BT DNS Fecked?

zilog_jones

I'm getting a lot of DNS timeouts and I can get to about 3 websites it seems (thank God one of them's boards! ). Only noticed this today when I came home about 20 minutes ago.

Is anyone else having trouble? I've seen people complain about similar issues before, but this is the first time I've personally experienced this crappyness. I would try OpenDNS but I can't get to their site :mad:

Hercule

yep i have it too about 75% of website i go to dont load and timeout

this happened last time to a lot of people at once and it took a day to get back to normal :S

zAbbo

Put in the OpenDNS server addresses as your DNS server settings and save/apply.

Please write down your current settings before you entering the OpenDNS addresses, just in case.

* 208.67.222.222
* 208.67.220.220

Terran

It was down for me for a few hours but just came back a few minutes ago. I'd say their TCP routing was the problem it definitely wasn't DNS related, and any UDP services I was running were fine.

jhop

Still not working here in Ennis. And I was already using someone elses DNS, I lke to have the alternative from a different company.

mallet head

I have no clue about the inner workings of the internet and computers but my BT broadband has been down almost a week with a dns problem. I was on to them for half an hour this morning going through different settings to no avail. The tech support guy then told me my router was buggered and to get a new one.

Davey Devil

I'm in Bray, same problem for me.

SwampThing

fooked in Naas as well

jhop

Yay! now the tech suport line is closed.

Though they would ahve just said 'yes we're having problems. Wait a bit'


Are there any GOOD providers out there, that don't have these issues?

Though to be fair, I guess is is a few months since we last had issues.

mallet head

jhop wrote:

Yay! now the tech suport line is closed.

Though they would ahve just said 'yes we're having problems. Wait a bit'


Are there any GOOD providers out there, that don't have these issues?

Though to be fair, I guess is is a few months since we last had issues.

I have been with them 3 years and this is the first problem I have had.



As I said in my earlier post I was on to them today and they told me it was my router after half an hour going over settings

zilog_jones

Terran wrote:

It was down for me for a few hours but just came back a few minutes ago. I'd say their TCP routing was the problem it definitely wasn't DNS related, and any UDP services I was running were fine.

Something dodge was happening, but I don't think it was that. I had no trouble with BitTorrents and Google Talk working - and they're both TCP - but MSN Messenger wasn't logging in and most website names weren't being resolved. When I tried nslookup it would time out most the time, though it did occasionally work.

I'm trying the OpenDNS servers now (cheers zabbo) - they seem to be faster anyway.

monkeyfudge

I was getting this problem a lot with BT.

Changed to OpenDNS and I've been fine since then.

lookinggoodson

Its messed up in Mayo too,

Do what zabbo said
Put in the OpenDNS server addresses as your DNS server settings and save/apply.

Primary DNS = 208.67.222.222
Secondary DNS = 208.67.220.220

This worked perfectly for me. Remember to note your previous DNS settings so you can switch back.

For people who do not know how to change their DNS settings try the following.
Open internet explorer and access your routers settings page, this is usually the address 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 or whatever your manual says
type in your user name and password and the look for your DNS settings and change them, save and apply. Should work.

Monkeyshine

What Zabbo suggested seems to have sorted it out for me. Hopefully it wasnt just a coincidence

Monkeyshine

Scrap that......its gone again. Did manage to get on to msn in the those few moments though. Nevermind :rolleyes:

generalmiaow

yeah, same here in clonskeagh. OpenDNS did the trick. My router went totally insane for a while.

EDIT: Is DNS assigned to the router via DHCP? Could BT just not change it to send some other DNS settings to all the clients to all the routers while they fix their own servers?

jhop

nope that doesnt seem to help me :S
oh well.

jhop

Actually, I reset the connection on the router, and then it works yay!!

rogue-entity

For once, the problem is not with their DNS servers.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=53243872&postcount=7

zilog_jones

How did you find out stuff was being blocked, and it was a particular subnet that was causing problems? I thought it couldn't have just been DNS, since as I said some things were working fine.

Stargal

It's back to normal for me now, but it was messed up most of the day before this. Don't quite understand all the DNS stuff, just hoping that this doesn't happen again.

rogue-entity

Trial and Error, quite simply. For residential customers, BT normally dishes out a subset of one of the following ranges:
194.125.0.0/17 - (Former IOL Range)
212.2.160.0/19 - (Former OceanFree Range)
213.202.128.0/18 - (IOL Broadband/BT Residential Range)

When I couldnt access any websites, I tried pinging the domains, and I got a reply from each one, I cleared the DNS cache, and tried again, I could ping the sites, but not access them. I couldn't login to SNET, MSN Messenger couldnt sign in. I noticed that I had a different IP from usual, so I powercycled my modem, when it came back up, I had one of the usual IPs, and I was able to access the internet.

When I came home from work, I was again, not able to access the internet, and I had one of those new IPs as well. I powercycled, and got another one of them, but still couldn't access the internet. I powercycled again and got yet another one, but this time I could browse the net just fine.

From this, I am concluding that this range is new, or newly assigned for residential customers. And because I could ping foreign hosts, it is a configuration issue on BT's end.

DemonOfTheFall

Yep, keep power cycling the modem till you get a working connection.

Although after a few power cycles my connection is working fine on a 78.16.* address. Odd.

zilog_jones

rogue-entity wrote:

...From this, I am concluding that this range is new, or newly assigned for residential customers. And because I could ping foreign hosts, it is a configuration issue on BT's end.

Interesting. I think I recall being assigned to that 78.26.0.0/14 subnet as well or something similar (it wasn't one of the usuals anyway). Maybe something was borked with their DHCP? Maybe they were addresses it wasn't supposed to be assigning (haven't seen them since) or possibly even addresses already used by something else - I'm sure the later would cause serious brokenness...

vibe666

2 days later and it still doesn't seem to be resolved.

didn't have a problem at all until today.

78.x.x.x and my connection is buggered.

tried a few modem reboots, but to no avail.

been using opendns since the last time they cocked everything up so it's definately not that.

EDIT: couple of modem reboots later and I've now got a 213.x.x.x address and it doesn't look any better.

screwed so.

zilog_jones

I'm on 78.16.100.x now - been online for 8 hours now and no problems... I think...

<edit by moriarty: masked out last part of your ip address>

Sam Vimes

i'm on a 78. address and mine's been fine all day

DemonOfTheFall

Yeah they seemed to fix it fairly quick, havent had any trouble at all since my previous post

vibe666

still far from great my end.

now on a 194.x.x.x address.

just a pain in the hole that i'm over my cap, can't really call support and give out to them.

don't suppose it would be throttling on BT's part would it? they never have in the past.

stanley1

All over the place today, on 194.xx address

Dublin 12

zilog_jones

vibe666 wrote:

just a pain in the hole that i'm over my cap...

What, that website actually works for you? It's been "0.00 GB" for months for me

vibe666

zilog_jones wrote:

What, that website actually works for you? It's been "0.00 GB" for months for me

lol yeah, it is now. took them 6 months to reconnect it after i moved house, but its working now afaik although i never really check it.

i only know I'm over my cap because i have a bandwidth monitor on my main pc that tells me i am.

gster31

vibe666 wrote: »

still far from great my end.

now on a 194.x.x.x address.

just a pain in the hole that i'm over my cap, can't really call support and give out to them.

don't suppose it would be throttling on BT's part would it? they never have in the past.

Bollox imo, as the thread starter here, i down a lotta tv, and some mods claimed it was illegal, NOT SO, its still in legal proccedings in the us between mpaa and 6 big tv sites none of which i'm a member, but all i get is the csi's and documentries, is there a law against expanding your knowlegde,

as for going over you cap as a result of the sh-ite bt have been dishing out, well even having admitted to them i download tv, and game online legally, do u realise the IMMENSE amount of wasted data sent to you when your in mid download of windows updates, and other downloads that cannot be paused such as huge game updates and it goes down, even though your router says all it well, and my god i now have a hd tv and hddvd, and if i bought 1 big one legally over the net for download, thats my cap gone in a day, Fook that,

lost data is still considered traffic, i have issued a legal proceeding, they are in fact in breach of providing a service they cannot maintain to the levels they stated in their on terms and conditions, and now on my 3rd router it hasnt changed, and yeah, i'm way over my cap, they can go FooK themselves, i want my monies worth, not their endless promises of a fix that has yet to shed light,

and one final thing, when u eventually have grey hair and get thru to tech support, demand, and i mean scream and shout down the phone, to speak to a manager, and not just some low end tech reading of a screen of possible solutions,

They throtle once your over your cap if your over 4.5KM from your local exchange, On signup they dont state how far you are away, just the great speeds ease of use, and great capacity for downloading, great if you want last centuries movie/tv quality or games and YES, i mean legal transfers..ffs, to download a full legal distro of debian linux is 1/2 my cap gone, then there gaming, webdesign uploads and downloads, voip, voip in games, irc, browsing, and all the interrupted downloads cause they cant get there act together..

I've been thru it so many times, that i have a managers number, not the crappy wait line, and i have my next 4 months free if they dont fix it this month.

that or i'll see them in court.

aktelmiele

zilog_jones wrote: »

What, that website actually works for you? It's been "0.00 GB" for months for me

I'd be wary of that. It turns out that the usage calculator still keeps going. I wanted to check my usage and it kept on saying 0.00 GB. I rang tech support and they updated it. It didnt start from 0 for that month. Works fine now.

aktelmiele

gster31 wrote: »

They throtle once your over your cap if your over 4.5KM from your local exchange

What makes you think that because you are further than 4.5KM from the exchange you would get throttled. It would more likely be that you cant hit your usage cap as ADSL service has a finite distance that it can work

gster31 wrote: »

to download a full legal distro of debian linux is 1/2 my cap gone, then there gaming, webdesign uploads and downloads, voip, voip in games, irc, browsing,

BT never said that you could download as much as you want. Fair enough that you have to keep redownloading large files if your connection keeps dropping but they have been pretty slack over usage monitoring. They say at the start that you have a cap of 10 / 20 / 30 GB so there is nothing being hidden there and in the T's and C's they say that they have the right to charge, suspend or cancel your service. While 30 GB may not be that generous in todays market you have known from the start that that is your usage cap. It hasnt changed.

zilog_jones

gster31 wrote: »

Bollox imo, as the thread starter here, i down a lotta tv, and some mods claimed it was illegal, NOT SO, its still in legal proccedings in the us between mpaa and 6 big tv sites none of which i'm a member, but all i get is the csi's and documentries, is there a law against expanding your knowlegde

There's laws against copyright infringement.

They throtle once your over your cap if your over 4.5KM from your local exchange...

That sounds like "bollox imo". Once you get to that kind of distance line attenuation may start to be an issue, so may have connection problems (not syncing at the speed you're paying for, disconnections etc.). This is not anyone throttling - it is the ADSL signal being limited by the physical medium (the copper lines to your house), which BT can't really do anything about as Eircom own them.

aktelmiele wrote: »

I'd be wary of that. It turns out that the usage calculator still keeps going. I wanted to check my usage and it kept on saying 0.00 GB. I rang tech support and they updated it. It didnt start from 0 for that month. Works fine now.

I posted that a year ago!
It's working most of the time now. They don't seem to be throttling me though...

rogue-entity

I'd highly recommend everyone start using OpenDNS anyway, I dont put much faith in ISP's DNS servers.. and BT's seem to be about as reliable as a plumbers estimate.

I just run my own DNS server, problem solved completly, and it has the advantage of not waiting hours for ISP DNS caches to update when you change your domain, or register a new one.

Little-Devil

gster31 wrote: »

Bollox imo, as the thread starter here, i down a lotta tv, and some mods claimed it was illegal, NOT SO, its still in legal proccedings in the us between mpaa and 6 big tv sites none of which i'm a member, but all i get is the csi's and documentries, is there a law against expanding your knowlegde,

Nothing wrong with expanding your knowlege, but what are you planning on doing with all this? CSI, the last time i checked was fictional program made up of actors, actress's and storylines written for each episode :rolleyes:

gster31 wrote: »

as for going over you cap as a result of the sh-ite bt have been dishing out, well even having admitted to them i download tv, and game online legally, do u realise the IMMENSE amount of wasted data sent to you when your in mid download of windows updates

So you blaming your ISP for downloading windows update? You could always turn this off if you wanted save a few gig.

gster31 wrote: »

lost data is still considered traffic, i have issued a legal proceeding, they are in fact in breach of providing a service they cannot maintain to the levels they stated in their on terms and conditions, and now on my 3rd router it hasnt changed, and yeah,

If you have issued legal proceedings against BT, then good because i doubt your case will even reach court. If you acutally took the time to read BT T&C's then you will see that they have a limit on each broadband option they provide, but of course you i am sure you read them before you signed up, you sound like an inteligent person . If you don't like there current T&C's, service and the cap then just cancel and move to someone who don't have cap in place the i would recommend Smart, IBB.

gster31 wrote: »

i'm way over my cap, they can go FooK themselves, i want my monies worth, not their endless promises of a fix that has yet to shed light,

You download endless episodes of CSI to gain some knowledge on a fictional program. I don't want to spoil it for you, but you know Herachio is an Actor? You want your monies worth, your downloading illegal torrents so if you want your monies just buy the series when its released on DVD box set.

There was a simliar post about BT throttling accounts who exceeded the download limit. It won't be putting me off signing up for the 8MB service.

gster31

Little-Devil wrote: »

Nothing wrong with expanding your knowlege, but what are you planning on doing with all this? CSI, the last time i checked was fictional program made up of actors, actress's and storylines written for each episode :rolleyes:



So you blaming your ISP for downloading windows update? You could always turn this off if you wanted save a few gig.

If you have issued legal proceedings against BT, then good because i doubt your case will even reach court. If you acutally took the time to read BT T&C's then you will see that they have a limit on each broadband option they provide, but of course you i am sure you read them before you signed up, you sound like an inteligent person . If you don't like there current T&C's, service and the cap then just cancel and move to someone who don't have cap in place the i would recommend Smart, IBB.



You download endless episodes of CSI to gain some knowledge on a fictional program. I don't want to spoil it for you, but you know Herachio is an Actor? You want your monies worth, your downloading illegal torrents so if you want your monies just buy the series when its released on DVD box set.

There was a simliar post about BT throttling accounts who exceeded the download limit. It won't be putting me off signing up for the 8MB service.

had you read my post more closely, you'd have seen i download both csi's and documentaries, docu's are about 80% of my downloads,

as for the windows updates, i had got my reg tweaked to not even offer it, but i had to give remote assistance via msn, and guess what M$ux said when i went to do it, you need an update, and to get that update i needed other dependancy updates,

to the going over 4.5km throttle issue, it does have to do with, the data degredation, over the long distance,

and yes you must go over your cap of 30gigs up or down, for it to be activated,

but, in the terms and conditions it states that if you are over 4.5km from exchange, they can throttle but not charge, as BT seem to be aware that a lot of the data is lost transfers,

the main point is for all of us over 4.5km from the exchange, on signing up they didnt mention,

emm, by the way, your over 4.5km from exchange, you will definetly experience data degredation due to noise margin on eircoms crappy copper lines, not to mention we've released 1000's of misconfigured routers and our dns is pretty much sh-ite,


was just sign up, send bad router, activate it 2 weeks before i got my router, and start charging,

you all think i'm mis-informed, but the technicians that provide fls, seem to know less than most of us, some know of noise margins, but all they know is whats on the screen in front of them, its not creative solutions provided by them thinking for themselves,

its not so much a BT problem, its a company problem in ireland, if you dont spout out quote from the consumer acts etc you get no-where with them,

cause they just dont care..

Now i understand why caps are in place, and most users dont go over caps, but one would think in a 1st world country, that if you feel you need a higher cap on a deluxe package, they would offer a monatary cap upgrade,

In ireland it seems thinking like that is too much like common sence..

what a sad state of affairs

zilog_jones

gster31 wrote: »

had you read my post more closely, you'd have seen i download both csi's and documentaries, docu's are about 80% of my downloads,

You're still stealing intellectual property at the end of the day, unless you paid for them or they are offered free by legitimate means.

as for the windows updates, i had got my reg tweaked to not even offer it,

Enjoy your vulnerable PC. There's at least one big security hole found in Windows every month.

to the going over 4.5km throttle issue, it does have to do with, the data degredation, over the long distance,

You seem to be mixing up throttling and line quality issues. Any BT customer who goes over the 30GB cap is going to get capped. Anyone anywhere in the world whose line has too high attenuation is going to have problems with their modem syncing at the right speed or keeping a connection. These are completely unrelated issues, and the latter in this case is something BT can't do anything about.

Little-Devil

gster31 wrote: »

to the going over 4.5km throttle issue, it does have to do with, the data degredation, over the long distance,

and yes you must go over your cap of 30gigs up or down, for it to be activated,

but, in the terms and conditions it states that if you are over 4.5km from exchange, they can throttle but not charge, as BT seem to be aware that a lot of the data is lost transfers,

the main point is for all of us over 4.5km from the exchange, on signing up they didnt mention,

I'm now imbarrassed for you Gster, you clearly did not read BT T&C's becuse if you did then you may know what you are talking about, but from what i read above, you clearly haven't a breeze . I kinda felt sorry for you, but you must have just ticked the box and just agreed to T&C's without reading them online. You only have yourself to blame and anyone for that matter.

I worked in customer support a long time ago & and i would encounter many a " i know it all" like you.

Richard Dower

Most people don't read the T&C...lets be honest. Alot of it is legal jargon that most people can't understand, which is in fact what it's designed to do.

gster31

zilog_jones wrote: »

You're still stealing intellectual property at the end of the day, unless you paid for them or they are offered free by legitimate means.


Enjoy your vulnerable PC. There's at least one big security hole found in Windows every month.

lmfao, you honestly expect windows updates to secure yourself, your having a laugh, i have several apps running, including sygate firewall pro, nod 32, anti key logger elite, no script, & a hardware firewall, as well as the fact that my windows version is stream lined and customised removing the 20 odd unnessacary processes that run outta the box, as well as completely stripping ie and media player out of it,

you are never completely secure, yeah they find at least one a mth, but theres at least 3 a mth they dont find,

Little-Devil wrote: »

I'm now imbarrassed for you Gster, you clearly did not read BT T&C's becuse if you did then you may know what you are talking about, but from what i read above, you clearly haven't a breeze . I kinda felt sorry for you, but you must have just ticked the box and just agreed to T&C's without reading them online. You only have yourself to blame and anyone for that matter.

I worked in customer support a long time ago & and i would encounter many a " i know it all" like you.

I had actually read the t&c on my 1st join, I was a returing customer, and i wronly assumed the old sysytem was in place, of allowed 30 gigs up And 30 gigs down, now Its 30 gigs total with their new super fast speed to get more content quicker,

working in customer care, you may be able to answer this, why do you have to go thru reset router, reset pass, enter such and such every time you ring tech support, and are the tapes actually used for training or do they even record at all,

in my exp all they are used for is to teach cust. support how to diffuse an irrate customer, and lets face it, with BT, or EIRCOM, or any of them, how can you help getting irrate when you hear the same cr--ap again and again, and promises of a fix that never arrives,

i've actually corrected eircom tech's on occasion, yes they allow NAT config on their routers, but they don't tell their customers that they block it on their end and the only way to activate it at present is to deativate you hardware firewall in router config.

Openeing of ports is essencial for ftp users, especially when you have several sites to look after,

You can think i'm talking sh--ite all you want, but compare our caps and speeds and net infrasture to our eu counterparts, and its a joke.

---

as regards downloading documentaries, that have aired in my timezone, its a way of implementing the timeshifting law without a dvd-recorder/with hard drive, and i do not have a tv card,

timeshifting or recording is legal 20 years or more now, a battle that went to court with mpaa and they lost..

zilog_jones

gster31 wrote: »

lmfao, you honestly expect windows updates to secure yourself, your having a laugh,

i never said they offer complete security

i have several apps running, including syfate firewall pro, nod 32, anti key logger elite, no script, as well as the fact that my windows version is stream lined and customised removing the 20 odd processes that run outta the box, as well as completely stripping ie and media player out of it

None of that will fix any of the vulnerabilities in Windows code. Security updates do. And there's a lot of bullshít going around regarding disabling/deleting services (some explained here. For example a lot of services you may have disabled may never even run - how is that going to make your PC more secure? Also, disabling some services can cripple performance.

You can think i'm talking sh--ite all you want, but compare our caps and speeds and net infrasture to our eu counterparts, and its a joke.

Well that's agreeable. But when you're claiming that you're being "throttled" for being a certain distance away from the exchange, and they're breaking their T&Cs when they're not it's hard to believe anything you say.

I had actually read the t&c on my 1st join, I was a returing customer, and i wronly assumed the old sysytem was in place, of allowed 30 gigs up And 30 gigs down, now Its 30 gigs total

It's actually not changed, it's just worded arseways. It's still 30 up and 30 down AFAIK.

Little-Devil

gster31 wrote: »

working in customer care, you may be able to answer this, why do you have to go thru reset router, reset pass, enter such and such every time you ring tech support, and are the tapes actually used for training or do they even record at all,

I can understand yours and everyone else frustration with repeat questions, but they have to rule everything out. I find people who don't understand how broadband works find it even more frustrating. If you have 10 random people who go to a doctor and complain of heart pain the doctors ask will ask near enough the same questions, maybe a bad example.

I always here that everyone says an ISP has its support staff working of scripts which is a load of rubbish. The only ones in my day was on the hardware that ISP sold its customers. The agents themselves would have a few favourites for windows, Mac's etc.