NTL and dell.co.uk/dell.com problems proxy

[mollymowler]

If anyone's still experiencing problems trying to get access to the dell.co.uk or dell.com websites via their NTL broadband, I've been advised by NTL to set up a proxy server in my web browser using what they consider to be the current fastest proxy server address which is: 62.252.32.13

Apparently it's a problem with the local Cambridge proxy server, but according to the engineer, after ten days, it should be okay to go back to 'automatically detect' in the browser. I'm not so sure, as this has dragged on for some time; but the guy at NTL (in India of course!) has 'escalated' the issue so maybe NTL locally will do whatever they have to do with their local proxy server!

The engineer also said this proxy server would work for the whole of the UK, so in addition to the list in the forum, you might want to see if you get better results with this.

When I asked why this had dragged on for months (see previous postings) I got the usual NTL 'I don't know' response! Oh well.

James

[patrickp]

That's the cdif-cache-3.server.ntli.net server - Cardiff, I presume?

Not a good idea to recommend specific proxies in public forums, mollymowler - if everyone starts using it, it won't be very fast for very much longer!

Yes, it's generally a good idea if you're specifying a proxy to try going back to your assigned one now and then to see if it's been sorted.

Try Firefox if you want to try messing about with proxies - there are at least a couple of extensions which will allow you to enter as many proxies as you want and change them on the fly with a couple of mouse clicks. I use Switch Proxy, myself.

[mollymowler]

Sorry if it was wrong to do...

I only posted it because I mentioned to the NTL technician that others had complained about the proxy server situation, and it was he who told me that if I was communicating to any other NTL users, to tell them to use that particular proxy server.

What I don't understand is that he said after ten days, the proxy will load the page, so it will be possible to set the browser back to 'automatically detect'. Is that right? I was trying to get onto the Dell websites (all of 'em) for over three weeks. If I hadn't known about this proxy/poxy business, I would have simply thought they were offline.

Cheers
James

[Halcyon]

You'l often find it is worth trying several proxies until you are happy with one.
There is a whole list of NTL proxies HERE

[patrickp]

Originally Posted by mollymowler

Sorry if it was wrong to do...

Not wrong, James - just not a good idea. ;-)

[codebreaker]

Guys i think we r trying to chase wild goose here . See fellas the actual fault lies with the NTL DNS server cache1.ntli.net [ 194.168.4.100 ] and cache2.ntli.net[194.168.8.100]. Now as mollymowler asserted that the
cdif-cache-3.server.ntli.net server is the best bet let's try to mutilate the suggested address :

cdif-cache-3.server.ntli.net
where cdif is the area . 3 is the number of the cache in the cluster. BUt hey the network is still NTL as you can see that it says "server.ntli.net" and moreover if you try to get onto ebay, google etc your web browser will send the request to the ntl DNS server to translate ebay or google into it's corresponding ip address and will then search for the page in the proxy that you have specified . Got it ?...

What is suggest is try to chage the DNS addresses on your local area connection [ something that we at technical support will never ever tell you to do], to do this goto control panel >network connections > local area connection > properties > TCP/IP > properties > put the primary DNS address as either of the ones mentioned below :

FREESERVE DNS ADDRESSES : 195.92.195.95 195.92.195.94

EASYNET:
195.40.1.250
195.40.0.250

ZEN:
212.23.8.1
212.23.8.6

btopenWORLD:
Primary DNS Server: 194.73.73.94
Secondary DNS Server: 194.73.73.95

Imperial Colleges in London.
155.198.20.20
waiting for ur reply ...
cheers
codebreaker

[brainier]

Changing DNS did not fix this. I have my own DNS server on my home lan, and it was forwarding all to the NTL DNS servers. I changed this on my DNS to use the root servers and no change in resolving parts of the Dell website.

Specifically I cannot get to http://support.euro.dell.com/support...=uk&l=en&s=gen.

I can get to this site via my ADSL connection with my laptop, but when I am on my cable connection I can't. Does anyone else find that they cannot get to this site. The problem seems to be in the download of something on the page (maybe a css file or js file) and the entire page holds off from displaying until it arrives (using IE7 and before this IE6 on a number of different computers).

This has been going on for over a year or so now - and I just use a VPN to my office before I want this site (but as I am an IT Consultant I use the site quite a bit)

I will change the proxy that my home lan proxy uses to see if that works any better, but it would be nice if I did not need to tweak my settins to fix a problem that affects more than just me.

Thanks

Brian

---------- Post added at 14:54 ---------- Previous post was at 14:42 ----------

OK. I set a web chaining rule in my ISA Server to use a specific proxy server and used a different one than my default for Oxford and the previous web page appeared instantly!!!

[simbr]

Bear in mind that the transparent proxies do their own DNS lookup so any local lookup will be negated.