Cityfibre pfSense VLAN 911 PPPoE help

We had our CityFibre installed today, but I’m unable to establish a connection. I know Aquiss uses PPPoE with VLAN ID 911.

Martin from Aquiss is already following up with CityFibre on their end, but I wanted to check if there’s anything I might have missed on my side.

I’ve followed this guide: https://support.aquiss.net/en/knowledgebase/article/...

I've tried both creating a new OPT1 interface as per the guide, aswell as setting up the VLAN (ID 911) and assigning it directly to the WAN interface.

Despite this, I can’t seem to get the connection working.

Does anyone have any screenshots or examples of their setup they could share? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ok get rid of the opt1 interface.

Setup PPPoE as normal presumably on WAN interface.
Top bar select interfaces, and assignments.
Make a note of which interface is being used for WAN in the assignments. (I assume whats there is correct physical interface)
Click on VLANs.
Click on add.
Select the interface assigned to WAN as parent interface, type 911 in VLAN tag box, put what you want as description and click save.
Back on the assignments screen select the WAN interface drop down list and pick the new VLAN interface so e.g. if parent interface was igc1, then it should be igc1.911 as the interface name, choose it and click the big blue save at the bottom.

Thats it should be working. For good measure could cycle the WAN connection after doing this.

Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 25-Nov-24 19:59:55)

I think I've done that, although when I do that then click back on WAN I then have to enter the username and password for PPPoE.

Here's a couple of screenshots.. https://imgur.com/a/r9MKIEb



I honestly think it's a cityfibre issue.

Are you seeing anything in the logs or packet captures on the PPPoE interface?

In reply to a post by eightiesneo:

I think I've done that, although when I do that then click back on WAN I then have to enter the username and password for PPPoE.

Here's a couple of screenshots.. https://imgur.com/a/r9MKIEb



I honestly think it's a cityfibre issue.

Yes its still PPPoE so username and password will still be needed. The VLAN is a tag on the packets not a new method of authentication.

If you seeing nothing in the logs at all in reply to ppp packets sent, and you have configured it, then there I agree it might be a CityFibre provisioning issue as you and jpm said. Even with incorrect auth you would get reply to your ppp packets.

Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 25-Nov-24 21:14:29)

Not a great deal happening...

Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 Multi-link PPP daemon for FreeBSD
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 process 99088 started, version 5.9
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 web: web is not running
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 [wan] Bundle: Interface ng0 created
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: OPEN event
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] LCP: Open event
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] LCP: state change Initial --> Starting
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] LCP: LayerStart
Nov 25 21:39:12 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Nov 25 21:39:21 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Nov 25 21:39:21 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: DOWN event
Nov 25 21:39:21 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] LCP: Down event
Nov 25 21:39:21 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 1 in 4 seconds
Nov 25 21:39:25 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 1
Nov 25 21:39:25 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Nov 25 21:39:34 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Nov 25 21:39:34 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: DOWN event
Nov 25 21:39:34 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] LCP: Down event
Nov 25 21:39:34 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 2 in 1 seconds
Nov 25 21:39:35 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 2
Nov 25 21:39:35 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Nov 25 21:39:44 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds
Nov 25 21:39:44 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: DOWN event
Nov 25 21:39:44 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] LCP: Down event
Nov 25 21:39:44 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 3 in 4 seconds
Nov 25 21:39:48 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] Link: reconnection attempt 3
Nov 25 21:39:48 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE: Connecting to ''
Nov 25 21:39:57 ppp 99088 [wan_link0] PPPoE connection timeout after 9 seconds

yeah pass this back to Aquiss.

Will do, thanks guys really appeciate it.

Aquiss have escalated to Cityfibre who are currently investigating.

Quick update for anyone interested, this was a cityfibre issue all along and not a pfsense configuration issue.

I can't thank Martin at Aquiss enough for constantly chasing Cityfibre for me and getting a resolution on this. This is one of the main reasons for choosing Aquiss in the first place, and when support was needed, Martin and his team were there at the end of the phone.

Speedtest by Ookla

Server: PebbleHost - Coventry (id: 51643)
ISP: Aquiss
Idle Latency: 12.96 ms (jitter: 0.08ms, low: 12.87ms, high: 12.98ms)
Download: 940.88 Mbps (data used: 1.3 GB)
18.04 ms (jitter: 0.87ms, low: 12.64ms, high: 20.47ms)
Upload: 941.38 Mbps (data used: 934.4 MB)
145.04 ms (jitter: 45.87ms, low: 12.66ms, high: 230.74ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%