Isp Name Appearing In Network List Is this normal or advisable?

A while ago, when I joined my ISP's telephone plan, alongside my broadband service, I was given the fastest possible access to their broadband too, for which they sent me a new WiFi router.I obviously had to connect and set up the router in order to make it work.(Let me also point out Iam usin Windows 7 Ultimate).i did connect and set up the new router, surprisingly had a bit of trouble making it work, but what I see now is that, in my Network list, the name O2 (which is the name of my ISP) appears.As far as I can remember, that was never the case in the past.As can probably be expected, there is no arrow next to the name, and when you click on it, nothing happens, except for a green line progresing through your network filebox.It would normally not bother me, but I have began to experience some FTP problems (although my broadband speeds are great, I sometimes get ove 13 Mbps), and I wonder (although I doubt it) if both issues are related.Are there any network specialists amng the readers, please?Thank you.

i did connect and set up the new router, surprisingly had a bit of trouble making it work, but what I see now is that, in my Network list, the name O2 (which is the name of my ISP) appears.

When you say in your network list do you mean the list of available wireless networks in your area? Is your ISP Orange in europe? Also is your wifi router a speedtouch or thompson? If you are with Orange and using a speedtouch or thompson router you need to change your network name known as SSID. Not all of these routers allow you to do this and if yours doesn't then contact your ISP and demand a different router.

The routers mentioned have a very bad security flaw that will allow almost anyone access to your internet connection. Check the following website which explains just how easy it is for someone to hack one of these routers and hijack your internet.

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

If your router will allow you to change the default SSID to one of your choosing then you will have no worries once you change the default SSID. It wouldn't be a bad idea to change your encryption key or password also in case someone has already breached your network.

When you say in your network list do you mean the list of available wireless networks in your area?

Sorry, should have been clearer on that.What I mean is the list of machines connected to the network.

Is your ISP Orange in europe? Also is your wifi router a speedtouch or thompson? If you are with Orange and using a speedtouch or thompson router you need to change your network name known as SSID. Not all of these routers allow you to do this and if yours doesn't then contact your ISP and demand a different router.

My ISP is not Orange, but O2, in England.The router they have given me says "O2 Wireless router IV", one with two aerials (antennas if you like) on it, and little or no buttons.

Check the following website which explains just how easy it is for someone to hack one of these routers and hijack your internet.
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Yes, I will have a look at that.

If your router will allow you to change the default SSID to one of your choosing then you will have no worries once you change the default SSID. It wouldn't be a bad idea to change your encryption key or password also in case someone has already breached your network.

Yes, the last thing I have done, the first (about SSID) I am not 100% sure what you mean.

Let me just re-iterate, my Internet speed seems to be great (not unusual to get 13Mbps, this is not on fibre optic, but copper wire).
However, I was just wondering if it could have something to do with my FTP problems I am experiencing, and the server timeouts I recently keep getting when checking emails.

Anyway, thank you for your help so far.

Ah yes thank you for the clarifications. I didn't understand correctly what you were asking but I believe I do now.Your router is not one of the routers I was mentioning. As far as I can tell anyway lol.Your router appearing in the list of connected devices in your windows network is not unusual and should not pose any security risks or problems. As for the issues you are experiencing regarding the FTP timeouts, your router may be blocking ports 20 and 21. Ports 20 and 21 are the ports typically used for the FTP protocol.Log into your router administration control panel (usually done by typing 192.168.1.1 into your browser address bar) and check to see if ports 20 and 21 are open or blocked. If blocked simply unblock them and issues should be gone. If ports 20 and 21 are not blocked then perhaps it is an issue with the FTP client or server that you are using.Let me know how things work out and I would be glad to help further if it is needed.

As far as I can see, Port 21 is open, there is even something on the router called "FTP server", which has an IP address 192.18.1.253, and that has ports 21 to 21 set.However, no mention of Port 20 anywhere, and, frankly speaking, my old router was a lot easier to set up and configure, so, for the time being, I am not going to fiddle with settings whose meaning I am not 100% sure of.In the mean time, the FTP problem is remaining a pain in the neck.I have tried Filezilaa (which I have always used so far), SmartFTP, CoffeeCup Free FTP for normal FP jobs, and CoffeeCup HTML Editor (my default HTML Editor) and Adobe Dreamweaver for uploading web pages after editing them.It always works one way or another after a while, but until it does, it is giving me more than one gray hair (having to retry a number of times to connect to servers, having to retry a number of times to open remote folders, all due to server timeouts).Mind you, my hosting provider (Xisto) is also looking into it, so I am still not sure whose end the fault is n, but all I can say I never experienced anything like that before.Anyway, I am very grateful for your contributions.

Edited May 7, 2011 by mrdee (see edit history)

My Internet Service Provider {ISP} is the Post office in England even though i am not or never being to EnglandI Only got it with them because they was supposed to be cheaper and faster internet than most providers the internet speeds are great most of the times but the price is horrible when i use my phone only a few times a month,i tried o2 router by the way i bought one for £40 or so and when i got it home i had no idea i needed a credit card to use iti got it bought back and got my money back but if it is anything like Vodafone when you connect it says O2 UK on the screen before you connect,