How do I change my Wi-Fi name or password?

You change both in your router's own settings — and afterward, every device has to reconnect with the new password.

You change your Wi-Fi name and password in your router's settings, not in your Boston Broadband account. The exact screen depends on which router you have.

Follow that manufacturer's instructions. Look for a section called Wireless, Wi-Fi, or Network, then for the fields named SSID (the name) and password, passphrase, or pre-shared key. Save, and the router will apply the change.

If you rent our router, you do it in our app. Open the Boston Broadband app, or sign in at myaccount.bostonbroadband.com, and change the network name and password there. You do not need to find the router's own admin page, and you do not need a manufacturer account — we manage the hardware, you manage the network.

If you use your own router, it is your router's own settings — usually a phone app from the manufacturer, or an admin page in a browser. We cannot change it for you and we cannot see it.

Use at least 12 characters. A short phrase you'll actually remember beats a scramble you'll write on a sticky note. Avoid your address, your street name, or your last name — those are easy guesses for someone parked outside.

  1. Your Wi-Fi drops for a few seconds while the router restarts.
  2. Every device reconnects manually. Phones, laptops, tablets, TVs, speakers, thermostats, printers, doorbells, and game consoles all stored the old password and will fail to join until you enter the new one.
  3. Devices with no screen — smart plugs, some cameras, some older printers — may need to be re-added through their own app.

That last part is the reason most people change the password once and leave it. Before you start, make a quick list of the hard-to-reach devices in your home so nothing goes quietly offline for a week.

If you change the network name rather than the password, the effect is the same: every device treats it as a brand-new network.

If that didn’t work

Call (617) 693-9434 or email [email protected] — if you rent our router, we can walk through it with you.

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Talk to us

Call (617) 693-9434, Monday to Friday 8am–6pm ET, or email [email protected]. We answer within 24 hours, and usually within an hour.

Boston Broadband is a service-area business serving Boston, Brookline and Cambridge, Massachusetts. There is no counter to walk up to — phone, email and your account at myaccount.bostonbroadband.com are the ways in.