ADSL connection username change (bt_test) - Side effects?

Demon, among others, suggest, in the event that your connection does not
automatically re-establish itself after a failure, that you use the BT Test
login before trying again.

I.e. set the username to bt_test@startup_domain
The password not actually mattering, but "test" has been suggested, probably to
get around systems which will not accept a blank password.

My question is, does using the BT test login have any side effects.

Is the ISP asking users to do this
A) Simply to check that the User->DSLAM->ATM network connection is functional
or
B) To reset some esoteric frobnitz somewhere that otherwise prevents perfectly
good usernames and passwords from working.

Reason being, I had occasion to fix someone's talktalk[1] login yesterday. The
router had been down since Friday showing 'Authentication failures'. TalkTalk
helpdesk were as useful as ever (Absolutely clueless, rude, and pathetic does
not even begin to cover it). I tried several variations of different passwords
that were suggested by various TT documentation to no avail.

Eventually, I tried the BT Test login (not one of the moves suggested by the TT
helldesk) and the connection sprang to life; then tried the username/password
we had been trying all along, and that continued to work, and the connection has
been up since then with no further trouble.

Jim

[1]I'm not a talktalk user. Unfortunately, they suckered my parents.

Jim Howes wrote:
> Demon, among others, suggest, in the event that your connection does not
> automatically re-establish itself after a failure, that you use the BT Test
> login before trying again.
>
> I.e. set the username to bt_test@startup_domain
> The password not actually mattering, but "test" has been suggested, probably to
> get around systems which will not accept a blank password.
>
> My question is, does using the BT test login have any side effects.
>
> Is the ISP asking users to do this
> A) Simply to check that the User->DSLAM->ATM network connection is functional
> or
> B) To reset some esoteric frobnitz somewhere that otherwise prevents perfectly
> good usernames and passwords from working.
>
> Reason being, I had occasion to fix someone's talktalk[1] login yesterday. The
> router had been down since Friday showing 'Authentication failures'. TalkTalk
> helpdesk were as useful as ever (Absolutely clueless, rude, and pathetic does
> not even begin to cover it). I tried several variations of different passwords
> that were suggested by various TT documentation to no avail.
>
> Eventually, I tried the BT Test login (not one of the moves suggested by the TT
> helldesk) and the connection sprang to life; then tried the username/password
> we had been trying all along, and that continued to work, and the connection has
> been up since then with no further trouble.
>
> Jim
>
> [1]I'm not a talktalk user. Unfortunately, they suckered my parents.
Hi

The test logins often cure issues such as stale sessions, but in reality
they are mainly used to find out where authentication problems occur.
There are 2 test logins, one to test the supplier realm and one to test
the BTw network (the bt_test@startup_domain).

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"Jim Howes" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:et8jak$s3q$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Demon, among others, suggest, in the event that your connection does not
> automatically re-establish itself after a failure, that you use the BT
> Test
> login before trying again.
>
> I.e. set the username to bt_test@startup_domain
> The password not actually mattering, but "test" has been suggested,
> probably to
> get around systems which will not accept a blank password.
>
> My question is, does using the BT test login have any side effects.
>
> Is the ISP asking users to do this
> A) Simply to check that the User->DSLAM->ATM network connection is
> functional
> or
> B) To reset some esoteric frobnitz somewhere that otherwise prevents
> perfectly
> good usernames and passwords from working.
>
> Reason being, I had occasion to fix someone's talktalk[1] login yesterday.
> The
> router had been down since Friday showing 'Authentication failures'.
> TalkTalk
> helpdesk were as useful as ever (Absolutely clueless, rude, and pathetic
> does
> not even begin to cover it). I tried several variations of different
> passwords
> that were suggested by various TT documentation to no avail.
>
> Eventually, I tried the BT Test login (not one of the moves suggested by
> the TT
> helldesk) and the connection sprang to life; then tried the
> username/password
> we had been trying all along, and that continued to work, and the
> connection has
> been up since then with no further trouble.

I hate to say it but isn't it possible that Talktalk were right all along,
namely that it was a password/username issue?

Even if the user *hasn't* changed any settings, occasionally routers b*gger
these things up all on their own and re-entering the details will sort
things out. Has you tried re-entering the username and PW prior to trying
the BT test? If you had then clearly I'm talking bollocks and there may be
something in your theory of the BT test un-bunging things somehow, but
routers do funny things on their own sometimes.

My router recently locked me out of MAC code filtering settings and it was
only after a hard reset and re-entering everthing manually (i.e. not from a
saved back-up) that I got things working again. The back-up clearly
contained data that had been corrupted by the router.

Tim

Tim Downie wrote:
> Even if the user *hasn't* changed any settings, occasionally routers b*gger
> these things up all on their own and re-entering the details will sort
> things out. Has you tried re-entering the username and PW prior to trying
> the BT test?

As the username + password in the router config were not working, I entered the
bt_test login. I didn't save that, because I then rebooted the router to get
the talktalk login to work. Having rebooted the router any number of times
prior to that, I am adamant that the authentication info saved in the router
is/was correct, but something out there was holding stale information, hence the
question as to whether bt_test@startup_domain clears any cached/stale
information associated with the line.

> If you had then clearly I'm talking bollocks and there may be
> something in your theory of the BT test un-bunging things somehow, but
> routers do funny things on their own sometimes.

"Routers do funny things" is exactly the sort of thing the TT helpdesk tried to
say. They tried to say that the VPI/VCI may have changed 'magically'. As the
consistently failed to offer any useful advice, simply saying 'Its a router and
I do not understand routers - Call your manufacturer to reset it' I gave up and
tried to explain how to insert their script rectally. And I thought orange
customer service was bad.

> My router recently locked me out of MAC code filtering settings and it was
> only after a hard reset and re-entering everthing manually (i.e. not from a
> saved back-up) that I got things working again. The back-up clearly
> contained data that had been corrupted by the router.

I expect it can happen with some kit. I do not expect it to happen to my old
kit which worked perfectly well with Demon for some years before I donated it to
my dad, after moving to AAISP.

Jim Howes wrote:
> Demon, among others, suggest, in the event that your connection does not
> automatically re-establish itself after a failure, that you use the BT Test
> login before trying again.
>
> I.e. set the username to bt_test@startup_domain
> The password not actually mattering, but "test" has been suggested, probably to
> get around systems which will not accept a blank password.
>
> My question is, does using the BT test login have any side effects.
>
> Is the ISP asking users to do this
> A) Simply to check that the User->DSLAM->ATM network connection is functional
> or
> B) To reset some esoteric frobnitz somewhere that otherwise prevents perfectly
> good usernames and passwords from working.

Both.

Re: (B) - if an ISP has a network issue and lose connectivity to BT
(nothing to do with the BT Centrals) or otherwise if BT Radius cannot
authenticate a user with an ISP, the DSLAM will block that username and
stop querying the ISP for the correct password. When the radius is
available again, the DSLAM will still not ask it until it sees a new
username - whether this is bt_test@startup_domain or not. Changing the
username to an invalid user and changing it back should do the trick.

Paul Cupis wrote:

> Re: (B) - if an ISP has a network issue and lose connectivity to BT
> (nothing to do with the BT Centrals) or otherwise if BT Radius cannot
> authenticate a user with an ISP, the DSLAM will block that username and
> stop querying the ISP for the correct password. When the radius is
> available again, the DSLAM will still not ask it until it sees a new
> username - whether this is bt_test@startup_domain or not. Changing the
> username to an invalid user and changing it back should do the trick.

Annoying but true - especially for unmanned sites and sites where they don't
have PCs. Maybe routers should try bt_test@ after five failed login
attempts, and then go back to the ISP username once it works.

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