Do all ISP's provide/use a username and password to access the internet?

Question

I am setting up a third party router at my house and it says that it needs my username and password that my ISP provided in order to gain permission to access the internet. I called my ISP(Centurylink) twice asking for this information, and both times the costomer service person seemed very confused and didn't know what I was asking. They kept thinking that I was trying to find the SSID and password for my router.

Answer 1

The question should be phrased a bit differently.



If the ISP uses PPPoE Protocol (some DSL carriers use this protocol) you will have an ISP provided user name and password. If you have other protocols like IP routing there is no such user name and password. Since Century Link does not seem to have user name and password they are not using PPPoE protocol. Configure the public side of your router for IP routing protocol.

Answer 2

Most modern broadband modems/routers do not use any user name or password. The service is usually controlled by the MAC address of the modem back at the ISP's network central switching room.

There are some services that use methods like PPOE, which requires a login. Usually one can set up the router to do that login for you, and no one else has to worry about it.



It may be that the router you have was configured for PPOE, but you do not use that. However, the router will keep asking for it if it fails with the login... Reset the router to factory defaults, then re-configure it as a basic broadband router (WAN gets info via DHCP from the ISP)

Answer 3

Your username is normally your email address name with your ISP, not a Hotmail, Gmail etc. name. Th password is the one you chose when you opened your ISP account or whatever you have changed it to since then.

Answer 4

That makes good sense to me.