Internet is being stupid, why?

[jtwhite]

I'm a very techinical person and I know a lot about computers, the Internet, and Web design but I'm completely stumped on this one.

I have Charter Communications as an ISP (that could be the reason right there). Recently, the internet has been HORRIBLE, every few pages "Connection was reset" , "Cannot find server...." However, it doesn't actually disconnect, I can still chat on MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk and other stuff.

What could explain this? I've tried calling Charter (like that'll help anything) and they have no idea what's going on. I've reset the modem and router. I don't know what else I can do.

It doesn't seem to be related to any particular Web site. :?

 

[ichwar]

It seems like your problem is with the browser, not with the internet since you can still use IM clients fine.

 

[Smith6612]

This can be from a few issues, to Charter's DNS servers crapping out, a lossy cable line (bad signal coming into your home/out to the CMTS), or perhaps network congestion, and of course, PC problems or a Bad Ethernet cable. You need to rule some things out first of all. If you have another PC, try using it online for a while and see if it does the same thing. If it does, it's a problem from the Ethernet cord and down, up to the ISP's network. Once the PC is ruled out, rule out the DNS. Switch your DNS servers to 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.3 (these should be servers) and see if the problem remains. If it does, swap out your Ethernet cable. If it still remains, call Charter and have them look at your cable signal levels if they locked you out of your modem.

 

[jtwhite]

I have a wireless network. My laptop does the same thing. My desktop uses an Ethernet cord, and it does it as well. I use OpenDNS, so I doubt DNS is the problem. Charter has already reset the modem numerous times.

I use FireFox 3.5.1 on all computers.

What can I do?

 

[zapzack]

Plug the modem directly into your pc.. if that solves the issue then your router is a P.O.S... If it doesn't solve your issue.. It could be your modem.. and that would have to be replaced.. I would also call to have your signal measured..

 

[jtwhite]

WOW! Believe it or not, I switched my DNS servers back to Charter and the problem has yet to occur again! Pages actually connect and load faster.

I thought OpenDNS was supposed to be great and all?

 

[Smith6612]

WOW! Believe it or not, I switched my DNS servers back to Charter and the problem has yet to occur again! Pages actually connect and load faster.

I thought OpenDNS was supposed to be great and all?

OpenDNS can have it's problems just like anything else on the internet, despite their redundancy. Here, I'm running a network side DNS cache which is getting info from 6-7 DNS servers, two of the servers which are from OpenDNS. This network side cache does at least allow me to be able to visit sites for up to a week after DNS entries have been removed (every night around 2AM or whenever I force an update, the cache will refresh. If entires are not found on any of the DNS servers the cache checks upon, I can see what entry will be disappearing within a week), and allows me to keep things up and running when the DNS servers are down, and what is even better is should I ever disable my Internet Connection I can still resolve the names of many websites that I've visited. No need for Windows' cache (disabled here anyways). Should for some reason my cache get messed up to a point to where I have to repair and rebuild it, I can simply tell the software to tell PCs to use the list of DNS servers in the same order the cache looks up sites until I flip the switch. Keeps for reduncancy, as after all, if my Linux router were to go down, my network goes down completely and will not come online again until I look at it should the box fail to boot (all of my PCs here are put under a rule to where they must be booted and ready to go within two minutes. Newer boxes have less than a minute to get going. If something is taking more than this "threshold" I have, I'll know, especially if the network is down for a few minutes).

 

[zapzack]

Maybe charter is blocking opendns?

 

[Smith6612]

Maybe charter is blocking opendns?

Highly doubt that. They'd be rummaging over Net Neutrality and since you're able to get them on and off, they're most likely not doing a thing. Charter is going through some financial issues at the moment though so that might be connected in some way.

 

[rebellion]

Just as I suspected. Charter. :O. First of all, never contact them via phone. You would tell them that the internet is down, and they would try to sell you network setup. Second, they are impossible to understand. I wouldn't recommend the online chat either.... ugh. Here is a little sample:
Me: Hi, how often does the DNS cache rebuild itself?
Agent: Hi. Please ask about our new 5 MBs internet plan!
Agent: It doesn't,, you rebuild.
Me: Huh?
Agent: You have to rebuild DNS cache
Me: No, I'm talking about your automatic cache.
Agent: It is automated
Me: I figured that. I didn't really think someone was manually searching and building a cache. What I'm saying is, how often does it rebult itself.
Agent: It is automated.
Me: I KNOW IT IS AUTOMATED. HOW OFTEN DOES IT REBUILD ITSELF
Agent: It rebuilds itself.
Me: I
Me: KNOW THAT. How often????
Agent: Let me check
Me: Thank you.
15 minutes later:
Agent: We don't know.

 

[ichwar]

lol, That's like the time a friend of mine was having trouble with his internet (Verizon provider this time) and he called up help and level 1 help couldn't help him so they put him on hold till a level 2 help agent picked up and they couldn't help him so they put him on hold till a level 3 agent got him and this guy still couldn't help him but knew enough about computers that my friend was able to tell him how to diagnose and fix the problem. I'm serious.

It shows what kinds of people these ISPs hire for their customer help.

 

[Smith6612]

For when I've needed to call Verizon up to let them know they blocked a web hosting company who hosted many sites I visited, they didn't give me any issues. They did try to get me to replace my trusty modem, but I did insist that it was on their side and they put in a ticket. 15 minutes later the problem was solved. I had proof to back up this block as well. But other than that, no issues what so ever, even with Billing which people seem to have issues with all the time. For other companies I can't vouch for how good they are, I went from AOL (back when it was good) to Verizon's DSL and I've been with DSL since then.

A relative of mine has FrontierNet (from Frontier Communications) and I've found they have great support as well. When I've needed to call up with them they knew how to address or fix the problem when it came up.

I may just be a lucky person, or perhaps my tech savvy personality helps me out a bit as well, but I've had no issues with support from Verizon and Frontier.

 

[lmstfy]

lol, That's like the time a friend of mine was having trouble with his internet (Verizon provider this time) and he called up help and level 1 help couldn't help him so they put him on hold till a level 2 help agent picked up and they couldn't help him so they put him on hold till a level 3 agent got him and this guy still couldn't help him but knew enough about computers that my friend was able to tell him how to diagnose and fix the problem. I'm serious.

It shows what kinds of people these ISPs hire for their customer help.

Most of their support agents read a Manuel that is right in front of them.. And they just pass you along until you get somebody who is actually smart..

 

[zen-r]

For when I've needed to call Verizon up to let them know they blocked a web hosting company who hosted many sites I visited, they didn't give me any issues. They did...

I've found that half the sites of other members hosted by x10 are inaccessible to me. I first noticed this at least a couple of months ago now. I get ;

Unable to connect

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at whatever.

* The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
moments.
* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
connection.
* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

It also happens if I use Internet Explorer, & it isn't my firewall.

I assume that an IP range is being blocked by my ISP, & probably because someone at sometime, within that IP range, hosted a malicious site. I can still access all those sites if I go through a proxy. I'm in the UK. <Anyone with any other theories?>

I had hoped that it would eventually fix itself, but I guess I may have to contact my ISP about it in the end. I don't generally contact them if I can help it. They recently started charging for calls to their "techy" number, & I've found in the past that they don't usually know what they're talking about (as lmstfy said, they usually just work their way through a manual).

Mind you, when I first needed to call IT support staff, more than a decade ago, I felt like they were trying to learn IT stuff from me, rather than the other way around!

 

[Smith6612]

I've found that half the sites of other members hosted by x10 are inaccessible to me. I first noticed this at least a couple of months ago now. I get ;



It also happens if I use Internet Explorer, & it isn't my firewall.

I assume that an IP range is being blocked by my ISP, & probably because someone at sometime, within that IP range, hosted a malicious site. I can still access all those sites if I go through a proxy. I'm in the UK. <Anyone with any other theories?>

I had hoped that it would eventually fix itself, but I guess I may have to contact my ISP about it in the end. I don't generally contact them if I can help it. They recently started charging for calls to their "techy" number, & I've found in the past that they don't usually know what they're talking about (as lmstfy said, they usually just work their way through a manual).

Mind you, when I first needed to call IT support staff, more than a decade ago, I felt like they were trying to learn IT stuff from me, rather than the other way around!

If you post up a couple of trace routes to the sites you can't reach with the site address, I can post up traces to the same sites, and can tell you if your ISP might have anything to do with it.

When it came down to it, I was talking to the hosting company owner who Verizon blocked (and I wound up getting the block removed for him) and Verizon had stated they sent multiple Cease and Desist notices about an IRC Spam Bot/ARP flood that was coming out of a server. The host never got the message from Verizon, but he did find out which account was doing this malicious activity and he shut it down. The host wound up shutting down though since Verizon and TeliaSonera both blocked the company, causing people to become angry and go elsewhere.

 

[lhyman]

I use open dns as my main dns and I use my ISP dns as my second dns... also anther thing... if you connect to DSL make sure your router MTU is 1492 and not 1500

 

[Smith6612]

I use open dns as my main dns and I use my ISP dns as my second dns... also anther thing... if you connect to DSL make sure your router MTU is 1492 and not 1500

For DSL running over the ATM network and not a frame relay, an MTU of 1488 is actually suggested to make up the 4 bytes of overhead the ATM network takes. PPPoE/PPPoA already requires the 8 bytes of overhead for room, hence the MTU of 1492. If his modem is using DHCP to the ISP though, he can use an MTU of 1496. Otherwise, most modern networks will handle an MTU of 1500, given you want to queue your packets at the router (I'm doing this already with my Linux router storing upstream packets waiting to be transmitted, and I'll be doing it big time when my Gigabit linked PCs are moved to Jumbo Frames. Doesn't affect line throughput or it's quality what so ever when I adjust the MTUs from 1488 or 1500 throughout my network) :biggrin: