Verizon Westel modem router is a pain

Today we struggled with Verizon to support their Westel DSL modem router.  It always amazes me how Internet Service Providers continually change their login and password schemes.  This leaves the techie who is trying to set up their internet with little option but to call tech support and speak with somebody in India.  If you have internet then you can look up the modem model # and usually find the default username and password.  In this case it was admin/password which is pretty typical.  But what happens when the default username and password has changed and you have to do a hard reset?  You have to call Verizon and speak with tech support.