We have the same issues in my area. Their cable is the same according to my grandmother. The only thing they're good at is creating contract loopholes. We can't even access our own router admin page which I was told that I could IF I upgraded. I call customer service and they say we're not supposed to be given access to that?! It's not even set to the default password/username that CO× website says it should be! So who the Heck has been using it? You're better off buying a LTE hotspot or 2 and running your whole house off of them. It would be cheaper and more honest!
You router needs to have a unique admin password and a unique WPA user WIFI access password or anyone familiar with any brand knowledge can look on the web for the defaults and can break into your network wirelessly.
it is also safer if you set a unique range of IP addresses and set a limit on the number of devices that can connect concurrently. Having anti-hacking software, an anti-virus and a good software firewall and a system cleaner is a must nowadays.
Always be careful of the wet sites you access and the emails your receive and if your security software is good, it will detect and block hack attempts and harmful sites.
I work in it support and was helping my son add an access point this past weekend and spent 4 hours with a vendor support specialist trying to add the access point because he had been hacked and there were12 hack addresses listed in his router table. We ended up buying advanced hacking software to the tune of $350 for lifetime subscription and support.
Despite all the above precautions I had taken to set up his home network, someone with very advanced hacking expertise had found a weakness in his router setup and disabled several system and router services. This typically can happen by accessing questionable sites.
A word of advice is never keep personal, financial or medical information on a device and only on an external device that you only connect when needed and have double backups.
YOUR SYSTEM COULD BECOME PART OF WORLDWIDE HACKING BOT NETWORK MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO TRACK HACKERS.
