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Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Since Saturday, I can no longer access one of my regular haunts, getting the "safari can't connect to the server www.rcgroups.com" error. I initially assumed that the site was down for maintenance but have since learned that my friend has been using the site without problems. His browser isn't serving up cached pages because he has managed to put up new postings to the forum.

I have tried both Safari and Firefox with the same result, so I don't think it is a browser issue. FWIW my friend is on a PC and with AOL.

So my question is, what can be causing this discrimination and what can I do about it?


Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Euan Williams
Tried the rc.com site -- never been there before -- at 10.05 this morning and all is well (Safari 5.0.3, MacOSX 10.6.5).

Silly question, but did you check other sites at the same time to see if it was an ISP (or other) Domain Name Server problem? As these translate the site "name and address" into those groups of numbers they are a vital part of the process. The web is full of suggestions as to which DNS server offers the best speed and how to change to a faster DNS server, although here in the UK apart from server glitsches few people really need to do this.

Try these articles, both from yesterday's "small dog tech tails" #745 (www.smalldog.com), to get a feel for the issue:

Tip of the Week: Faster DNS Servers By Matt Klein

Twitter Had The Answer: Comcast DNS Was Down By David Boyd

HTH as they say.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Hello Euan,

So far, I have had no problems with any other sites. I did do a DNS enquiry and unearthed the A record. The numeric address gave me the same response but again my friend gets straight in using the same address, so we do seem to be aiming at the same server. It is interesting that the Safari message is "can't connect" rather than "can't find", which I feel ought to mean something.

Meanwhile, I have tried from Mary's account on the same iMac and also from my iPod touch and have even just tried my ancient Windows XP laptop via an ethernet cable to my router and all encountered the same problem so it's beginning to look like an ISP issue. Is it possible that Plusnet have got themselves blacklisted somewhere? I would be interested if any other Plusnet users could give it a try - http://www.rcgroups.com

I might dig out my old router before taking a deep breath and contacting Plusnet support. I expect they will tell me plug my router into the test socket. . .

I'll also look up your refs. Who knows, if I procrastinate long enough, the problem will no doubt go away.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Eric Jervis
Hello Trevor, I got straight in, and I'm with Plusnet.
Good luck.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Mick Burrell
Same here Trevor - Plus Net user and straight in.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Thomas Maude
macace user here Trevor .....also got straight in

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Thanks folks, I am beginning to take this personally now! I e-mailed Plusnet support yesterday but have so far only heard from their robot. Also tried re-booting the router this morning but to no avail.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Three days on, and no response from Plusnet. I have just added a bit of information to my question, having discovered the wonderful Network Utility, which provides easy access to a number of things that I thought could only be got at via Terminal, such as Ping, Finger, Whois, Routing tables and Traceroute. Just a shame I don't have the knowledge to make full use of them!

Here is what I have just sent to Plusnet. If anybody can extract any more meaning out of the Traceroute result I would appreciate it. If indeed Plusnet are blocking access to the site (either deliberately or accidentally), it does seem odd that others on Plusnet don't have the same problem. Staving off the paranoia is getting harder by the day!

Here is what I have just added to my Plusnet question:
On advice from a knowledgeable friend, I have run Traceroute on the RCGroups server (66.228.117.24) with the following results:
Traceroute has started…

traceroute to 66.228.117.24 (66.228.117.24), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 192.168.1.254 (192.168.1.254) 15.770 ms 65.190 ms 99.949 ms
2 lo0-central2.pcl-ag02.plus.net (195.166.128.236) 16.738 ms 17.547 ms 16.544 ms
3 gi1-24-221.pcl-gw01.plus.net (84.92.6.40) 17.049 ms 16.535 ms 16.329 ms
4 * * *
5 * * *
6 * * *
7 * * *
8 po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 17.186 ms !H * *
9 po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 17.208 ms !H * *
10 po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 168.916 ms !H * *
11 * * *
12 * po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 17.420 ms !H *
13 * * *
14 * * po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 16.921 ms !H
15 * po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 17.485 ms !H *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 17.732 ms !H

(I stopped it here out of boredom)

Having now tried 6 different computers and two different routers, I think I have eliminated any scope for problems at my end and since everybody else seems to be able to access the site with no problems, it does seem that my connection attempt is getting lost in your servers somewhere. Whether this is a corrupt file or an accidental bit of website blocking, I don't know.

Please can you fix this with some urgency now. I have been out of contact with this site for a week now and have had no response to this problem which was raised three days ago.

Trevor Hewson

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Coincidence or not, but, after being inaccessible for 8 days, within hours of giving a Plusnet a hurry-up with the traceroute info, RCGroups is working again. I will leave my Plusnet ticket open for a couple of days, partly to check that this isn't just a temporary fix and also to see if I do eventually get a reply. If so, I'm taking bets that it will be along the lines of 'there's nothing wrong at our end but suggest you try again'.

Thanks to all who tried to help with this. How about a tour of Network Utility for a future meeting topic?!

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Eric Jervis
Try asking them for a Mac number next time; then if it is their problem they'll fix it PDQ.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Lionel Ogden
I cannot access the rcgroups site from your link either and I am also with plusnet. I tried Google but still could not access the site.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
Well it's working for me now Lionel - Curiouser and curiouser! As a matter of interest, if you run traceroute in Network Utility (you'll find it in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder), do you get stuck on po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net? I don't know enough about how the internet works to understand this but maybe Plusnet have some corrupt routing tables somewhere? Does anyone know what the !H means at the end of the lines in traceroute?

Eric, I like the idea of asking for a MAC number. However, I did sign up for a year back in July, so it's probably a bit soon for me to try that.

Plusnet did eventually respond saying that they would try to reproduce the fault but when I told them that it was now working again, they just said thankyou and showed no interest in trying to understand what had happened.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Eric Jervis
In a foreign accent?

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Lionel Ogden
It's a yorkshire accent, their call centre is in Sheffield

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Trevor Hewson
I have just found this thread on the Plusnet forum. There does seem to be an ongoing routing problem between Plusnet and RCGroups. It's still working for me at the moment though.

Re: Selective access to websites?

Avatar Lionel Ogden
I could access the site this morning. The thread on the plusnet forum is interesting though. Its a wonder we don't have this problem more often.
 
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