Website problems

[tattieman]

I have some friends in Essex and they are unable to view a certain website from their home pc or laptop. They are using bt as their broadband supplier.
They can view the website on the laptop when they are in otther locations but not at home. What could be the problem?
They have tried internet explorer and firefox and clicked on links to get to my site but it still won't work.

[zazen999]

Have they inadvertantly blocked that website on their internet options?

[tattieman]

How would they manage to block it and if so how do they unblock it. They only have the problem on their home connection. They can access all other websites apart from mine.

[HotStuff]

Who is the website hosted by? Is it the one in your sig? Doing a traceroute seems to suggest that is hosted on VirginMedia? Could be some kind of DNS problem, how long have they been trying?

ETA If they have problems from home with both their desktop & laptop then presumably they have some kind of router. If the lappy works from other locations then the router could be the problem, have they tried rebooting that?

[pdblake]

If they are using a broadband router at home it might have a netnannyesque filter on it by default. Some of these filters can be a bit draconian, especially if they take their list from the internet. Innocent websites can get added to the lists and it takes ages for them to be removed, or even to find out that they're on one. I take it the laptop uses wireless/dongle away from home.

[tattieman]

They have been trying since march. They say they have a poor connection speed but that things always work eventually. I changed hosts to fast hosts last year.
I wonder if they are still trying to access the website at the old host?
How would they update their settings?

[HotStuff]

What is the URL of the site they are trying to access?

[TEB]

They have been trying since march. They say they have a poor connection speed but that things always work eventually. I changed hosts to fast hosts last year.
I wonder if they are still trying to access the website at the old host?
How would they update their settings?

A quick answer as to where they are trying to get to would be for them to go into a command prompt and ping the web site, this would give the IP address, we can then do a WHOIS lookup on that IP address. Also some anti virus/spyware programs can block sites if you are not quick enough when the program warns you about it.

[tattieman]

You guys are just far too good at all of this technical stuff.
I will get them to come on here and read this post.

[HotStuff]

The URL they are trying to reach is

Scottish seed potatoes and growing potatoes - Buy seed potatoes from Jamieson Brothers Annan

which doing a tracert on my machine resolves to

81.200.64.50

which is reported as

advancedsearch.virginmedia.com [81.200.64.50]

doing a whois reports

Whois Record
inetnum: 81.200.64.0 - 81.200.67.255
netname: SKYE-RIPENET-1
descr: Skye by Nominum
country: GB
admin-c: CY102-RIPE
tech-c: NARA2-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: NOMINUM-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

Who owns fasthosts, any idea?

[tattieman]

I have no idea who owns fasthosts but I will pass the info on. Thanks

[TEB]

The URL they are trying to reach is

Scottish seed potatoes and growing potatoes - Buy seed potatoes from Jamieson Brothers Annan

which doing a tracert on my machine resolves to

81.200.64.50

which is reported as

advancedsearch.virginmedia.com [81.200.64.50]

doing a whois reports

Whois Record
inetnum: 81.200.64.0 - 81.200.67.255
netname: SKYE-RIPENET-1
descr: Skye by Nominum
country: GB
admin-c: CY102-RIPE
tech-c: NARA2-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: NOMINUM-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

Who owns fasthosts, any idea?

I dont get that, I get this:
Scottish seed potatoes and growing potatoes - Buy seed potatoes from Jamieson Brothers Annan = [ 217.174.252.233 ]
Domain name:
jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk
Registrant:
Iain Barbour
Trading as:
Jamieson Brothers
Registrant type:
UK Individual
Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = FASTHOSTS]
URL: Web and email hosting, domain names and dedicated servers - Fasthosts
Relevant dates:
Registered on: 11-Dec-2007
Renewal date: 11-Dec-2009
Last updated: 27-Oct-2008
PS I have left out more personal information, like your address, your CC numbers etc
PPS Only kidding about the CC numbers
PPPS Honestly

[HotStuff]

Must have been a glitch at Virgin as when I try again today I get the same as TEB.

[tattieman]

It is amazing what information you can find on the net.
I was thinking last night how on earth did I get put onto Virgin as I knew I was fasthosts.
I still have no updates yet about my friends viewing my website but will hopefully find out tonight.

[TEB]

It is amazing what information you can find on the net.
I was thinking last night how on earth did I get put onto Virgin as I knew I was fasthosts.
I still have no updates yet about my friends viewing my website but will hopefully find out tonight.

You will also need to remember that your Domain will expire in December this year and if you dont renew it then its up for grabs, Fasthosts should send you an reminder within 3 months of expiry but you may want to make a note in your diary.