This is surely rubbish!!!

A family friend is a plusnet customer. Her broadband has stopped working so she phoned customer support. She is not technically minded but thinks the information given by the rep was incorrect.

After describing the problem she was told that the password in her router was incorrect, and that she would have to reset her router. Unfortunately she informed the rep that she had recently changed her webmail password. The rep told her that this is why she couldn't connect to the internet anymore.

Apparently her router password has changed and as a result her router, (Asus AM604G) can't connect to her local exchange.

I appreciate that routers do go unserviceable, however it seems to me that the information she was given was grossly inaccurate.

She is searching for her router username and password which if she finds I will travel to her and try a different router.

Plusnet can tell her the username and password

I told her to ring back and ask for those details.

I am not a PlusNet customer any more but iirc, the Webmail Password for the primary Postmaster mail account IS the Account Password. You can set up Mailboxes for sub-account mail addresses and use different passwords but I don't believe that the Account Password and Primary Mail account password can be different.

I could be wrong .... so you may be better waiting for Monday morning wisdom.

Agree with other replies - she should just try changing the router password to the same as the webmail password (which is the same as the account password) and see if it connects.

Edited by kasg (Sun 02-Oct-11 21:15:46)

The router password, portal (plusnet account) password and main email account password are one and the same. Assuming it was the main mailbox password that was changed, this can't be done via the manage my mail or via webmail so she must have changed the main account password, which in turn changes the router and mail account passwords to the same. Your broadband connection does not disconnect on a password change, it is checked the next time the router tries to connect, so initially, after the password change, everything would have worked normally.

If that was what she did then the info given by CS is correct and you need to know the new password to get the internet going again.

In reply to a post by petervaughan:

you need to know the new password to get the internet going again.

Do CS know the new password?

Apparently so. She said they told her on the phone what her new webmail password was. Another problem is I can't find what the IP address of the Asus router interface is.

She is adamant that all she changed was a webmail password. She has not accessed her account details via the plusnet portal.

Changing the webmail password should just change that, the router login password to connect to the internet should still remain the same .... it does with maaf as they are not the same, and of course the router can have another password to enable changes in settings within it's interface.
If it does change all other passwords in the PN setup then it might seem less secure, but then I'm not familiar with the PN set-up

I'm on Plusnet, and all my passwords for broadband authentication, webmail and member login are all the same. So there is a high possability that they are all linked together. Changing one password, changes them all.

So all she needs to do is update the router with the new password instead of resetting it.

In most cases, you can find the router ip address by typing ipconfig in the command prompt. It's usually the default gateway.
Also theres usually a label on the bottom of the router.
Some Windows (vista, maybe 7) operating systems, if you click on network, it gives you a shortcut for the router to login aswell.

Thanks to everyone who replied. My friend has tried to ring PN again this evening but couldn't get through. However in the meantime I managed to find the default IP and user/pass for the ASUS router. We changed the adsl password to the one given by PN earlier this evening and everything is now working again.

The password given by PN is the same as the webmail one she changed earlier in the week. Which coincided with the adsl dropping. Given that there is obviously room for misunderstanding the information she was given, I would be surprised if changing a webmail password changes the adsl login password.

Good news to hear that you friend is once more able to connect to the www.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Thanks to everyone who replied. My friend has tried to ring PN again this evening but couldn't get through. However in the meantime I managed to find the default IP and user/pass for the ASUS router. We changed the adsl password to the one given by PN earlier this evening and everything is now working again.

The password given by PN is the same as the webmail one she changed earlier in the week. Which coincided with the adsl dropping. Given that there is obviously room for misunderstanding the information she was given, I would be surprised if changing a webmail password changes the adsl login password.

That seems ambiguous to me.

Do you mean the password for ADSL login given by PN was the same as the password she change webmail to, or the same as webmail password she change from?

If "from", then we haven't explained the ADSL login fail. If "to", then "I would be surprised if changing a webmail password changes the adsl login password" doesn't make sense. It self-evidently did, so you would rightly, (as I am), surprised that it does so, but "if ... would" doesn't enter into the discussion. From the posts by others it certainly appears to be "to".

Edit - grammar.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 03-Oct-11 09:43:25)

From what I understand, her router was setup by another friend some years ago when she joined one of the companies subsequently acquired by PN. I assume her ADSL connection username and password would have been supplied by that company.

She recently changed her webmail password. She switches her router off each evening and on again when she wants to connect to the internet. After changing her webmail password the router failed to connect.

She contacted PN who told her in apparently a vague manner, that the password in her router was wrong and the router therefore needed resetting. This is probably where some confusion occurred.

She told the PN rep that she had recently changed her webmail password. He then told her what her new webmail password was. But didn't tell her to change the router password to that password.

Having changed the router password to the same as the recently changed webmail password, the router connected and all is well.

I was surprised to find that changing a webmail password resulted in the ADSL connection password becoming defunct.

That's what I thought you meant.

I don't think it too surprising, but it is appalling that there aren't messages all over the place warning about it before the change, and a notification afterwards.

The rep using the word "reset" is also unfortunate, when what was meant is re-enter the login (revised) details, or in this case just the new password.

Four days of downtime could have been avoided by a simple explanation that the router password needs to be changed to the same as the new webmail password. In fact any downtime could have been avoided by using a system that keeps the ADSL log in password separate from other passwords.

Yep!

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Four days of downtime could have been avoided by a simple explanation that the router password needs to be changed to the same as the new webmail password.

That information used to be on the password change pages but it seems to have gone walkabouts! :\

Any router we've supplied since 2009 will automatically reconfigure itself following a password change.

Rgds,

Passwords for mailboxes are edited from http://email.plus.net The default mail box (which shares the same password as the portal login and the router login) has no edit option (i.e. you can't change your main password from there).

I suspect she wanted to change the password for the default mailbox and was directed to https://portal.plus.net/my.html?s=0&action=change_pa... which is accessed from the Account Details page. As Bob has noted there are no notes about what that will affect (hopefully to be rectified soon!).

Edited by jelv (Mon 03-Oct-11 14:36:30)

I don't know if the Asus router was supplied by Free-Online or not, but she has been a customer for quite a few years. However she's now looking for pastures new.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

I don't know if the Asus router was supplied by Free-Online or not...

Not to my knowledge it won't have been.

Thanks Bob.

Why?

She tells me she has had "issues" with PN over a long period of time. I have no idea what they are it is purely a matter for her.

One gets the impression she will have issues with any ISP. Why did she move to PN in the first place for instance? Issues?

One gets the impression she will have issues with any ISP.

Why is that?

Why did she move to PN in the first place for instance? Issues?

I don't see what relevance that has to do with a rather silly system that when you change an email password, your router disconnects.

Post deleted by RobertoS

OK - I get the impression ....

Why is that?

"Why did she leave her previous ISP?"

Not that it is of any relevance, but she moved from rented accommodation where the BB was included in the rent, to her own place where there wasn't any BB installed.

Now what exactly you think this tells you about this lady is beyond me.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

One gets the impression she will have issues with any ISP.

Does one? Not unreasonable to be flummoxed when changing pwd on website also invalidates router settings w/out notice.

That was uncalled for!

Edited by XRaySpeX (Mon 03-Oct-11 19:28:31)

In reply to a post by wingco1:

One gets the impression she will have issues with any ISP.

Why is that?

OK - I get the impression ...., not "One gets". Partly but not entirely because of "She tells me she has had "issues" with PN over a long period of time."

Why did she move to PN in the first place for instance? Issues?

I don't see what relevance that has to do with a rather silly system that when you change an email password, your router disconnects.

See the first bit of this reply.

Be honest - would you have suffered "Four days of downtime"? I certainly wouldn't. Even four hours is unlikely. Ergo, along with the above, she doesn't know how to get the desired result from ISP support.

Incidentally when this thread started, I was puzzled by your saying "Unfortunately she informed the rep that she had recently changed her webmail password. The rep told her that this is why she couldn't connect to the internet anymore". Surely that was exactly the right thing for her to do, and she got the correct answer, with an unclear instruction as to what to do.

Or at least, what you reported here was that she got an unclear answer.

I said unfortunately because I didn't believe that changing an email password would case the router to disconnect from the internet. I still think it is a stupid system exasperated even more by the lack of warnings.

Not every internet user is as savvy as you. She is self employed and works damned hard and long hours. She has phoned PN support over the four days of downtime and apparently, I say apparently because I wasn't there and didn't listen in to the call, she was told that everything looks ok at their end. Heard that somewhere before have you Bob???

She hasn't time to sit on the telephone to have her time wasted. It was only because she asked to speak to a supervisor/manager that the CS guy told her her router password was wrong and that she needed to "reset" the router.

If it wasn't for the help received here she would probably still be off line. So make of that what you will. I actually find your assertions offensive. Just because the lady is unfamiliar with the technicalities of Broadband she is a trouble maker. A very adult assumption.

Except she didn't change her email password (as I explained in this post there is no option from the email configuration pages to change the password for the default mailbox) - she changed the main account password which happened to be the password on the default mailbox.

If she'd accurately told you what she had done I'm sure you'd have helped her sort it out sooner. In any case having changed any password, if something then stops working isn't trying the new password in the configuration of the thing that stopped working the first blindingly obvious thing to try?

In reply to a post by wingco1:

I said unfortunately because I didn't believe that changing an email password would case the router to disconnect from the internet. I still think it is a stupid system exasperated even more by the lack of warnings.

Not every internet user is as savvy as you. She is self employed and works damned hard and long hours. She has phoned PN support over the four days of downtime and apparently, I say apparently because I wasn't there and didn't listen in to the call, she was told that everything looks ok at their end. Heard that somewhere before have you Bob???

She hasn't time to sit on the telephone to have her time wasted. It was only because she asked to speak to a supervisor/manager that the CS guy told her her router password was wrong and that she needed to "reset" the router.

If it wasn't for the help received here she would probably still be off line. So make of that what you will. I actually find your assertions offensive. Just because the lady is unfamiliar with the technicalities of Broadband she is a trouble maker. A very adult assumption.

Your command of English when trying to tell us something leaves a lot to be desired. The choice and order of words makes a difference. You said that it was unfortunate that she told support she had changed the email password. Fact! You then got thoroughly confusing again in the post I queried earlier, as it in no way made sense.

Even "It was only because she asked to speak to a supervisor/manager that the CS guy told her her router password was wrong" is gobbledegook.

Please tell me where I said your friend is a trouble-maker? I never assumed, nor said, nor implied that. So it seems you cannot understand correct English either. Unless you are just trying to be insulting to me, especially with the "adult" comment.

Nor is being "internet savvy" anything at all to do with it. Giving the facts to support, which it seems she did, and making sense of the answer is all it needs, and that applies to any product from any company.

Just calm down. This post of yours in fact confirms what I said, which is that I expect she will have issues with any ISP.

I wish I hadn't posted in this thread . I get stick from two of you for saying perfectly sensible things, given the facts as stated. If in five years you are able to tell us she has no issues with her next ISP I shall eat my words.

she changed the main account password which happened to be the password on the default mailbox.

She changed a mail password which happened to change the router logon password without any warning

In any case having changed any password, if something then stops working isn't trying the new password in the configuration of the thing that stopped working the first blindingly obvious thing to try?

Yes, if you're reasonably savvy in how things work. However not everyone is. As far as she is concerned she changed the webmail password How the hell was she to know that would change her logon password.

As usual, attack anyone who in the slightest way has a problem with Plusnet.

Your command of English when trying to tell us something leaves a lot to be desired.

Oh, it's my fault now!! You really are a pompous [censored]!

Her problem is resolved end of. You however have problems you need to deal with. Bye.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Your command of English when trying to tell us something leaves a lot to be desired.

Oh, it's my fault now!! You really are a pompous [censored]!

Her problem is resolved end of. You however have problems you need to deal with. Bye.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

she changed the main account password which happened to be the password on the default mailbox.

She changed a mail password which happened to change the router logon password without any warning

She must be bloomin' clever then because there is no option to change the password on the default mailbox anywhere in the area where email/mailboxes are configured!

In reply to a post by wingco1:

As usual, attack anyone who in the slightest way has a problem with Plusnet.

wangco1, If you had followed my postings over the years you'd know that when Plusnet screw up I'm as ready as the next man to have a go at them and I've done it a fair few times over the years both on here and other places. But when half stories are told and facts twisted to suit an agenda...

She must be bloomin' clever then because there is no option to change the password on the default mailbox anywhere in the area where email/mailboxes are configured!

That's how it was described to me! For god sake I can't read her mind!

wangco1,

Proves my point.

You've launched an attack on Plusnet alleging that changing a mailbox password messed up her internet connection which if it were true would be pretty bad. Now you admit that you were basing this on what you were told and may not be totally accurate.

Bob Pullen has admitted that where you change your account password it ought to explicitly warn what changing the password will affect. I'll be keeping an eye on that page to make sure it gets changed. The help page about changing passwords gets it right (scroll up the page a bit from where I've linked and there's a very explicit warning) but there's not even a link to that help page on the change account password page.

It does actually inform you straight after changing the password that you need to update other passwords:

Your password has changed - this is effective immediately.

You'll need to update the password for all of your Plusnet services.

These can include:

Broadband
Email
Webspace
If you're not sure how to do this take a look at our Updating Passwords guide, or give us a call.

Thanks for that Chris. I'm sure the lady is now aware. That doesn't alter the fact that on three different calls to CS, on two occasions she was told that "everything is OK at Plusnets end". On one occasion, "Your password is wrong, you need to reset your router." Having been told that she had changed her "webmail" password, I would have thought CS would have advised her to change the ADSL password in her router. This would have resolved the issue on the first call.

However the matter has been resolved thanks to suggestions made by members of this board, who are more interested in helping customers than those who criticise the lady without having met her, or those that are more interested in defending the Company than helping.

As far as I'm concerned the matter is closed.

Chris,

I wonder if just saying "Broadband" is enough? Perhaps it should specifically say that the password stored in the router should be changed.

Are your initials LG?

In reply to a post by chrisparr:

It does actually inform you straight after changing the password that you need to update other passwords:

When you say "changing the password", does this specifically refer to the changing the "Webmail" password, Chris ?
I couldn't find a reference to Webmail in the link you provided.

No - that's the information you get when you change the main account password.

Webmail passwords are changed from Manage My Mail and there is no option in there to change the password on the default mailbox as it uses the main account password - and that can only be changed through account management pages.

In reply to a post by jelv:

Webmail passwords are changed from Manage My Mail and there is no option in there to change the password on the default mailbox as it uses the main account password - and that can only be changed through account management pages.

And changing the webmail password will have no effect on the main account password whatsoever ?

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

In reply to a post by jelv:

Webmail passwords are changed from Manage My Mail and there is no option in there to change the password on the default mailbox as it uses the main account password - and that can only be changed through account management pages.

And changing the webmail password will have no effect on the main account password whatsoever ?

We seem to be going round in circles - the default mailbox password (whether it be accessed by webmail or otherwise) and the account password are one and the same thing.

the default mailbox password (whether it be accessed by webmail or otherwise) and the account password are one and the same thing

And the ADSL login password required in the router is the same.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 04-Oct-11 20:00:55)

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

In reply to a post by jelv:

Webmail passwords are changed from Manage My Mail and there is no option in there to change the password on the default mailbox as it uses the main account password - and that can only be changed through account management pages.

And changing the webmail password will have no effect on the main account password whatsoever ?

We seem to be going round in circles - the default mailbox password (whether it be accessed by webmail or otherwise) and the account password are one and the same thing.

But jelv is saying that the "main account password" can only be changed in the "account management pages".
If the main account password and the webmail password are one and the same thing - and this seems to be what you are indicating - then it appears that this password can be changed in two separate places.

@wagstaff
You clearly haven't read, or if you did you haven't understood, jelv's post in this thread at Mon 03-Oct-11 14:35:35

No, it can only be changed in one place - the account management page. There is no way to change this password on the mailbox management page or via webmail.

so again... account password is also the default mailbox password is also the router password. You change the account password and the default mailbox password and router passwords also change so these need to be updated in the router and any mail clients you have.

Edited by deleted (Tue 04-Oct-11 21:24:07)

In reply to a post by bpullen:

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Four days of downtime could have been avoided by a simple explanation that the router password needs to be changed to the same as the new webmail password.

That information used to be on the password change pages but it seems to have gone walkabouts! :\

Any router we've supplied since 2009 will automatically reconfigure itself following a password change.

Rgds,

Providing you don't turn that annoying feature off - as I do

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

@wagstaff
You clearly haven't read, or if you did you haven't understood, jelv's post in this thread at Mon 03-Oct-11 14:35:35

I didn't go passed the login for the two links on that post - did you?

It was jelv's post today at 14:48:09 that I was querying, where he suggested that there were two places (Manage My Mail and "account management pages") where this all-in-one password could be changed.

No need to.

First, it is perfectly clear, and second if you read that before the one you are querying then the one you are querying is also perfectly clear. As is chrisparr's post, to anyone who has read the thread leading up to it. Maybe you just started from there.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Maybe you just started from there.

I did try to read the thread the whole way through, but when it became a slanging match between you and the OP, I kinda lost interest.
And then I saw the possibility of there being two places where this all-in-one password could be changed.

What I've been endeavouring to do is understand how a Plusnet user could, through what appears to be a misunderstanding, change a password and knock out their internet connection.

Easy! By ignoring the message that told them it would.

Which apparently wasn't there when she changed her password. http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/t/4049645-r...

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Easy! By ignoring the message that told them it would.

It patently wasn't easy for one Plusnet user.

If the effect of changing a password could be so devastating, then I think it is incumbent on Plusnet to issue several warnings before the event not after.

In reply to a post by Freedom86:

Providing you don't turn that annoying feature off - as I do

Providing it works http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/plusnet/t/3995181-r...