- Joined
- Aug 20, 2007
- Messages
- 2,307
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- 38
I help out an elderly neighbor from time to time. He has Internet, which he uses on one WIRED connection to Verizon DSL to visit Drudgereport.com and wait for emails from his nephews who almost never write him. That's about all he does.
He was using a Westell 6100 modem from 2007 which worked well but evidently started having problems, probably due to a power surge. So he called Verizon and, after trying to get him to upgrade his Internet speed (for more money, always a priority for Verizon CS, even when talking with old folks on a tight budget) they finally just offered to send him a new D-Link DSL-2750B Wireless Gateway. Then he called me to help him set it up.
This kind of thing is pretty straightforward, if you're at all technically literate. But he isn't so I helped. Now he doesn't want OR need Wireless so I configured it with wireless disabled. What kills me is the router has a push button on the back which, when pressed, completely overrides the router's software configuration, enabling wireless. What's really lame is that the default settings are not close to maximally secure. So this forced me to entirely configure the wireless, hiding the SSID broadcast, lengthening the WPA2 key from the default 16, adding MAC address filtering (his ONE system) and just generally tightening it up as if he were going to use it.
What's annoying is there is no way a button on the box should override software settings. The button should be a way to temporarily disable wireless on a system where the software has enabled it. NOT the other way around! It would be so easy for my aged friend to accidentally press that button. Yeah, the WLAN light would come on the front but it's pretty subtle and he wouldn't be paying any attention to the lights anyway.
I'm doubly annoyed because this reminds me that companies like Verizon ALWAYS operate to maximize their profit and minimize how much personal contact they need to have with their customers. Some exec made a business decision that if an old guy loses financially because he gets hacked due to a situation like this, it's less likely to affect Verizon financially than the cost of dealing with multiple customers who don't understand that pressing the WLAN button on the router won't override the software setting, which SHOULD be disabled by default---a conservative setting that PROTECTS their customers.
Yeah, you can call me naïve if I expect companies would look out for their customers' welfare. But I can dream, right?
Opinions?
He was using a Westell 6100 modem from 2007 which worked well but evidently started having problems, probably due to a power surge. So he called Verizon and, after trying to get him to upgrade his Internet speed (for more money, always a priority for Verizon CS, even when talking with old folks on a tight budget) they finally just offered to send him a new D-Link DSL-2750B Wireless Gateway. Then he called me to help him set it up.
This kind of thing is pretty straightforward, if you're at all technically literate. But he isn't so I helped. Now he doesn't want OR need Wireless so I configured it with wireless disabled. What kills me is the router has a push button on the back which, when pressed, completely overrides the router's software configuration, enabling wireless. What's really lame is that the default settings are not close to maximally secure. So this forced me to entirely configure the wireless, hiding the SSID broadcast, lengthening the WPA2 key from the default 16, adding MAC address filtering (his ONE system) and just generally tightening it up as if he were going to use it.
What's annoying is there is no way a button on the box should override software settings. The button should be a way to temporarily disable wireless on a system where the software has enabled it. NOT the other way around! It would be so easy for my aged friend to accidentally press that button. Yeah, the WLAN light would come on the front but it's pretty subtle and he wouldn't be paying any attention to the lights anyway.
I'm doubly annoyed because this reminds me that companies like Verizon ALWAYS operate to maximize their profit and minimize how much personal contact they need to have with their customers. Some exec made a business decision that if an old guy loses financially because he gets hacked due to a situation like this, it's less likely to affect Verizon financially than the cost of dealing with multiple customers who don't understand that pressing the WLAN button on the router won't override the software setting, which SHOULD be disabled by default---a conservative setting that PROTECTS their customers.
Yeah, you can call me naïve if I expect companies would look out for their customers' welfare. But I can dream, right?
Opinions?