Half of the internet not working here

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Half of the internet not working here

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101 posts

Master Geek

#580647 13-Feb-2012 02:56

jbard: If you have the exact same issue with a different ISP surely it must be a fault on your side?

I had the same issue with Orcon in Auckland 4 years ago... but Orcon uses Telecom infrastructure, doesn't it?

Since I have changed machines, browsers, operating systems, routers, and the problem seems to persist when I moved from Auckland to Christchurch... it looks like it can only be a program on my PC that I had used in all cases... maybe Google toolbar? SiteUp (a website monitoring software made here in NZ)? KeyText? Roboform? - These are the only programs I have used back then and still now, and which are constantly running... and all of them are rather above suspicion!

A clue: in both cases, the problem seems to have been triggered by browsing several pages of search results in Google images, and had not disappeared since.

Mark Wolk

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#580656 13-Feb-2012 08:14

You had a chance to not have ANY of these programs installed to test if they are the problem or not.

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markwolk

101 posts

Master Geek

#580874 13-Feb-2012 14:44

Very hard to say, Mauricio; since once the fault occurs in the exchange, there is nothing I can do on my side except getting a VPN.

I really really need these little programs for my work, and an experiment as you describe would require:

1) a newbroadband connection

2) a newPC without one or several programs

3) a few weeks for investigation

So it is beyond the scope of what I can do...

Mark Wolk

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#580875 13-Feb-2012 14:48

But just before you expressed some doubts and correlated these problems with the existence of those programs. Testing would require just your existing PCs without those programs.

I know it's time consuming, but you can't find the root cause of a problem without eliminating variables...

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#581440 14-Feb-2012 17:00

It sounds very much like a software problem on your PC only.

It wasn't clear, did you test a separate machine eg: mobile phone connected via wifi or other PC on your network at home at the same time as your PC was having this problem?

Even just use a live linux bootable cd/usb would take the OS and software on the PC out of the equation for a quick test.

or VM inside VirtualBox etc.

markwolk

101 posts

Master Geek

#581510 14-Feb-2012 19:08

Once the problem appears, it is present on all my computers (even Android) connected via that router.

If it is related to software on my PC, then the software "breaks" something at the Telecom exchange.

Mark Wolk

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#581617 15-Feb-2012 02:04

markwolk:
If it is related to software on my PC, then the software "breaks" something at the Telecom exchange.

Extremely unlikely

Standard troubleshooting with ping and tracert would most likely reveal if it's a latency or dropped packets on the way to your isp's network.

Your line > cabinet/exchange > backhaul > isp handover > isp network > isp domestic/international transit

Things like dns, transparent web proxies, national and domestic routes aren't even involved until after you get to the isp network.

Interested in the results of a couple of test you can run when you are having this problem:

Google Chrome Dev Tools

1: Install google's chrome browser
2: When you are having this problem load geekzone in Google chrome
3: Open the chrome dev tools (ctrl + shift + j)
4: Go to the network tab in the dev tools
5: Reload the geekzone page (ctr + f5)
6: Check the status column on the http requests for errors in the dev tools, post a screenshot of the result

Ping Test

1: windows key + r to open a run wiindow
2: Type: cmd -then hit enter
3: Type ping www.geekzone.co.nz -t
4: Observe the ping replies, time should be stable and you shouldn't be getting dropped replies

Tracert test

1: Repeat 1 & 2 from above
2: type: tracert www.geekzone.co.nz
3: Have a look for high latency or no reply from hops in the path, post a screenshot of the result

Jvs

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#582831 17-Feb-2012 14:45

Can I ask, do you have a static IP?

If so, would you request for your ISP to change your static IP to any other IP, and see if the problem still exists?

This is a loaded question, but I'm interested in your answer before I explain further :)

markwolk

101 posts

Master Geek

#582906 17-Feb-2012 16:47

Yes, I have a static IP, and Telecom always refused to change it for me!

We must be both thinking the same: it isn't a problem on my side, nor even on Telecom's side: it's the visited websites that must be blocking my IP after some time for some reason.

I found that out 2 days ago, when I could not access one of my own websites, hosted in the USA. It turned out that the hosting company had misconfigured their filters and both my IPs were blocked!

Next time it happens with Geekzone, I will ask the administrators to check with their hosting company. For the time being, Geekzone works OK for me from my New Zealand Telecom IP and from my US IP.

Of course, when it happens with Facebook or Google images, it's more difficult to contact anyone there...

Mark Wolk

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#582917 17-Feb-2012 17:06

That's weird.

If telecom won't change your IP tell them you'll change ISP's ;)

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

markwolk

101 posts

Master Geek

#582918 17-Feb-2012 17:09

Has anyone managed to have Telecom change their IP, and how did you do it?

Mark Wolk

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#582969 17-Feb-2012 20:52

markwolk: Has anyone managed to have Telecom change their IP, and how did you do it?

The vast majority if ISP's these days that don't use static IP's are using sticky DHCP enable easier compliance with the three strikes law.

plambrechtsen

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#582999 17-Feb-2012 21:56

If you ring up the Broadband support on 0800 225 598 and explain to them you beleive that the IP address you have been allocated may be blackholed by some international ISPs then often the CSR can request an IP address change. Try googling your IP address and see if it turns up in any of the Anti-Spam or other lists.

However the browsing experience I saw in those screenshots indicates to me either something might not be working with your browser. Have you tried downloading something like Portable Firefox and make sure you disable any firewall / anti virus / popup blockers to see if they are having an impact. Also could be infected with malware so running something like spybot over your system just to be sure might be good.

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#583029 18-Feb-2012 00:04

markwolk: Once the problem appears, it is present on all my computers (even Android) connected via that router.

If it is related to software on my PC, then the software "breaks" something at the Telecom exchange.

I suspect you're using a cheap and nasty modem/router combo which is hitting it's max connection limit (some only allow for 200 at a time), it's the only thing which would account for all PC's being affected at the same time across two different ISPs.

Try disconnecting all PCs, restart the router and try with say only your android device the next time this happens.

markwolk

101 posts

Master Geek

#583030 18-Feb-2012 00:06

plambrechtsen: If you ring up the Broadband support on 0800 225 598 and explain to them you beleive that the IP address you have been allocated may be blackholed by some international ISPs then often the CSR can request an IP address change. Try googling your IP address and see if it turns up in any of the Anti-Spam or other lists.

I tried desperately 6 months ago and was denied it all along, including by the 2 engineers. That is after several operators had me crawl under the table and restart the modem.

plambrechtsen: However the browsing experience I saw in those screenshots indicates to me either something might not be working with your browser. Have you tried downloading something like Portable Firefox and make sure you disable any firewall / anti virus / popup blockers to see if they are having an impact. Also could be infected with malware so running something like spybot over your system just to be sure might be good.

Have you had a look at this website's code? - I see that some scripts and images come from a different domain than geekzone.co.nz . If that domain had me blacklisted, this would explain that.

Mark Wolk

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