Strange connection issues

[JDPower]

For last day and a half I've been having some connection issues. I'm pretty sure it's a problem at my ISP's end but wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

 

Firstly my connection is randomly dropping out and coming back a few mins later. But the strange one is that certain sites won't load when the connection is working. For example the following sites won't load at all (in any browser) and haven't once loaded since these problems started:

 

http://www.firebox.com/

http://www.v8thunderonline.com/index.php

http://www.kessels.com/forum/index.php

http://www.opendns.com/

 

There may be more but those are the ones that I either visit regularly or have had open in tabs in Firefox for last couple of days.

 

It's not my computer as GF's computer is showing the exact same problem. Have tried wired and wireless, no difference. Have tried using OpenDNS in case it was a DNS issue with my ISP but again, no change.

 

Just seems really strange to me that certain sites won't load when the net is working whereas others will, it's not something I've ever stumbled across before (and on top of that the connection dropping out).

 

Any thoughts???

 

EDIT: Just stumbled across a link on the AOL help boards to this thread on Digital Spy forums and it seems it is my ISP (AOL) at fault as others there are also having issues with particular sites and all the sites they mention not loading don't load for me either.

 

Still a new one one me though

[DennisD]

The complexities and vagaries (for the non English speakers) of the web mate. That's what I put it down to anyway.

 

For about a week recently, I couldn't watch or listen to anything on line, my download speed was so slow.

 

I put together some screenshots of my download speeds taken over the week from here, and was all ready to send them to my ISP via email, when bingo, I got my full speed back again. I've no idea why it went like that, but it's running great now.

 

I would guess we all get these glitches at some time.

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention I occasionally get this line drop out as well, although it connects again no problem.

[Andavari]

ISP's need to be told of problems because I'm seriously thinking sometimes their ship is running on autopilot. However that isn't AOL's first and only problem, they have other issues people always complain about.

 

My previous ISP I had when I used to use dial-up would often have problems for two or three days and it would typically always be on the weekend when I suppose nobody was manning the boat. Until they were telephoned about the problem they had no idea it even existed, which is why I eventually left them after my required two year contract was fulfilled.

[YoKenny]

For example the following sites won't load at all (in any browser) and haven't once loaded since these problems started:

 

http://www.firebox.com/

http://www.v8thunderonline.com/index.php

http://www.kessels.com/forum/index.php

http://www.opendns.com/

 

All of those sites work fine for me.

 

By the way, implementing the OpenDNS service configuration killed my Internet connectivity.

 

My previous ISP I had when I used to use dial-up would often have problems for two or three days and it would typically always be on the weekend when I suppose nobody was manning the boat. Until they were telephoned about the problem they had no idea it even existed, which is why I eventually left them after my required two year contract was fulfilled.

I used to have that problem with my previous ISP and his solution was always Reload Your operating system software because its not a problem on our end

 

At the time I was running WinXP Home on one system and a ThinkPad with WinME and they both failed the same way

 

One day when I could not connect to the Internet they said that my service had been suspended for spamming ( they could not produce any evidence of this but that a user had complained about me ) I called up Bell Sympatico and they had me up and running the next day and I have been with them ever since and happy with their service and Technical support.

[JDPower]

However that isn't AOL's first and only problem, they have other issues people always complain about.

But to be fair, in 5 years I've not had a single problem or outage with AOL. I think alot of the complaints about AOL are due to the relatively high number of, how do I put this politely, less technically minded people that tend to sign up to AOL. Combine that with the truly dreadful AOL software and users unaware that it's not needed and it's a recipe for problems.

 

All of those sites work fine for me.

 

By the way, implementing the OpenDNS service configuration killed my Internet connectivity.

It was only a problem for AOL users (and only UK it seems), though as of Monday afternoon all seems well again so fingers crossed.

 

I don't use Open DNS either, I used to but since they've bloated their service with crap and subsequently broke Firefox's address bar behaviour I dumped them and personally wouldn't recommend them anymore either (especially with their laughable/ignorant attitude towards us Firefox users that were complaining )

[MikeW]

They all work for me. and I'm on AOL UK. Never had any real problems with their service

[JDPower]

They all work for me. and I'm on AOL UK. Never had any real problems with their service

As I said, the problem appears fixed now. Started last Thursday night and, fingers still crossed, was fixed Monday afternoon.

[CTskifreak]

....I'm on AOL UK.

 

Isn't that an oxymoron???? Haha

 

AJ