Zen ISP (UK) setup on OpenWrt router

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
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Hello,

I have been searching for information on how to setup my OpenWRT router when I change from Virgin Media as an ISP to Zen ISP (UK)'s FTTP service with CityFibre infrastructure without success. The OpenWRT ISP configuration site seems to give guidance for those who have a DSL service with ZEN, but not for FTTP installations. Zen ISP, understandably, only gives advice on the router they provide. Currently, I am with Virgin Media and my topology looks like this: VM Hub 4 in bridge mode -> x86 router with OpenWRT(22.03) installed and Adguard as DHCP and DNS backends -> Belkin RT3200 on a OpenWRT snapshot build as a DumbAP providing Wi-Fi.

I am assuming that all I have to do is change my current Interface WAN protocol to PPPOE , enter the IPV4 and 6 addresses and enter my ZEN ISP customer credentials where needed. That seems straight forward enough for me, but I have a feeling that I might be missing something. Any guidance from those who have successfully setup their OpenWRT routers for ZEN ISP will be welcome.

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Google seems to suggest you just need to do ppoe as you said

https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/4578133-setting-up-draytek-router-with-zen-fttp.html?fpart=all

The discussion isn't directly about openwrt, but they are talking about setting up their own router for zen fttp.

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Maybe I should have been clearer. I have been looking for information (and used Google in the process) to do so.

No the discussion does not allude to how to setup a router that uses OpenWRT, My question asks about how to setup a router for Zen ISP FTTP on OpenWRT.

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It wouldn't be any different. If the other routers require wan with ppoe, then so would openwrt.

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Yes. That is what my original post has stated too:

Now. Not to be rude, but if you haven't setup an OpenWRT with Zen ISP and your information isn't adding anything to the conversation, please move on. Thank you.

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Sentences starting like that rarely end well.... and this is IMHO no exception. You asked a question in a public forum, so I think it would be just courteous to simply ignore responses you deem unhelpful.

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I am sorry Moeller0. I should have ignored the question. I just didn't want the person to spend more time on a subject that they needed to. I am sure they only wanted to help.

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For anyone else landing on this page with a similar question to my original post:
It seems that City Fibre's internet infrastructure (who provides the infrastructure for Zen ISP) in the UK uses GPON (ENTANET GIGABIT PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORK) which requires you to add a VLAN ID of 911 to your WAN interface. This can be done by accessing the LuCI GUI and accessing the network->interfaces->devices tab (OpenWRT 22.03). Without it, no data will flow. At the time of writing, my understanding is that OpenReach (another ZEN ISP infrastructure provider) does not require you to add these VLAN tags.

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Okay. The installation was successful. I added the VLAN tag in the luCI GUI by using -> network -> interfaces -> devices and then adding a VLAN interface (802.1q) that was tagged to the WAN interface (eth1 in my case). Then I used -> network -> interfaces to change the WAN protocol to that of PPPoE and entered my credentials given by Zen ISP and under the device section changed the option from eth1 to eth1.911 (which is the WAN port with the valid VLAN ID). I had to edit the WAN6 interface (setup as a
DHCPv6 server) and choose the eth1.911 vlan tag again under the devices tab again. Hope this helps someone else in the future who is struggling to setup their device for the ISP.

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