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View Full Version : Warrington Area speed/DNS issues -info inside


Bigmaca
19-12-2008, 18:12
All,

If you live in the Warrington area and are having issues with page opening speed on some pages and not others and what appears to be DNS type problems, Please drop me a PM.

I have the phone number for Liverpool 50mb BB support team, (50mb not being done of India yet) the problem might not be limited to the 50mb side of things and could effect 20mb and lower services.

They are asking for people to call in to log calls with them so they can see the size of the problem.

PM me for the number.

Goffski
19-12-2008, 18:13
Just sent PM.

Cheers.

BillboBaggins
19-12-2008, 20:59
Thanks

Bigmaca
19-12-2008, 23:44
Of the people i sent the number to what did they say to you when you logged the call ?

Joxer
20-12-2008, 00:56
Hi Bigmaca, what do you consider to be "DNS type problems"?

Bigmaca
20-12-2008, 11:06
the fact that urls dont resolve to ips and the VM have told me they are having DNS issues in the Warrington area.

---------- Post added at 10:06 ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 ----------

Also when you do a nslookup you get time out errors on simple addresses like bbc.co.uk or google.com

Joxer
20-12-2008, 12:24
Cool, just thought it needed clarification if others were to know they had similar problems.

LaineY
20-12-2008, 12:52
Is the DNS Issues due to the 50MB upgrades / release?

Has it caused some issues with the network?

riggers100
20-12-2008, 21:52
I have had this problem for quite some time, site like utube.com, bigfishgames.com etc just wont work. I have however found a way round this by using the blueyonder proxy. since they were taken over by virgin, I don't see there being a problem with this. If you are using IE7, go into the tools menu and click 'internet options'. Click on the 'Connections' tab and then click 'LAN Settings'. Put a tick in the 'Use proxy server for your LAN' box, then type 'webcache.blueyonder.co.uk' into the address box. Change the port number to 8080 in the port box then click OK and OK again. You may have to restart IE7 for it work. Its been working very well for me since the problem started, but I keep firefox going without a proxy so that I can check on the problem now and then. I have called virgin several times and also emailed them, but no luck so far. Hope this helps in the meantime.

BillboBaggins
21-12-2008, 03:10
Hi,

Just tried the blueyonder proxy trick and yes, it does seem to work..

This issue has been going on too long and it's very irritating.

I have problems when I try to purchase some items on the web, at the purchase stage (secure bit) it tries to connect but fails (time out)..

Billbo.

riggers100
21-12-2008, 04:06
Hi,

Just tried the blueyonder proxy trick and yes, it does seem to work..

This issue has been going on too long and it's very irritating.

I have problems when I try to purchase some items on the web, at the purchase stage (secure bit) it tries to connect but fails (time out)..

Billbo.

Glad it has worked for you, with a bit of luck it will have cured the 'time out' as well

parky
21-12-2008, 10:39
After a week this problem still exists, and while the proxy solution at least makes web sites useable it appears to be making the internet slower.

If I visit the BBC website with the proxy the page loads OK but in stages, without the proxy it loads instantly (I have done this with a clean cache each time I have tested it).

So we do need a solution from VM to this problem rather than a work around.

I spent over 3 hours on the phone with VM on this issue and at every opportunity they tried to blame some part of my set up. Well it is very clear that this is a VM issue and they need to acknowledge the issue and do something about it. They asked me to email them some information which I did but they have not bothered to reply at all.

It really is a shocking way to run a business, in some ways they act as a monopoly with little interest in their customers. I have no choice about who I get my broadband service from as BT lines in my area have a maximum speed of 1.5MB due to the distance to the exchange. So my choice is VM faulty internet or 1.5MB!

riggers100
21-12-2008, 11:00
Maybee we should all email BBC's Watchdog! What are your thoughts?

Goffski
21-12-2008, 11:09
Parky - I feel the same as you about VM. Moved to this house 4 years ago had a BT line connected. Was never able to get broadband so canceled and went with NTL. Never really had many problems in the 4 years but when you do ringing 151 is just a waste of time? Why they still use the Indian call center, I really don't know!

cg00759422
21-12-2008, 12:14
I was getting that DNS problem last week, but when i got the 50mbit/s upgrade it seems to have resolved its self for me lol :S

I'm in warrington :)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/12/15.png (http://www.speedtest.net)


EDIT:: My bad, it seems the DNS fault is partially fixed for me lool - i can go on more websites now, but still not all without a proxy :s

parky
21-12-2008, 12:18
I filled in the ISPA complaint form here :-

www.ispa.org.uk

Within 1 hour VM called me to discuss and they have now escalated to Technical.

Not sure anything will happen though!

Welshchris
21-12-2008, 12:27
Parky i wouldnt hold ur breath.

Although they r good at discussing it with u when u complain to the ISPA they r not always good at sorting it. Before i moved i had major problems last year in the area in which i was living. The problems started in November 2007 i was on 20mb and was getting a max of 3.1mb all the time and connection was at times non existant. i complained and they admitted it was a local problem and would get solved. The problem was actually sorted in April 2008 so u can see how long it took for them to pull a finger out here.

broadbandbug
21-12-2008, 12:35
I filled in the ISPA complaint form here :-

www.ispa.org.uk

Within 1 hour VM called me to discuss and they have now escalated to Technical.

Not sure anything will happen though!

Other avenue is to email neil berkett, this will go to CEO Complaints and will get sorted as he expects feedback on progress etc.

I am surprised there are not more CEO Complaints around routing, DNS, peering etc as it seems to be an area that VM don't take very much care over.

Sir John Luke
21-12-2008, 13:40
I was getting that DNS problem last week, but when i got the 50mbit/s upgrade it seems to have resolved its self for me lol :S

I'm in warrington :)

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/12/15.png (http://www.speedtest.net)


EDIT:: My bad, it seems the DNS fault is partially fixed for me lool - i can go on more websites now, but still not all without a proxy :s

50MB upgrade? Either a caching issue, or you're on a 100MB trial!

cg00759422
22-12-2008, 00:18
50MB upgrade? Either a caching issue, or you're on a 100MB trial!

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2008/12/12.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Probably a caching problem :P

average speed test works out at about 76mbit/s

Anyone know any fast download sites i can test out my connection? some thing big like game demos or somthing? :P

max i've got so far is 4.81mb/s (using 4 connections to same server)

Stabhappy
22-12-2008, 09:28
Try the virgin media's binary newsgroups or http://gamefiles.virginmedia.com/

Bigmaca
22-12-2008, 18:59
An update for you all:-
As you probably worked out with your mail issue, the problem with the
Mailserver and the Newsserver are down to the permissions that have been
set (or not set) on the ip range you are using.

New ip ranges have been added to the network for the 50mb service, and
also for some 20mb modems to use, when they were added these IP's should
have been provisioned for access to all services, unfortunately it seems
they were not.

I have had the new ranges added to the mail-server access control list,
which has fixed your issue of not being able to send mail through
smtp.ntlworld.com (please correct me if this is still an issue for you)
I also placed a request though on Friday for the newsgroup server access
to be added also.

The server you should be using for newsgroups is news.virginmedia.com
however until the IP range is correctly provisioned, you may be unable
to connect to the server, or to access the VirginMedia newsgroups on the
server.

The IP address is not "wrong", it is a different range to that which you
had previously.

We are looking into the DNS issues, I believe from your earlier post
that you have found a temporary workaround using public access DNS
servers that has got you up and running for the time being, I will mail
you back once the IP range is correctly provisioned, and hopefully at
that time you will be able to revert to using the virginmedia DNS
servers.

Please accept my apologies for the inconveniences you have experienced,
some of the technology being launched in this project is "cutting edge"
and the launch has been a challenging time for all concerned.

The clear descriptions you have kindly supplied of your issues to date
have allowed our technical team to make good progress towards resolving
some issues that would have been affecting all customers using this
service, and we will continue to work through these issues until we are
able to deliver the trouble free service that our customers deserve.

riggers100
23-12-2008, 21:41
We are looking into the DNS issues, I believe from your earlier post
that you have found a temporary workaround using public access DNS
servers that has got you up and running for the time being, I will mail
you back once the IP range is correctly provisioned, and hopefully at
that time you will be able to revert to using the virginmedia DNS
servers.

Using a third part DNS like openDNS did not work for me, i had to use a proxy to get the sites up again, although that would use a different DNS. I am using IE7 with the proxy and keeping firefox proxy free so that i can see when the problem has been sorted.:)

parky
24-12-2008, 14:37
Still not sorted here.

BillboBaggins
29-12-2008, 05:53
Still the same issues for about 2 months now!

GET IT SORTED VIRGIN!!!!!!!!!

I am actually thinking of going back to the BT ADSL line.

(Wow I never thought I would say that).

BillboBaggins....:mad::td:

parky
30-12-2008, 17:01
After my complaint to www.ispa.org.uk I got a call from VM and was told that I would get a call from a senior tech yesterday. I did get the call and it was from the Chief Execs office, a very nice man listened to the issue and agreed it was a problem at VM, he was technical and understood the issue fully. We did a few more tests and he then got another tech to call me so that I could provide some additional trace logs which would help them.

I have since had another call from VM today who said that they had identified the issue and that is should be resolved and would I mind testing my internet without the proxy.

Great news it appears that the issue has indeed been fixed, it was some sort of routing issue which started on the 11th Dec. Hopefully this has now been fully resolved and we should all be fixed. Let me know!

Ian