@mpcjames
Just to help with some of your early questions.
You are correct that the Openreach VLAN is added by the modem or ONT. For generic modems this may have to be added manually, or not, as some UK-specific firmware loads do this for you (eg on some Draytek units with BT-approved firmware).
The MTU for your WAN/pppoe0 link (shown as MRU 1492 in your stats above) should be set at 1500 - ie the standard packet size. The actual physical interface connection between your pfSense router to the Openreach modem or ONT should be set at 1508 MTU, to allow for the extra 8-bytes of the PPPoE wrapper:
2023-09-07 at 11.18.35.png
2023-09-07 at 11.19.14.png
You will see the somewhat bogus PPPoE MTU 1492 mentioned a lot on English-speaking forums as they tend to be dominated by those from the US, where they do things differently. The 1492 setting has become somewhat of an internet lore but is incorrect for many other countries, including the UK.
I'm on the pfSense Plus side of the house where there have also been a number of PPPoE niggles, one of which is the multiple attempts to achieve a PPPoE link, rather than the expected single attempt. This can muddy the waters when doing any testing. For reasons unexplained the latest 23.09 dev firmware is more likely to make a PPPoE connection at first try. So there is hope that things are getting better for UK-style connections.
I hope this adds some UK-orientated clarity!
☕️