TalkTalk responds to supersecret password issue

Yesterday I posted a blog in which I related the story of a certain ISP's engineer, who recommended that a friend of mine set their new router's Wi-Fi password to 0123456789. As they refused that particular code, he then set an insecure WEP key.

I can now reveal that the ISP was TalkTalk; I did not want to name it until I had asked them a few questions about the experience.

These are the questions I put to TalkTalk:

1) Are you aware of a widespread problem with your Huawei routers and WPA2-PSK passwords? 2) Is it standard practice for TalkTalk engineers to set router passwords to 0123456789? 3) Is it standard practice for TalkTalk engineers to set WEP router passwords where the customer refuses to have 0123456789 as their WPA2-PSK password?

This is the answer I received today:

"While some wireless adapters and/or driver versions do not work with WPA2 this is not a widespread problem and can normally be resolved by upgrading the drivers. All of our hardware undergoes rigorous testing and we are constantly working to ensure that we offer the best products possible. All of our engineers have been trained to ask the customer to specify the password they would like to use and we will ensure that the importance of this is highlighted in our regular training schedule."