verizon shipping their DSL wifi unit ON and open (Score 1)

I just don't get it - in every instance lately where I have helped out friends with their Verizon DSL set up, I arrive to a DSL modem that has an onboard wifi router, which is ON and open WIDE. My friends indicated that all they did was plug it in, which would indicate that this is the default? Oy vey! If this is the OEM or verizon's requested "default" equipment configuration, I'm sure it prevents a lot of support calls (yay for verizon). Problem is, the units are allowing anonymous and unaccounted for access to anyone within the range of the radio. This is of course a horrendous recipe for abuse which is not quite the fault of the hapless user who just plugs it in without checking anything (and indeed many users wouldn't even know what to check if you asked them to). Verizon should be shipping those with the radio OFF by default, at the very least.