How to connect to TalkTalk broadband

[MarkyPancake]

Last night I was having router problems while away from my own house (2 MB TalkTalk ADSL broadband) and no amount of power cycles were fixing it, so I did a hard reset on the router. Obviously this wiped every setting, including the details that are needed to connect to the internet. I've set the router's wireless security and MAC filtering etc. up again so the usual machines can communicate with the router, but the router cannot communicate with the internet. All the set up details were written down and I've followed them exactly, but it will not connect (the username is a phone number and the password appears to be a randomly generated mixture of letters and numbers, I assume issued by TalkTalk).

Beyond the usual router changes like port forwarding etc. I've never had any experience with ADSL broadband before so was hoping someone might have some ideas as to what I'm doing wrong.

 

[solidamber]

You say while away from your own house,Is this general information or are you using the router at a different location from where it was registered as it will not work there, if it is at that address the standard settings should work.

this is for a Belkin but most routers are simular
Username: Your username.
Password: Your password.
VPI/VCI:Type 0 in the first box and 38 in the second
Encapsulation VC-MUX.
Dial on demand: Leave this box empty.
Idle Time (Minute):Set this to 0.
Use Static IP Address: Leave this box empty

 

[beerhunter]

To get a connection, two things need to happen: The modem in the router needs to talk to (synchronise with) the kit in the local Exchange. Once they are happy the router needs to logon to your ISP. The former is controlled by the Network Settings and the latter by the User Name and Password. Routers generally have some lights, the state of which can be used to tell you at what point the router is failing. i.e. Modem synchronisation (which will be called something like ADSL or Broadband) and logging on to your ISP (which will be called something like Internet.)

Most modern routers can detect the network settings so I would do a factory reset (again) and let it do just that. Then enter the User Name and Password that your ISP gave you. This is usually different to your email ID.

 

[MarkyPancake]

You say while away from your own house

It's my lady's router at her house. I don't know what brand it is or the model number, it's grey/black and has 11G in silver on the top.

We've got NTL/VM optical broadband at mine and I've never needed to input any ISP credentials in the router, no matter what settings I've changed or how many times it has been reset.

 

[gboyd]

I take it you have connected to the router and made sure all the ISP username and password is filled in?

 

[MarkyPancake]

I take it you have connected to the router and made sure all the ISP username and password is filled in?

I have, but it doesn't seem to retain the password. I expected the password field to appear masked, instead it always goes blank after I click "Apply" or "Connect".

 

[gboyd]

Did you change the password to one of your own after the first time you set it up? Sounds like the password you are entering is being rejected?

 

[MarkyPancake]

Did you change the password to one of your own after the first time you set it up? Sounds like the password you are entering is being rejected?

The only password I've got is a jumble of letters and numbers. If I enter a password other than that or leave the field blank the connection status says something like "Authentication failed" as opposed to "N/A" when I do enter the jumbled password.

It's driving me crazy and now my lady doesn't have any broadband.

 

[MarkyPancake]

I fixed it!

After everything I tried had failed I went on to her TalkTalk account and thought I would have a look at the internet password page and this gave me what I needed. The password was correct, but the username was the telephone number with @talktalk.net on the end, which hadn't been written down, so while I was in there I changed the password and tried again last night with the full username and it worked.

Thanks for all the advice though.