OT: Somthing ODD
 

This morning I found that I cannot access a lot of sites that I normally am able to. SE.net is down. I cannot access DSLreports.com, hell I cannot even access Foxnews.com WTH?

Any one else having connection issues to any sites? It is like one of the pipes is plugged or down.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

I can get all those sites. I can't get hotmail for a little while. I doubt they're related.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Dell.com is down. Hell most of the sites based in CA are unreachable. WTF?

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

This is very odd. I can't access any site except sites that I normally access say for this one. I don't have any viruses and .... oh wait... I did do a MS update last night... WTH did those bastards do to my computer? God Damn Microsoft did it too me again!

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Well I checked these site using my LapTop and two other PC's. No joy. There must be something down locally to cause this problem.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

I can access my DSL router, but it won't let me access any of the functions. Gives me a 404 error. This has never happened before. I reset it, still has the same problem. I am going to call qwest tech support now.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Could your ISPs DNS server be playing up?
Though, it shouldnt really affect your DSL router if it was

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Well the tech support lady I have now just told me that it was my internet explorer that is causing the problem. So I tell her that "the problem is with all of my computers including my wireless LapTop and that it occurring with both IE, Netscape, and Firefox." Then she asks me what anti-virus I am using. I tell Nortan on hall PC, Trend on the lap top, and AVG on this one. Then she puts me on hold. That means she doesn't want to deal with the problem and figures I will stay on old until I get tired and hang up.

Since I cannot access the functions on my DSL router, that to me means that my DSL router is screwed up.

God I hate Qwest customer service. I have now been on hold for 10 minutes.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Ok this is very weird. So the tech lady has me enter CMD into my run option. Then she had me enter tracert www.dell.com and it did nothing but stated "unable to resolve target system"

Then when I typed dell.com into my browser, (FF) it loaded the page. So I tried www.dslreports. Got a 404. So I did the tracetr www.dslreports.com and it brought up a lot of information. Afterward I was able to access dslreports.com with FF.

The tech lady still doesn't believe that the problem is my DSL router, but I do. She says its all green on her end. However how would you explain this? I mean none of my PC's including the wireless could access these sites.

She is bumping it up to another department. I am back on hold.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

It had to be either the DSL router or something local within the BB system. Now I can access EVERY site. This is very very odd.

A hick up in the system perhaps? I am still on hold.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Well she finally came back and told me that it is a system problem on their end and they will call me back later. At least now I can access my banking site and see how much money I don't have left to spend. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Cost me $55.00 to fill up yesterday. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif We poor folks don't have that kind of money.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Isn't Fyron in Calif?

Top News

" Internet clogged on West Coast today due to something called FQM UNLIMITED" Details at 11

Or else CA is now an island.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

$55? What are you driving, a tank?

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

$55 USD would maybe fill 1 1/2 of the 2 fuel tanks on my vehicle. Any medium/large sized vehicle easily can eat that much per fill up.

Sorry to derail your thread AT, but I honestly had nothing productive to add http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

I drive a four door sedan and my last few fillups have been over $40. That's not far from $55. My car's no econo-box, but it's not a tank by any means.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

$55/$3.50 per gallon = 15.7 gallons
Well within the capacity of many ordinary vehicle fuel tanks.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

I get around 320 miles to a full tank. Its a Nissan XE 4x4 v6. Very good truck. Have had it ten years plus now and its been very good to me.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

The word from Qwest was that they were working on something in Denver and that may have caused intermittent connectivity issues in areas. Well at least now I know. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

I had a heck of a time trying to get GameDev.net last night, and it was still dragging it's heals this morning. The top graphic would pop up right away (cached probably)

25~30 seconds later, the ad banner would come up, but still no forum pages. Another 25~30 seconds goes by, and finally the page loads. Happened every time.

My guess is that there is one main advertizing agency that does banners, and they crashed. The result? web sites timing out on an ad banner.

Moral: Don't put 'pre-load' or whatever into your web pages, you might make your customers wait on someone else's problems.

That's my guess anyway.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

I wouldn't trust that dslreports.com site. I checked it for you yesterday and today I find two shortcuts and a bookmark for it on my computer. I have what I believe is a resonable amount of Anti virus so I don't know how it got on.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

...what? DSLreports doesn't do stuff like that... It's a highly respected, professional site. It doesn't do drive-by linking.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

The standard car is designed to get at least 300 miles on a full tank and considering the poor gas mileage(<25mpg) for most american cars they easily have a 15+ gallon tank.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Welcome to the world of dial-up internet!

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Dial-up hurts. I'm reminded of the pain everytime I visit my parents. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Dial up should be outlawed..

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Well I have never visited it before. I don't know about it. All I know is afterwards I found a bookmark and 2 shortcuts on my desktop. I am sure I did nothing when I visited. I could tell what it was for although I could not readily see how it gave reports. I don't recall clicking on anything just looking at the screen. I am 99.99r sure I didn't do anything but if you say they are legit perhaps somehow I did click on something by mistake or someone in my house came along and went back there.

wait, it's coming back to me now. For ages I have had 2 shortcuts on my desktop for going to a report. I think I picked them up when I tried fixing something a year or two ago. They have long just been text icons, but it seems they were for dslreports and so when I finally visited the site again i got the ico file and so they then had an icon that stood out.

doesn't explain the bookmark, though I can admit it may be the same reason.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

That would restrict access to the Internet to the financially well-off. Broadband is still a luxury. The only reason I'm even considering it is that Verizon's cheapest DSL offers are less than my current dial-up, at least initially.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Broadband can cost as low as $15 a month (in urban areas). Sure you have to agree to a year long contract, and it won't be blazingly fast, but it can be in the same price range as dialup. That being said, I don't agree with the assertion that dialup should be outlawed.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

It should not be *nessesary*...

This side of the pond sucks for net access, it seems.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Agreed. No land-line high-speed access where I live, and the wireless transmitter just happens to be on a mountain that is out of line-of-sight http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

The year-long contract doesn't bother me; it's not being able to find out what the current "standard" rate is so that I'll have some idea what it's going to jump to after the first year. The only place I've been able to find numbers for that are in blogs from people complaining about poor customer service incidents.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

At least with the SBC deal I used to have, the standard rate was 29.99. But by that point you can always cancel it and get something else. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif The salesman on the line will tell you what the rate will become after the special ends.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

What I hate about Qwest DSL is that they sell me my service $49.99 for 1.5d and 786up and a few months later drop the price to $24.99 for life for new subscribers with a free modem rental for a year.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

My provider never tells me when they update their plans. I sometimes check and find that they have instituted new plans that are faster and have a higher limit than mine for the same price and they don't tell me. They do occasionally send me newsletters that perhaps do introduce it but then who cares about reading newsletters http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

If you call to customer support and complain, you can probably get your dsl bill dropped to the new low rate... bring up considering dropping the service and going with the local competitor. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

Nah, I just change my plan online.

Last time I checked they had, for the same price, 20% higher limit and 3/2 time the speed. The plan I was on wasn't even offered anymore, but oh no they don't tell me they just keep me on it till I find out and change it.

It actually surprises me how quickly things speed up. It had only been 3 months before that that I reset my plan. Keep in mind it's been about the same price every time. I was slightly annoyed once when I found out the same plan was basically being offerred for $10 less.

Re: OT: Somthing ODD
 

On a related issue. Cheap internet provider ads.

Now keep in mind I think like this. Ads are supposed to trick you into buying their product by dazzling you with the wonderfulness of their presentation. Like the ad, buy the product. So In all fairness I take the position that if I hate their ad I don't care how great their product is I won't buy it. Seems fair, try to persuade me and stuff it up, they lose.

There is a ISP here in Australia that offers cheap broadband. I have been happy with my ISP despite what I was just saying. It's not a big issue, i've learnt to check occasionally. They have an ad where their annoying mascot chats away with the eye candy flogging their stuff. Till recently it's just been some aspiring model/actress. Nothing worth my attention. Now they decided to spice it up by giving the impression they're great because they can get a celebrity to sell their service. What celebrity do they jet in for the week to throw the ad together. Tara Reid!. They're so cheap they don't even splurge on PH (of course her rep has gone down lately, but this was clearly filmed months ago) they use the cheap 2nd rate knockoff, who clearly thinks she's important enough to be considered. She jets down here, says some lines a guy off camera is whispering and then asks for her money. I mean you know the mascot is just some animated effect but her eyes could at least be made to look in the right direction, rather than just hideously made up.

I find it slightly hilarious, appalling and capable of destroying any interest I might have had in their service http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Somthing ODD