Most of the time spent on setting up an uplink goes into three things: is it PPPoE or DHCP, does a VLAN number belong to it, and which IPv6 prefix do you get. Those three are exactly what otherwise has to be dug out of a forum post, and having one of them wrong looks like "the router does not work".
So at the top of the WAN / internet section there is a list of providers. Pick one and the first uplink is filled in. Pick Own settings and nothing happens: you fill everything in yourself.
What a preset fills in
- The type of the uplink: PPPoE or DHCP.
- The VLAN id on the WAN port, or empty when there is no VLAN.
- For PPPoE, a username and password, but only when those fields are still empty. Anything you already typed is left alone.
- A comment with the provider's name, so you can see in the script which uplink is which.
- The MTU is cleared, because in these cases it should be worked out automatically.
- IPv6, when the prefix length for that provider is known: IPv6 is turned on with prefix delegation at the right length, on the right uplink interface, with the IPv6 firewall on.
Every field stays editable afterwards. Under the selector a note appears with that provider's particulars and with what the preset does not cover. Read it: that is where it says TV and telephony are not included.
The providers in the list
| Provider | Country | Type | VLAN | IPv6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KPN | NL | PPPoE | 6 | /48 by prefix delegation |
| Ziggo | NL | DHCP | none | /56 by prefix delegation |
| Odido | NL | DHCP | 300 | /48 by prefix delegation |
| Telekom | DE | PPPoE | 7 | /56 by prefix delegation |
| Swisscom | CH | DHCP | 11 | not filled in |
| Free | FR | DHCP | none | not filled in |
KPN
Fibre and DSL, XS4ALL included: PPPoE over VLAN 6. KPN accepts any username and password, so internet / internet works. TV runs over VLAN 4 and telephony over VLAN 7 there; neither is in the preset. If you want TV, add it as its own uplink and turn IPTV on, see Recipe: IPTV.
Ziggo
Cable, without a VLAN. Put the modem in bridge mode through My Ziggo first, or you are sitting behind two routers. Restart the modem after swapping routers: it only hands the public address to the first device it sees. If the address stays with your old router, cloning a MAC address on the uplink helps.
Odido
Fibre, formerly T-Mobile Thuis: DHCP over VLAN 300, no login. Odido DSL uses different settings, which are not in this preset.
Telekom
DSL and fibre: PPPoE over VLAN 7. The username is in the access-data letter and is the Anschlusskennung, the T-Online-Nummer and the Mitbenutzernummer run together, followed by @t-online.de. MagentaTV runs over the ordinary internet connection, so nothing extra is needed for it.
Swisscom
Fibre, replacing the Internet-Box: DHCP over VLAN 11. blue TV and telephony are not in the preset. IPv6 is deliberately left empty: check which IPv6 method your line uses, see IPv6.
Free
Put the Freebox in bridge mode, in Freebox OS under Paramètres de la Freebox, Mode réseau. The router then gets the public IPv4 address by DHCP. IPv6 is not filled in, because a bridged Freebox does not delegate a prefix the way the other providers here do.
When you still have to change something
- A business subscription. If you get a fixed IP block, set the type to static and fill in address, gateway and DNS. The preset only knows the consumer variant.
- TV and telephony. No preset arranges those. If your provider delivers TV on its own VLAN, add it as a second uplink and select it under IPTV.
- A different WAN port. The preset leaves the port that was already there; only when nothing usable was set does it pick your model's default WAN port.
- IPv6 works differently on your line. The prefix lengths above are what these providers usually hand out. If you get something else, change it in the IPv6 section.
Your provider is not in the list
That is no obstacle: the list is a shortcut, not a requirement. Leave the choice on Own settings and fill the uplink in by hand. You need three things, and they are usually in the installation guide or in your provider's customer portal:
- Do you get your address by DHCP, or do you log in with PPPoE?
- Is there a VLAN number on the WAN port? If so, enter it under VLAN id on the WAN port.
- For PPPoE: your username and password.
If you do not know the VLAN, you can often read it off the provider's own router that is there now. If the documentation mentions no VLAN number, there usually is none.
If you think your provider belongs in the list, say so through feedback. What is still planned is on the roadmap.
Read on: WAN and internet, IPv6 and Example: replacing the provider's router.