Reset Actiontec FIOS router: now WPA2 key requires number (and not just letters)----Workaround?
tgm10241
Enthusiast - Level 2

Read only the items in bold for the quick version.  I'm not shouting.

This probably applies to all high speed internet WiFi routers with the Verizon software loaded.

When I first had FIOS set up last year, I was able to have my "standard" (very long) WPA2 shared key that I've been using for years.  I have a bunch of things in the house that have been connected.

Just a few hours ago the router seems to have been borked by some "outtages in the area" somehow.  So with a tech on the line, and bla bla bla, and a reset of the modem, I can reconfigure it for WPA2 again.

Only NOW it requires that the passkey have a number in it.  My key has *always* been just a very long sequence of letters.  I don't want to have to reconfigure every single item in the house.  There are currently 10 devices in the house that use the internet and several of them are NOT reconfigured easily.

Where did that requirement come from?  Was there an update recently?  Can I disable that requirement?

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Re: Reset Actiontec FIOS router: now WPA2 key requires number (and not just letters)----Workaround?
JOSEm441
Specialist - Level 2

I am fairly sure you can not disable the requirement for 1 number in the passkey. http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-Internet/want-to-use-my-own-wifi-router/m-p/649311#M42896

If you read throught that thread you could purchase a differnet modem that allows alpha passkeys for wireless.

I am guessing you have the MI424WR ?

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Re: Reset Actiontec FIOS router: now WPA2 key requires number (and not just letters)----Workaround?
tgm10241
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks.

That's a HUGE over-reach on Verizon's part.  I did a re-count and this would mean roughly 20 devices would have to be changed.  12 in my home, and 8 family members who visit.

With all providers I usually supply my own router and have it talk to the supplied one in a kind of passthrough modem-only mode.  I haven't done it yet for FIOS because I read some people had some issues with IP .1.100 and .1.101 given that set top boxes seem to be fixing themselves staticaly.  Perhaps now is the time to put in a new 802.11ac router.

I'm assuming that this must've happened by itself during some critical update pushed through by the mother ship?  Because *this very router* used to allow all letters *without* numbers.  It's how we've been operating until yesterday.

Also, if it is true that updates happen on their own, then that policy is a disaster in the making: During updates, a router will seem to go dead, and that's right at the point where people might decide to turn it off and on again in hopes of "fixing" it.  Turning off a device MID-flash is risky.