You know how most browsers will offer to save usernames and passwords when they see them so you don’t have to type the password again and again and again? Mostly these kinds of things have worked really well for me, but look out for the trap I fell into in the last couple of days with Firefox and a couple of Linksys routers.

We’ve had a bit of instability with our ADSL providers. I have two ADSL connections, one for the home and one for the office. Now, when I fill out the PPPoE signon form in the office router, ever-helpful mozilla pops up with a “would you like me to save this password” message. It had detected the signon details for the PPPoE session I was filling in on the web form and decided they were an access password for a password protected website. I say Yes without thinking, assuming the browser means the login to the router, not the PPPoE login.

I get home. Due to the provider having ADSL problems I access the router. Helpful firefox updates the login details on the home router to match the PPPoE login details from the office router. Everything works fine until I go to the office the next day. Then the two routers spend the day trying to log in to the same PPPoE account (transplanted from office to home by firefox), continuously knocking each other off the net as the other one gains access. Not a good day for accessing the internet.

A frustrating day later I started checking things carefully. The home router had the wrong PPPoE account details, transplanted by Firefox from the office router.. Bingo. Been reliable ever since.