mothers network connection changed its name on 2 computers

[asparagus]

Support? Hmm ...

[asparagus]

Just had an interesting online chat with Plusnet. Here's the bulk of it. Same story as they gave Lotan. I had a look at the link the agent gave and I'm none the wiser as to who BGP are or why they should be responsible. What do you think, Eddy? Am I being spun a yarn? I mean, assuming I buy the story about the IP address tag, who is actually responsible for updating it?

Andy

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Hi , can you give me a brief summary of the problem?

Sure. The context is, I was having trouble uploading some images from my camera via USB, and I got Windows to search for new devices (Control Panel-Hardware & Sound-Devices & Printers-Add a Device). Avast said it had found a new network with the name "UK Government Department for Work and Pensions". However, once I acknowledged the message, I ended up connected to the correct network.

Yeah that's correct, that is your network. It's because the tag for your IP address hasn't been updated in the database. The IP address you're currently using, used to belong to DWP but now it belongs to Plusnet.

Hmm. So how come once connected it doesn't show up as that? It shows up as Plusnet? And how come it only shows up at all if I search for a new device?

It's not your actual network name or your router name. When you're connected it will show as the Plusnet router name. When you're connected it'll be giving you the router name.

I see.  And who is responsible for updating the database (or not, in this case)?

I believe the ASN database is maintained by BGP
http://bgp.he.net/

So you are at their mercy in this respect then?

Yes, we have updated all the relevant data and contacted all parties to update the names for these IP addresses. It's possible that other companies like Microsoft or Avast are using out-dated database entries to identify your IP.

[REDACTED]

I have a similar problem. I get a pop-up that Avast firewall has detected a new network, with a strange name: InToch N.V. and asked me to choose the settings for that network. I´m still connected to my previus network, only the name has changed.
I took my computer to my office and connected til the office Wifi, and her the same thing happened, now the network name was different (company name)
I think that this is a problem caused by a change of settings by Avast and not the various internet providers or routersettings. 

[Eddy]

avast is not changing the network name, it just detects it.
The owner of the network is responsible for the naming.

[REDACTED]

OK, so I shouldn´t be worried about that then?

[asparagus]

Yes, you should be worried! It's a big bad world out there and if your PC reports a network name that doesn't look right, why would you not be worried?

I'm glad to report that my machine is now reporting everything OK, but not without another phase of weirdness. It also went through a phase of reporting that my network adapter was something different than I knew it to be (see this thread https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=195630). To cut a long story a bit shorter, I went to the website of my adapter manufacturer, downloaded the latest driver, and after a couple of hours when I haven't had so much fun in Device Mangler since the good old days of Windows 98, I ended up with my network adapter and my network both being reported accurately (see attachment).

I have no idea about the low level techy details of networks or routers or adapters or protocols, and I don't want to. But I do know that if my network is being reported as other than I know it to be, and/or my network adapter is being reported as other than I know it to be, I should be worried.