that sort of hardware I can't help you. Hopefully someone with similar hardware will find this thread. You could also try to post a question in the forum where the wiki instruction is taken from.

You should also know that 18.06 is fairly old and will be out of security patch support as soon as 20.0x is out, which is hopefully... any year now.

Edit: Ah, BT Home hub, but not BT? That may complicate things.

mrbronz61 · February 21, 2021, 4:06pm

Why will it make it complicated?

dlakelan · February 21, 2021, 4:07pm

What you need to figure out is the settings required by plusnet.

Their web page says you need pppoe with vlan tag 101

https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/broadband-connection-settings/

This doesn't help you with the modulation setting but you might try what they suggest for BT at the wiki site mentioned above.

dlakelan · February 21, 2021, 4:09pm

My recommendation is flash the latest release of OpenWrt first. This gives you a known good starting point.

From the site mentioned, for BT broadband place this in your /etc/config/network

config dsl 'dsl'
    option annex 'b'
    option tone 'a'

config interface 'wan'
    option ifname 'dsl0.101'
    option proto 'pppoe'
    option ipv6 '1' 
    option mtu '1500'
    option username ''
    option password ''

insert your real username and password

dl12345 · February 21, 2021, 4:23pm

Plusnet configuration is trivial. I was with them until last year. No VLAN needed.

config interface 'wan'
        option proto 'pppoe'
        option ifname 'eth0'
        option username 'username'
        option password 'password'

mk24 · February 21, 2021, 4:25pm

Using the internal modem I think it is pppoa not pppoe.

dlakelan · February 21, 2021, 4:26pm

You were using an external modem. Here the OP is trying to use the internal modem

dl12345 · February 21, 2021, 4:28pm

I'll look and see if I have a backup of the modem settings. I'm 90% sure it's Annex A

mrbronz61 · February 21, 2021, 4:32pm

Thank you!

dl12345 · February 21, 2021, 4:38pm

Annex A. VLAN ID 101.

dl12345 · February 21, 2021, 4:45pm

And you need to specify the username in the format yourusername@plusdsl.net

dl12345 · February 21, 2021, 5:15pm

I was using a Draytek Vigor 130. Here's the settings I used on the modem which confirms VL:AN ID 101. My modem was set in bridge mode and it passed through the PPPOE connection to the Openwrt

mrbronz61 · February 21, 2021, 5:15pm

Thank you all so much

In the examples page it was saying to use Annex B.

That has solved the issues I can not get on the interweb via DSL interface on the re-flashed BT home hub.

So just for reference for anyone looking for the solution to connect to Plusnet with open Wrt router.

1)goto Network>interfaces- then click on "Edit" or click on the "WAN" tab

In the "DSL" section enter the following settings
Annex: Annex A + L + M(all)
Tone: A43C + J43 + A43
Encapsulation mode:PTM/EFM(Packet Transfer mode)
DSL line mode: VDSL
Downstream SNR offset: 0.0 dB
Leave the rest as default and click on "Save and Apply"
click on "Edit" or click on the "WAN" tab again
Click on the "Physical settings tab"
From the drop-down scroll to the bottom of the drop-down and in custom enter
dsl0.101
Click on save and apply
click on "Edit" or click on the "WAN" tab again
Select PPPoE protocol from the drop-down...
at this point you may have click on switch protocols to initialise the new protocol
Enter your user-name and password
Click on save and apply
You should now be able to access the Internet via your router
You may also need to setup your wifi interface

slh · February 21, 2021, 11:52pm

Check "OpenWrt/LEDE Installation Guide for BT Home Hub 5A" from https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=266, it's a rather detailed description especially with UK ISPs in mind.

mrbronz61 · February 22, 2021, 10:00am

Yes I have seen that page

I cannot follow it, it is. jumping from one link to another. it's just too confusing

I'll stick to my step by step method

But thank you for the input