OpenWrt router connected to Lightwire wireless internet service

I installed my own router for access to Lightwire wireless internet service because with the router provided by Lightwire I was unable to forward port 443 to one of my own nodes. Lightwire uses HTTPS for remote administration of their router and was unable to use an alternate port for their purposes.

Lightwire documents that customers may use their own routers but has no documentation of how to do so. I received instructions from support, in follow-up to my ticket asking why my attempt to forward port 443 wasn't working. 

The requirements for configuring the router were:

• PPPoE connection
• Traffic must be tagged VLAN ID 10

I started with a router with a fresh install of OpenWrt v24.10.

I connected to a LAN port and configured WiFi interfaces using the web interface, then connected via WiFi.

I disconnected the network cable from the router provided by Lightwire and connected it to the WAN port of my router. 

I logged in to the web interface and edited the wan and wan6 interfaces under Network > Interfaces by clicking Edit and then changing the protocol from DHCP to PPPoE and entering the username and password provided by Lightwire in the PAP/CHAP username and PAP/CHAP password fields. All other options left unchanged. Clicked Save then Save & Apply.

As I wasn't sure how to set the VLAN ID via the web interface, I logged in via ssh and edited /etc/config/network and changed the configuration for interfaces wan and wan6, changing option device from 'wan' to 'wan.10'. After the change, the sections were:

config interface 'wan'
	option device 'wan.10'
	option proto 'pppoe'
	option username 'REDACTED username'
	option password 'REDACTED password'
	option ipv6 'auto'

config interface 'wan6'
	option device 'wan.10'
	option proto 'pppoe'
	option username 'REDACTED username'
	option password 'REDACTED password'
	option ipv6 'auto'

Then I rebooted with command reboot.

With these changes, the router connected to the Lightwire service and I had Internet access again. But now with a router fully under my control, allowing me to forward port 443 to one of my servers.