Who would you recommend?

marsdelight

Hi,

I'm moving from NTL and I'm looking for who to go to. They must have 2meg minimum and be available in tallaght and would prefer not to go trough the phone line, but I might depending on the price.

Any advice?



ta

paulm17781

Hmmm, I was going to say NTL. Maybe try Smart 3mb for €35 including linerental.

Why are you leaving NTL?

marsdelight

Thanks Paul. I leaving because I can't access my own website which I moved to a new server last week. They told me they don't block ips but I've read otherwise.

Blaster99

Sounds a bit unlikely.

marsdelight

From my hosting forum in reply to my site problem;

Hi,

I had exactly this problem with NTL when I used to be with them last year. It lasted 5 weeks before they got it sorted out - and that was 5 weeks *after* it had finally been escalated to the engineers responsible for the network.

The problem is caused by their proxy cache servers - although they won't admit this. It can block you out of a whole range of IP addresses (all IP's will be on the same block) for random periods of time - you'll often get a 'connection timed out' or 'site not found' error. Sometimes you'll be blocked out for a few minutes, sometimes for several hours each day. Other people will be able to access the same sites fine. It will happen to those sites you tend to access the most - but not every one of them, just those on the same IP block. Wanadoo have a similar problem with their proxy cache servers from time to time. Wanadoo won't admit it either

You can prove if it's NTL's proxy servers causing your problem by connecting via another ISP using your internal dial-up modem during those times when you can't get to your site via NTL.

Here's some alternative ISP's (dial-up, 1p/min):

Newnet
0845 660091
user = guest
pass = guest

surfanytime
0845 6041528
user = surf
pass = surf

uku.co.uk
0845 660091
user = connect
pass = connect

If you get through to your site straight away using an alternative ISP, then immediately switch back to NTL and get the same error, you can be pretty sure it's NTL causing the problem.

If you google for 'ntl proxy server' (no quotes) you'll find there's a lot of people complaining about this. The best solution (if you're not on contract) is to change ISP's - NTL's customer service is terrible anyway, and the proxy cache problem is unlikely to go away. Otherwise you'll need to enter a different proxy server in your browser/email settings so that you bypass NTL's proxy.

There's a list of proxies to try here:

http://www.helpbytes.co.uk/ntlproxy.txt

Some will not be public proxies anymore, so you may need to try a few before you find one that works. Also, there may be a lot of other people using the same proxy (most of them from Wanadoo and NTL? ) which may make it slow, so keep trying until you find one that's fast.

If you Google, you'll see some people suggest changing to another NTL proxy server (there's lists of them available in various discussion forums) but I couldn't find another NTL proxy that would work - but then that may have been because I was on dial-up at the time, and most of the people suggesting that course of action were on ADSL/cable.

Also, NTL's DNS servers are often up the creek too - which may, or may not, be related to their proxy server problems when it happens. So you could also try adding non-NTL DNS server settings. I don't use a PC so I can't tell you how to make the changes, but if you don't know I'm sure one of the guys in support can help.

Here's some DNS servers to try:

Verizon (Level3) Nameservers
4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2
4.2.2.3
4.2.2.4
4.2.2.5
4.2.2.6

SpeakEasy Nameservers
66.93.87.2
216.231.41.2
216.254.95.2
64.81.45.2
64.81.111.2
64.81.127.2
64.81.79.2
64.81.159.2
66.92.64.2
66.92.224.2
66.92.159.2
64.81.79.2
64.81.159.2
64.81.127.2
64.81.45.2
216.27.175.2
66.92.159.2
66.93.87.2

ORSC Public Access DNS Nameservers
199.166.24.253
199.166.27.253
199.166.28.10
199.166.29.3
199.166.31.3
195.117.6.25
204.57.55.100

Sprintlink General DNS
204.117.214.10
199.2.252.10
204.97.212.10

Good luck

Blaster99

Have you tried another ISP?

marsdelight

Blaster99 wrote:

Have you tried another ISP?

yeah, i tried dial-up and it was fine. i think i'll go for the eircom broadband home plus package - €39.99 p/m. i'd rather smart but i don't wanna change my phone number.

is the eircom broadband home plus 3 meg now? and is it a good option to go for?

ta

Blaster99

Eircom is the most expensive ISP by some margin. If you want Eircom-style ADSL you should consider BT Ireland's 3Mbps for €50 inc line rental. But Smart is €35 inc line rental for the same thing, so you would have to be mildly insane not to pick them. I think they do 6Mbps for €65 inc line rental, which is less than Eircom's 3Mbps costs including line rental once the promo is over.

paulm17781

If you're going to go for normal ADSL go with BT. Best priced packages (after Smart) around. Don't have to change your number.

bhickey

paulm17781 wrote:

If you're going to go for normal ADSL go with BT. Best priced packages (after Smart) around. Don't have to change your number.

+1 for BT if you can't get Smart.

bk

I didn't think NTL use the web cache proxys in Ireland. They don't use it in my area anyway, maybe because Tallaght was the first area to get BB all those years ago, it has a different setup.

Anyway, before you change, try some of the different NTL web cache proxys on this list to see if it makes any difference:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/trancache.html

BTW it could also be that your hosting company is blocking the NTL proxy.
For instance at the moment I can't access boards.ie through one of my companies proxies because boards hosting company seems to be blocking it.

Lex_Diamonds

Esat's billing is still all over the shop right? Or have they sorted it?

marsdelight

I'm looking at two ISP's here;

1. Magnet - Package
2. Eircom - Package (which are 3meg now)

There's a 3rd (smart) but I would have to change my phone number and that's not an option.

marsdelight

bk wrote:

I didn't think NTL use the web cache proxys in Ireland. They don't use it in my area anyway, maybe because Tallaght was the first area to get BB all those years ago, it has a different setup.

Yeah that could be it. I rang them and they said they only block virus's :rolleyes: ...

bk wrote:

Anyway, before you change, try some of the different NTL web cache proxys on this list to see if it makes any difference:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/trancache.html

Thanks bk some great reading there, but I'm useless at this stuff and I don't know how to do this;

Click on button Advanced:
In the row HTTP fill in the name and port number of your chosen web proxy server (see above). It is essential that you do not select port 80, even if your chosen server offers a proxy service on that port.
Ensure that the other rows are left blank.

bk wrote:

BTW it could also be that your hosting company is blocking the NTL proxy.
For instance at the moment I can't access boards.ie through one of my companies proxies because boards hosting company seems to be blocking it.

I've been talking to them and they are 100% positive it's not on there end.

Blaster99

I'm sure once you've mastered the Tools->Options dialog box in Internet Explorer this problem will go away, but Magnet requires you to change the phone number too. Or rather, Eircom requires any LLU customer to change the phone number.