Telecom DNS broken Nth Shore Auckland since 11pm 5-Nov-12

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virtuadude

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Topic # 111509 6-Nov-2012 02:06

Hi all.

My first post though I have been a long time lurker and hope to contribute now.

Since I found an answer here, I thought I'd post an update in case anyone is interested.

I'm experiencing broken Telecom DNS servers on the North Shore Auckland for the past 3 hours. Telecommunications broadband support (1 person hung up and one person was useless for 40 minutes before saying I should call back at 7 am) didn't help.

I can ping external web IP numbers but domain names say 'unable to resolve host'. I didn't realize I could change DNS servers to non-telecom but I found a post here mentioning Google's 8.8.8.8 server which I tried and all works. I needed to do some work late this evening - internet is like electricity to me and Telecom saying I'd be down 8+hrs was just crazy, so your posts here helped greatly and I'm thankful this community exists.

:)

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BDFL - Memuneh
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Reply # 712658 6-Nov-2012 07:33

It's unlikely the Telecom DNS is broken in just one part of the country - their servers are used everywhere, so it would be a nationwide problem.

I suggest you restart your router, make sure the DNS on your router are the ones suggested by Telecom and then use your PC in automatic mode or manually enter the same.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

johnr

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Reply # 712659 6-Nov-2012 07:35

Maybe it was part of planned work

virtuadude

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Reply # 712771 6-Nov-2012 11:34

Thank you for your reply. I spent 45min with their tier one tech support which most of the time was them trying to defer the problem to me or my computers as if I magically had a virus on my desktop, laptop and iPad which all stopped connection to the Internet at the same time. It's been working for years (my linksys am300 adsl modem and my Netgear WND3700) and yes I restarted them and checked their status pages. All seems fine with them.

The Telecom DNS is still down for me it seems.Maybe it is something in my exchange? I shave had issues with particular sites not being accessible which I've had to escalate to tier 2 over a year ago which they finally admitted to and fixed. But since last night it is everything... Without using the google dns 8.8.8.8 or my 3G vodafone phone, it would be impossible to diagnose for me given the unhelpfulness of their support.... Guess it's time for another 30 min on hold... ;)

If it is actually my problem (which I doubt) then how else can I determine that...? The linksys am300 modem appears to be given a telecom DNS when it actually authenticates and connects.

Talkiet

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Reply # 712781 6-Nov-2012 11:43

What DNS server addresses are being assigned please? There whould be a primary and secondary assigned to the router.

You can also manually test the DNS servers from a command prompt. If you post the DNS servers you are assigned then I'll make up the commands for you to test with.

Regards
Neil G

virtuadude

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Reply # 712794 6-Nov-2012 11:58

Talkiet: What DNS server addresses are being assigned please? There whould be a primary and secondary assigned to the router.

You can also manually test the DNS servers from a command prompt. If you post the DNS servers you are assigned then I'll make up the commands for you to test with.

Regards
Neil G

I have a Linksys AM300 modem as 192.168.1.1, and a Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router on 192.168.1.2 connected to a switch for my house. The AM300 reports connection to Internet Gateway 122.61.168.1. The router is set to dhcpclient and "get automatically from ISP" - I use both wired desktops and wifi devices btw.

Thanks for your help Neil :)

freitasm

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Reply # 712796 6-Nov-2012 11:59

But what is the DNS that your router (or your PC) get when they are in automatic mode?

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

Talkiet

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Reply # 712798 6-Nov-2012 12:00

freitasm: But what is the DNS that your router (or your PC) get when they are in automatic mode?

Sheesh, you're quick... I was just finding the help page with the DNS servers listed and making some instructions on how to find the DNS server addresses :-)

(Hitting post now so I am not hopelessly timelined)

Cheers - N

plambrechtsen

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Reply # 712809 6-Nov-2012 12:11

There was an issue last night that started around 10pm from what I read impacting some DNS servers within Telecom.

It was restored early this morning.

Are you still having an issue or is it resolved now?

virtuadude

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Reply # 712811 6-Nov-2012 12:14

freitasm: But what is the DNS that your router (or your PC) get when they are in automatic mode?

Sorry for my ignorance. I may have a only cursory knowledge of networking. On the wired PC Network & Sharing center says "obtain DNS automatically" and cmd prompt ipconfig I can't see it in what it reports - there is a "Primary DNS suffix" which is blank. On the wireless iPad, in the wifi settings it just shows 192.168.1.1 as DNS, when I change that to 8.8.8.8 it works. The wireless Netgear Router doesn't say what it gets from the modem or I can't find in its admin page what DNS it is getting other than "automatically obtain"?

virtuadude

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Reply # 712814 6-Nov-2012 12:14

plambrechtsen: There was an issue last night that started around 10pm from what I read impacting some DNS servers within Telecom.

It was restored early this morning.

Are you still having an issue or is it resolved now?

I experienced the problem around 11pm last night and am still experiencing it now.

plambrechtsen

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Reply # 712816 6-Nov-2012 12:19

virtuadude:
plambrechtsen: There was an issue last night that started around 10pm from what I read impacting some DNS servers within Telecom.

It was restored early this morning.

Are you still having an issue or is it resolved now?

I experienced the problem around 11pm last night and am still experiencing it now.

Have you contacted the broadband support desk on 0800 225 598 and get them to investigate.

Talkiet

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Reply # 712817 6-Nov-2012 12:21

The DNS servers that Telecom use are available here:

http://telecom.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1274/kw/DNS%20servers/session/L3RpbWUvMTM1MjE1NjM4OS9zaWQvWUdtVzV5YWw=

Note that not all DNS servers will work for all users because of a couple of different ways that broadband services are built, BUT the DNS servers you get assigned should definitely be on this list.

I've just googled for the Linksys AM300 and it seems to go out of its way to make the assigned DNS servers difficult to find. Without access to the GUI of one, or even a manual (WTF CISCO!?) it's not clear how to find out the DNS servers in use.

However, it's impossible for a successful PPP connect on ADSL without being handed a DNS address - it's just unfortunate I can't get the address to test explicitly... However, try this...

in a command prompt window, do the following (what you type in, in bold)

----- cut here ----
C:\Users\Neil>nslookup
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.199.182

C:\Users\Neil>nslookup
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.199.182

> ibm.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.199.182

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: ibm.com
Address: 129.42.38.1
----- cut here -----

That should tell you if the DNS server assigned to your PC is working... You can also set the DNS server to test by doing the following...

----- cut here -----
> server 202.27.184.3
Default Server: alien.xtra.co.nz
Address: 202.27.184.3

> ibm.com
Server: alien.xtra.co.nz
Address: 202.27.184.3

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: ibm.com
Address: 129.42.38.1
----- cut here -----

(Do that from within the nslookup program)

You can substitute in the other DNS servers from the Telecom page above - but either 2 or 4 of them may not work for you, depending on what type of service you have... You should find at least 2 that work though.

Cheers - N

virtuadude

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Reply # 712818 6-Nov-2012 12:21

plambrechtsen:
virtuadude:
plambrechtsen: There was an issue last night that started around 10pm from what I read impacting some DNS servers within Telecom.

It was restored early this morning.

Are you still having an issue or is it resolved now?

I experienced the problem around 11pm last night and am still experiencing it now.

Have you contacted the broadband support desk on 0800 225 598 and get them to investigate.

They were very unhelpful last night and said tier 2 is closed from 11pm - 7am and gave me a case number, thought I'd check back here first. I'll try them again now...

plambrechtsen

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Reply # 712820 6-Nov-2012 12:24

virtuadude:
plambrechtsen:
virtuadude:
plambrechtsen: There was an issue last night that started around 10pm from what I read impacting some DNS servers within Telecom.

It was restored early this morning.

Are you still having an issue or is it resolved now?

I experienced the problem around 11pm last night and am still experiencing it now.

Have you contacted the broadband support desk on 0800 225 598 and get them to investigate.

They were very unhelpful last night and said tier 2 is closed from 11pm - 7am and gave me a case number, thought I'd check back here first. I'll try them again now...

If you don't get any joy feel free to email me pl at telecom dot co dot nz with your case number and a daytime contact number (mobile ideally!) and I will follow up and get back to you. There was an issue with the DNS servers last night but the case I have seen indicated it was resolved around 3amish this morning. So it may be unrelated or a different issue you're experiencing... Hence why it's best to go back via Tier 1 support again (sorry just following process) and get them to do a proper test as to the root cause and escalate if the problem is different than the known one.

sbiddle

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Reply # 712824 6-Nov-2012 12:25

Have you rebooted the router since last night?

If the router is running DNSmasq and their was a DNS issue it could take a power cycle for things work correctly again.

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