Verizon DSL Password

[Marz]

Wondering if this is a common issue

Have had verizon DSL for a while now, maybe 7 years. I couple years back the verizon password changed suddenly. We were using the internet and it just cut off. Something in my router hinted at a bad password so we called and reset it. Got back online no problems.

Recently, like a month or 2 ago our service stopped working one morning. I was using the internet until about 7am before I went to bed. Someone else was up around 8am and they couldn't get online and waited for me to wake up to call verizon. I called, they said it was a network issue and it took like 4-5 days to get it resolved. I had the correct password but every time we entered it the service would not connect. I kind of think something happened with the password again but I told them not to reset it because I knew what it was.

More recently a co-worker of mine had his DSL cut off one day. He did all the normal troubleshooting and nothing worked. Called verzion, made him do everything again before they offered to try and reset the password. After the reset everything went back to normal.

Anybody ever have this happen? Any insight on what might be the problem?

[dslr595148]

#1 Since the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 is not a modem, what is the brand and model of your modem?

#2 What firmware is on the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 ? This info I guess is at System Info.

[Marz]

Have had multiple modems. Modem when we had the first problem was a westell 2200, had a different router then too. An old 802.11b router. Currently, we have a Westell 7100 in bridge mode. Using DD-WRT v24 SP1, not sure of the specific release date. Should be from 2010. Co-worker that had the same problem has a westell 2200 and a wrt54gl running an old version of dd-wrt.

[dslr595148]

#1 If you are using the DD-WRT v24 SP1 release, then you according to http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database

are using a 2008 OR 2009 release.

#2 If you are using a 2010 release, then I have no idea of what verison you are using. I would seek help from the forum at DD-WRT if I was using a 2010 release.

--

Ok, moving along...

#1 Is wireless in the DD-WRT enabled?

#2 If so, is some sort of wireless security enabled ( for example: WEP / WPA ) ?

[Marz]

My mistake, its a SP2 release from 2009, swore it was newer - DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/10/09) std-nokaid Wireless is enabled in dd-wrt. WPA password with lower case, numbers and a symbol. Its 13 characters long. Router itself is PW protected with a strong password as well. And with dd-wrt it requires a username that is not admin.

[dslr595148]

Ok.

Did you make the Verizon password hard to guess?

If not, perhaps someone logged in as you and changed the password?

[Marz]

Its not that hard, its short all lower case with a number. I'm not sure what my co-worker had as a password but I'm sure it was more complex.

[ralletsport100]

Yeah that's happend to me, I had to call verizon dsl high speed Internet support about 3 times to get it resolved what they did was run a "system test" to my phone line and detect the problem, after they created a "ticket" and my Internet worked 1 day later. And have not had a problem since. Verizon Rocks!!!

[Dolores2]

I forgot my password for my wireless connection.   How can I reset it??

[RetiredDBA]

Offering what might be insight into password problems regarding DSL.  This is just based on my personal experience.  YMMV.

Let's say your home page is your page on Verizon Yahoo.  When you connect to the internet and then go to your home page,  you actually log in twice.  The first time, it's actually your DSL modem logging into the Verizon gateway, in order to get the the Verizon gateway to give your PC internet access.  The second login is to your account with verizon yahoo, in order to give you access to the correct home page.

The DSL login with the gateway is taking place behind the scenes, and you might not either know nor care what the userid and password are.  Until it breaks.  The login to your homepage is visible to you,  and unless you check the "keep me signed in" option,  you have to login each time to start a session. 

Let's look at the DSL login in detail.  During installation,  the installation software used a userid/password designed to give it temporary access while checking out the line and completing the installation and setup on your own PC.  This userid/password pair came on the installation CD, and it's not specifi to you.  Normally, by the time your installation is complete,  this special userid and password have been overwritten by your own userid and password that you typed into the installation process.

If the installation aborts in the middle,  you can be left with the installer's userid/password.  But this userid/password can work for years, but suddenly stop working because of some administrative action back at Verizon.  This action may have nothing to do with you.

The other possiblity, that your userid and password are the ones you provided are also interesting.  If you go over to your Verizon Yahoo home page, and change your password,  the new password may propagate back to the Verizon gateway,  but not to your DSL modem.  Now the DSL modem is going to use the old password while the Verizon gateway uses the new password for validation.  Suddenly, it doesn't work.  If this happens, you may have to go into the dslrouter local control screen, and fix your DSL router's password manually. 

Clear as mud?