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Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

GregMendelsohn
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Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Does my DSL router username and password have to be the same as my www.plus.net username and password?

On the basis that we have a _business_ account, there may be more than one person logging into our www.plus.net account (to check on billing, etc.), I don’t want them accidentally changing the password and disabling the internet connection.

So how do I separate DSL router from www.plus.net authentication?

Even better would be to be able to set up multiple accounts to access the same billing and account info that is currently only available to the one account with the credentials shared with the DSL router.

How do I do this?

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dvorak
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?


Moderators Note


This topic has been moved from Fibre to Business

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adamwalker
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Hi there, neither of your suggestions are possible unfortunately as the member centre username is included as part of the broadband username. 

 

If multiple people need to access the bills you might want to consider downloading the bills in .pdf format then distributing those to anyone that might need to see them.

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GregMendelsohn
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Why did this get moved to "Business".  Its a technical (fibre) broadband question?

GregMendelsohn
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Hmmm - that's not a good solution.

In any environment you would want to set up the broadband modem connection credentials once only and then leave them alone to ensure uninterrupted connectivity.  This is contrary to good practice with online accounts where one should change a password periodically for even a simple (non-business) application.  Then layer over the business environment and again good practice dictates giving people their own usernames and passwords for accountability reasons.

Are you sure they can't be disconnected.  This does seem odd for a business solution.

Gandalf
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

@GregMendelsohn wrote:

Why did this get moved to "Business".  Its a technical (fibre) broadband question?

It looks like our mods considered this a more appropriate board on the back of:

@GregMendelsohn wrote:

On the basis that we have a _business_ account

 

In any environment you would want to set up the broadband modem connection credentials once only and then leave them alone to ensure uninterrupted connectivity.  This is contrary to good practice with online accounts where one should change a password periodically for even a simple (non-business) application.  Then layer over the business environment and again good practice dictates giving people their own usernames and passwords for accountability reasons.

Are you sure they can't be disconnected.  This does seem odd for a business solution.

I'm afraid due to the way our systems work it's not possible for your account username and password to be different from the broadband username and password your router uses to connect.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
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Baldrick1
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

@GregMendelsohn 

It may be that I'm getting confused here but whilst your broadband log in details held in your router are the same as those for logging in to your account, you can't log into the router with these details. To change the details saved in the router you first need to log into the router using the separate password, which you will find on a label fixed to the router. This is totally different to your account password.

So the only way that your account password and therefore broadband log in details can be changed is through your account, unless of course the employee knows the router password.

Sorry if this doesn't answer your problem.

The transfer of your post to the business board may give you a higher priority response. Also it's possible that business customers could have a different arrangement as we residential mob. The Mods would possibly not be aware if this is the case because they are customers like many of us who haunt this forum.

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GregMendelsohn
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

I do indeed mean mean the broadband password, used to connect to the internet, not the router’s admin password which I would urge everyone to change from the one supplied.

Townman
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

The account password gives access to everything.  The account does not have 'layered' access / controls.

If you are using the Plusnet router changing the account password will update the router's broadband password.

 

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

jelv
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

I was complaining about this around 15 years ago when I was running an office using a Plusnet business account and I had to give the full account username and password to the accounts department in the head office so that they could get billing information and invoices. One of the suggestions was emailed PDF invoices to help with that issue (see http://usergroup.plus.net/pugit/view.php?id=27 which was opened in 2006).

jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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Townman
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Yes emailing PDF copies of the bills seems sensible ... but felt to have DPA concerns!!

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

GregMendelsohn
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Emailing the PDF copies implies technical "specialist" who maintains the router will have to remember to log in to the Plusnet online account and extract the bills to PDF and mail to the accounts department.  Probably not part of his job description.

Bottom line is that there is no good reason or benefit for using the same account details both for the internet/broadband/DSL login as for the the Plusnet online account, especially in a business environment, and in fact good reasons to not do this including account control, segregation of duties and accountability.

But I've spent enough time on this thread now and can see I'm going to have to live with this for at least the next 2 years of my new Plusnet contract.  Let's see if there is any change in time for the contract renewal ...

Townman
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

Email suggestion was that when Plusnet generate the bills, they email a PDF copy to the person named on the account.  This has been discussed in great detail and is considered to be a sensitive data security concern, so like many utility providers, the account holder is expected to logon to access the bills.

Having distinct credentials for the account from those required for the PPP session has merits, but that is not the paradigm implemented here.

 

 

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

jelv
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

I would say giving someone access to way more areas of the account (with the risk of disabling the internet connection, discussing technical issues etc.) than they need to do their job, i.e. look after the business accounts, if a very significantly greater security concern than the person responsible for the account designating an email address of someone in the businesses accounts department to receive PDF copies of invoices (and the recipient having no on-line access to the Plusnet account).

Could someone explain to me what the security concerns are with emailing PDF invoices and why they are greater than the current situation when someone has to manually create a pdf and email it to their accounts department which is what is happening now in many businesses?

jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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Townman
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Re: Does the DSL router and www.plus.net have to share username and password?

@jelv 

I for one cannot!

This is seen all of the time - once stuff goes electronic people go hyper about security, being overly precious about ensuring only the account holder can access the billing information.  In various environments not so long ago such information have been sent in a brown envelope, to land on a door mat, where therein, anyone could open the letter.

As soon as the process and communication goes into a digital space all hell breaks loose over security - cannot send it by email because the receiver's email might not be secure, only accessible by the account holder.  That never seemed to be a concern when sent in paper format.  I suppose it keeps 'security experts' away from the Job Centre.

I saw the exact same behaviour at a major Government Department HQ in South Wales - pre-automation arguably highly sensitive personal information was dropped in bulk in the local post sorting centre which had a reputation for bring leaky, with no concern over security (no use of recorded / signed for delivery).  Come the era of automation and digitisation, suddenly the same data had to be sent under the strictest security.  Whereas the old paper documents were left to be received by whom ever, digital documents had to be delivered to know secure fax machines and later to know government email addresses sent of the internal secure N3 network … less anyone tried to tap into the wires which carry the internet to look at the data as it was transmitted!!!  I kid you not!

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.