is it possible to manipulate my router remotely

I had a serious problem with my broadband at the beginning of this month which lasted 3 days. During this time I was unable to access many secure sites, and generally the internet was incredibly slow (using either laptop and either router). However the internet then suddenly righted itself after the 3rd day.

An advisor called me back from the 2nd line support to explain what the problem was, but as I couldn't hear what he was saying clearly enough, I called them today to try to establish what the problem was.

To cut a long story short, he explained to me that the reason my internet was not working was because of incorrect settings on my router. I told him I hadn't adjusted the settings both before and after the internet problems, so I didn't see how the router settings were relevant. He continued to explain to me that they had made the relevant changes to my router themselves, without my being on the phone to them.

That surprised me, because I didn't realize that talktalk (or anyone else) was able to manipulate my router settings remotely. Could someone here more knowledgeable than myself please confirm whether this is possible or not, or whether he was just making it up? If it is possible, then logically speaking if I plug in my other router then presumably the internet will have the same fault as before? I might try it later.

Thanks for your help.

If you have left the username/password as default for your router's interface, there's a slim chance that he could have accessed it remotely, but only if remote access is enabled on the router. And then, he would be assuming that you are using the TT supplied router. So, technically speaking, he was most probably talking rubbish .

What router are you using? I suspect the more likely explanation is that TT fiddled with the profile settings for your line - maybe they got messed up at the exchange and just needed resetting. Swapping routers shouldn't make a difference.

They change the settings on the MSAN in the exchange which affects your router's connection. Strange profiles can occur when a line card is reset as 32 users share the same card. Occasionally one or two users get a funny profile which is then manually adjusted. So that is how it is possible for your connection to suddenly go awry.

Thank-you both for your explanations. If only the talktalk advisors had explained that to me then it wouldn't have left me feeling so confused! I strongly suspect that the guy on the phone to me in India today (as friendly as he may be) doesn't actually know anything about computers and the internet.