Someone having fun again?

[rodd]

LOL Have a look at this.
www.spacereg.com/df.html?www.nthellworld.co.uk

This is where I get redirected to, when trying to get to this site through ntl today. (NTL connection up the creek today to this site, other sites ok). I came here through Freeserve . The previous occasions trying through ntl, the wording was different, but now somebody seems to have changed the wording to that of below. ;)

NTL users please note that if you have been redirected here incorrectly this is due to NTL and there is absolutely nothing we can do to fix NTL's network problems. NTL have been aware of this problem for months and have still not fixed it. Our advice to you is change ISP to someone who can actually provide you with a proper service.

[Hell Fighter]

I can access this site perfectly fine through my ntl connection (broadband).

[fraz]

They have set their DNS up with a wildcard entery soi that they respond as authoratative for any domain ( alittle like whatst their name did a while back) so that if an other DNS servers start querying themn iut gets stuck in a loop !!!!

Only happening(or been happening ) I believe in the areas served by the Leeds & Winnersh caches.

[Stuart W]

Good old ntl :D Aware of the problem for months, I guess a fix is 'comming soon'.

[Paul]

They have set their DNS up with a wildcard entery soi that they respond as authoratative for any domain ( alittle like whatst their name did a while back) so that if an other DNS servers start querying themn iut gets stuck in a loop !!!!

Only happening(or been happening ) I believe in the areas served by the Leeds & Winnersh caches.
Sorry, I understand DNS but not your answer - just run through it again please - who has set their DNS server(s) to respond with what ? and what is this "loop" you refer to ?

[Noodle]

I'm in the Oxford area and having the exact same problem, NTL have acknowledged this on their status page, but just to let you all know, you don't have to suffer the problem, there is a workaround.

The problem is caused not by anything to do with DNS but by NTL's transparent caching proxies, which are returning an HTTP 302, and redirecting you to spacereg.com. They are also doing weird things like redirecting http://news.bbc.co.uk to http://www.news.bbc.co.uk which doesn't exist, so throws an error, and giving lots of "document contains no data" for some sites.

Although NTL railroad you through their proxy, they do not prevent you from deliberately using one of their OTHER proxies (I for example use a Bristol one, 62.254.0.5). Following the instructions below you should be able to return your web browsing to relative normality:

IE users:

1) Click Tools -> Internet Options
2) Click "Connections" Tab, then "Lan Settings" button
3) Tick "User a proxy server for your LAN", and enter IP address 62.254.0.5 port 8080.
4) Press Ok, Ok.

Mozilla users:

1) Click Edit -> Preferences
2) Click Advanced -> Proxies
3) Click "Manual Proxy Configuration", enter HTTP Proxy 62.254.0.5 port 8080.
4) Click Ok.

Hopefully this'll help you guys stop tearing your hair out, NTL's proxies are nothing but a pain in the backside at the best of times and just when I thought they'd got rid of them for good, they snuck back in. The Oxford ones are absolutely awful and I regularly have to use the above tactic to obtain a half-decent service.

--
Chris / Noodle (chris@woaf.net)

[rodd]

Thanks Noodle. Made a note of the proxy server address for next time. Saves me hunting down another proxy (think there's a list somewhere) or using Freeserve. Nothing wrong with Freeserve, seem pretty good to me, I keep it as a backup if ntl goes down.

[Macready]

LOL Have a look at this.
www.spacereg.com/df.html?www.nthellworld.co.uk

This is where I get redirected to, when trying to get to this site through ntl today. (NTL connection up the creek today to this site, other sites ok). I came here through Freeserve . The previous occasions trying through ntl, the wording was different, but now somebody seems to have changed the wording to that of below. ;)

NTL users please note that if you have been redirected here incorrectly this is due to NTL and there is absolutely nothing we can do to fix NTL's network problems. NTL have been aware of this problem for months and have still not fixed it. Our advice to you is change ISP to someone who can actually provide you with a proper service.

That page is a form of spyware, it will be redirecting most 404s there I found, Spybot soon put a stop to it though.

[patrick73]

Hello,

I am the network administrator for SpaceSurfer Ltd., we run:
http://www.spacereg.com/

We DO NOT:
- Hijack peoples domains
- Send spam or viruses
- Offer any form of spyware, adware software for download

These are just the some of the things we have been accused of by NTL customers.

The reason NTL users are experiencing redirects to our website is because NTL's tranparent web caches are not resolving host names correctly. They are not following the chain of authority for the internet name space as defined by the root servers ultimately run by ICANN.
NTL has been aware of this for a number of months (when this last happened) and have still not fixed it.

Our authoritative name servers are configured correctly, please note that these servers ARE NOT public name caches and as such DO NOT necessarily return records within the internet name space.

If you would like to query a properly configured host name resolver within the internet name space you may do so online here:
http://www.spacereg.com/a.rpl?m=dig

[rodd]

Thank you Patrick73.

The comment at spacereg.com is very apt, and 'well said'.

[rodd]

Patrick73,
I don't know if it is the result of your 'ntl' comment at 'spacereg.com', or your enlightenment to ntl of how to correct their caches, but recently my dial-up connections have improved. If this is in any measure due to your appropriate comments, I thank you.

As a long-term sufferer from ntl's sub-standard dial-up service, I think that perhaps your kick up ntl's backsides finally did the trick.

Perhaps, if you feel inclined, you could also enlighten ntl of how to fix their email problems. ;)

Merry Christmas.

Rodd

[th'engineer]

The reason NTL users are experiencing redirects to our website is because NTL's tranparent web caches are not resolving host names correctly.

They are not following the chain of authority for the internet name space as defined by the root servers ultimately run by ICANN.

NTL has been aware of this for a number of months (when this last happened) and have still not fixed it.

Patrick think that we all know that its bound to be NTL at fault, can you not speak to NTL about the problem.

If you allready have and have not got anything resovled

We have a list of contacts here (http://www.nthellworld.co.uk/?page=info)that might be able to help, would think that a e-mail from your organisation to Aizad Hussain may help

[Dovorian]

[sniped]
Nothing wrong with Freeserve, seem pretty good to me, I keep it as a backup if ntl goes down.
True enough provided you don't use their email service! I dumped them out after receiving nearly 400 spam emails in a week! I think you need to dial up via freeserve about once a month or so to keep your account active though. I retained my old NTL dialup too, which is useful if the STB goes legs up but not a lot of use if the whole network is trashed.

[rodd]

I think you need to dial up via freeserve about once a month or so to keep your account active though. I retained my old NTL dialup too, which is useful if the STB goes legs up but not a lot of use if the whole network is trashed.That's true, freeseve times out after a month non-use.

I also have a very old free dial-up with Freezone.co.uk which does not time out. Might be useful to have for a fallback dialer as well. From back in the days before ntl gave us free dial-up.

[asdf]

*shrugs* I just stay off the net until my connection is back alive ;)

However, there are still lots of ISPs that provide tiers where there isn't a "time out" :)

[Frank]

We have a list of contacts here (http://www.nthellworld.co.uk/?page=info)that might be able to help, would think that a e-mail from your organisation to Aizad Hussain may helpWe have a better list of contacts here (http://www.ntli.info/index.php?page=index_v2&id=19&c=18) now ;)

The most suitable person to contact on that list would be Paul Rusby.

[rodd]

We have a better list of contacts here (http://www.ntli.info/index.php?page=index_v2&id=19&c=18) now ;)

The most suitable person to contact on that list would be Paul Rusby.A very useful list of who to contact.

Though best not to email them about an email problem, send them a Christmas card instead, describing the problems.

........or New Year's card....... or Get-well card. ;)