That's the point of brodband... a direct connection. You turn on the computer and it's on the network. No dialing, no passwords, nothing.

(At least that's how it works around here. I dunno about sunny Scotland, they might do things differently there...)

That's not how it works in the UK. You do have a username and password for ADSL connections (though most people only have to ever enter them once). I'm pretty sure that at least one of the UK cable modem ISPs has a username/password as well.