Zen PPPoE account behaviour during migration

Hi

I want to migrate a Zen SoGEA. It is connected to a DrayTek router to which I have remote access and which has the Fallback Account feature.

Ideally I could leave the old credentials as the main one and put in the new credentials as the Fallback, then during the migration the old account would stop working. The DrayTek would then flip between the accounts until the new account starts working. I'd then log in via the new IP and make the new account the main one, job done.

The only issue I can see is if during the migration the old account isn't actually deleted straight away on Zen's platform in which case I understand the DrayTek would remain connected to that account as the authentication is still valid and would allow it to connect (but it wouldn't get any internet and I wouldn't be able to access it).

Can anyone with more knowledge of how Zen does this stuff shed some light on this please?

No idea on Zen stuff, but my approach would be to put the new credentials as the main and Zen as the fall back.

Done that way, you could hope that the new supplier has the account set up in advance to connect to the broader internet and on the day the final connection is put in to the property. And you could hope that if the fall back fails, it would attempt to revert to the main.

Thanks - I did consider that but if the new account is built in advance with no actual internet access till migration day then I assume the DrayTek would hold onto that one (being the main one) after the reboot. I would have to do it very late on the night before the migration date for it not to matter too much.

Probably still the best of the two approaches though.

Edited by _KP_ (Sun 02-Mar-25 17:20:32)

Where are you migrating from/to? If you're leaving Zen then Openreach disconnect you from Zen and move you to the network of your new provider or their chosen wholesale supplier on the migration day, and the account gets turned off by Zen after they're told by Openreach that the change went through.

There's not going to be a possibility of your PPPoE requests hitting Zen equipment after Openreach have migrated the service, they're physically (ish) disconnected.

Cannot say for sure how it is for SoGEA. When I moved from FTTC to Cityfibre the process went like this.

Prior to activation FTTC on my original account with old IP block etc.
On day of activation, FTTC still on old account, Cityfibre on new account with new IP
Once activation fully completed, I was able to swap to the old account on cityfibre. However it still had speeds capped at FTTC speeds until Zen applied the zen profile to the old account (they say it takes a day, but I called them and they did it right then over the phone).

So, if it's the same for you then the new account is in fact just temporary and the old account lives on.

In reply to a post by jpm:

Where are you migrating from/to? If you're leaving Zen then Openreach disconnect you from Zen and move you to the network of your new provider or their chosen wholesale supplier on the migration day, and the account gets turned off by Zen after they're told by Openreach that the change went through.

There's not going to be a possibility of your PPPoE requests hitting Zen equipment after Openreach have migrated the service, they're physically (ish) disconnected.

It's going from Zen to Zen, just via different wholesalers.

Have done plenty of eg. BT to Zen migrations before and they normally happen in the very early hours of the morning on migration day, but in those cases we're normally replacing the router anyway.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

No idea on Zen stuff, but my approach would be to put the new credentials as the main and Zen as the fall back.

Done that way, you could hope that the new supplier has the account set up in advance to connect to the broader internet and on the day the final connection is put in to the property. And you could hope that if the fall back fails, it would attempt to revert to the main.

Quick update - This week I actually tried this on a dual WAN DrayTek almost a week before the migration date and it immediately connected on the new account and was reachable on the new IP. I quickly reverted it for fear of getting double-billed!

Edited by _KP_ (Fri 14-Mar-25 23:43:21)

In reply to a post by _KP_:

Quick update - ...

Oh! Result! Interesting that the new connection is set up in advance and interesting too that 2 connections can co exist.