TalkTalk router reconfigured for Shell line

Thank you for allowing me to join ThinkBroadband.

Excuse the ignorance but I've only found one or two mentions on the internet of First-Utility as predecessor of Shell and then TalkTalk.

I was migrated from Shell to TalkTalk and kept the Shell router. It survived a factory reset to stop the line dropping but a recent factory reset for the same reason altered the SSID out of the blue and it stopped working. It needed another password. I didn't know that could happen. Maybe I could have gone into the Shell Zygol router IP and fixed it if I had the knowledge? Anyway Talktalk diagnosed the router as faulty and sent me a new Talktalk router. Although the new SSID was identified by mobiles it didn't work. It was solved by TalkTalk telling me to log in to the IP and input a new username in the form phone [email protected] and a new password.

Firstly I'm surprised this needed to be done and that there is still a connection as far back as First Utility. Secondly if I need to do a factory reset will it remeber this change or will I need to input it again. I did make a note of the changes in case.

Zygol? Do you mean Zyxtel?

A proper factory reset will of course remove user ids, passwords, SSID's etc because the router has none of those things when it leaves the factory. Likely you could still fix it if you knew the factory login details. But you have a new router, so I take it that this will not be a priority. If you do a factory reset of the new router, you will need the default logon credentials.

As for first utility, it is just a name from history, which has remained on your account though takeovers of ISPs. To change it would probably require customers to change router configs, which you might agree could be problematic on a large scale. Despite the legacy name, you are probably fully integrated into TalkTalk systems.

Talk talk bought the lines and equipment why do you think them buying it would change the first-utility names when talk talk now own the names.

Thank you. I thought the router would work out of the box without such a complicated procedure. In acquiring these lines I imagined they would re-brand them to Talktalk for easy use by the customer or at least advise that an additional change would be necessary. I wouldn't then have needed a prolonged phonecall to get up and running. My Shell router worked without the complication of First-Utility but maybe that was just re-branding. However, this experience has now faded with trouble-free internet to date. As I said previously I'm not an expert.