Wi-fi router reset

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday, April 6th, 2013) yrs trly forked over 43 smackaroos to have his wi-fi router reset.
$3 was Ontario County sales-tax; so the service-charge was $40.
I probably coulda done it myself.
This was necessary because my wi-fi “key” disappeared when my wife died.
She was the only one that used wi-fi. I was hard-wired to our Internet-cable. My wife’s ‘pyooter was in another room.
We set it up, but that was long ago.
This ‘pyooter also memorized the wi-fi key, so it could log in wi-fi.
Which is why I couldn’t ascertain it. Once memorized the key is no longer accessible.
That didn’t matter to this ‘pyooter. It was hard-wired.
But my iPhone wanted wi-fi to update its operating-system.
Without the key I couldn’t connect.
I had a hunch what the key was, but nothing worked.
So my ‘pyooter-store suggested resetting the wi-fi router.
At that point my niece weighed in, suggesting she had done a wi-fi reset herself.
Well yeah, but I hafta know what is going on; like -a) where to connect, and -b) does a menu appear on my ‘pyooter-screen?
My niece was busy, so we couldn’t try it ourselves. We were also far from this ‘pyooter.
I also know doing things myself often leads to hairballs.
Years ago I decided to change the rear brake-shoes on a car we had at that time.
It turned into a day-long project. This is common.
What takes maybe 15 minutes for an experienced mechanic turns into hours for someone like me lacking knowledge.
So, farm out a project I probably coulda done myself.
Let my ‘pyooter-store reset the wi-fi router.
Resetting was simple. The router has a “reset” activated by a pin or paper-clip.
But that resets back to nothing.
I had a “key” so my neighbor’s daughter across-the-street didn’t steal my wi-fi Internet.
Which is why my wife and I activated the key long ago. For years we had no key.
The network-name was probably the same as before. The “key” was probably the same too, my old Transit badge-number.
But that’s only seven characters. The router wanted eight, in which case I just add the number 1 to my badge-number.
Which is probably why my various tries didn’t work earlier. I was trying seven-character variations. It probably woulda worked if I tried an eight-character variation, but when an iPhone is hurling technical gyrations at me, I start looking for human help.
So now I’m out 43 buckaroos, but back in business.
Both my ‘pyooter and iPhone are logged in to my wi-fi router.
Zippity-doo! This ‘pyooter goes back to hard-wire, but my iPhone is no longer throwing fits.

• I live in Ontario County.
• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. At the time she was 68. I’m 69.
• “‘Pyooter” is computer.
• RE: “old Transit badge-number...” —“Transit” equals Regional Transit Service, the public transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY, where I drove transit-bus for 16&1/2 years. My “badge-number” was my employee-number.