Cable Forum - Suspended

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I was wondering if somebody can help?

I am disabled and rely heavily on the internet to do various things.

I have recently upgraded my service to the 1mb broadband (from 300Kbps).

This afternoon I was unable to connect to the internet, I spent 45mins faffing around with the modem and pc cables to see if something had gone wrong. After deciding it was the internet cable connection I decided to ring up NTL. After the usual 20 min wait I finally got through to the technical team. She sent me to go and check my mac address (which being disabled is a real struggle). She then decided it was a customer service issue and put me through to them.
Another 20min wait, I finally got through to the customer service guy who said I had been suspended.
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know, it doesn't say. Have you been downloading stuff off the internet?"
"No - never been into that sort of stuff. just use it to download upgrades for the various software I use, but nothing that would even go above 100mb a month" I replied.
"OK then - sorry for the inconvenience I will reconnect you."
"Thanks"

I have been reconnected but my computer is behaving strangely. For example, I did a google search using the terms "NTL Broadband Problems" and when I click onto a link I get an error message "cannot connect to www.google.co.uk"
I have the very latest Antispyware, antivirus software, I am pretty sure I have not been hijacked.

Can anyone explain? I deperately need the internet to stay in touch with people because of my disability. I have the old terayon cable modems and even whilst I was writing this the internet disconnected twice.

thanx in advance

:welcome: to cable forum.

Have you got a proxy setup? think that might be your problem if not.

Thanks for the reply

Sorry to sound dumb but what do you mean by proxy?
I have set my connection according to the instructions on the ntl paperwork.
__________________

Oh - I do have my internet connection going through a wireless router but I explained that to the tech help and customer help - they said that is no problem.

Neil : I have just read the link you provided. I understand now.

Just one question - Once you have set up the proxy, do you keep using it all the time, or are there circumstances when you would not use it?

I am terribly sorry if I sound really dumb but I am not used to doing this sort of stuff.

You carry on using it all the time, unless, you are denied access to some sites, or it becomes painfully slow, then you just change to another one.

OK thanks guys - I have one final question:

When I use this link - http://www.broadband-help.com/cm_diagnose.asp?init=1

My result is this: hudd-cache-5.server.ntli.net

Should I use this as my proxy server on port 8080 or should I add another one, i.e hudd-cache-2.server.ntli.net port 3128

in the instructions it says

In choosing an alternative HTTP (web) proxy server name, try the following in order of preference for performance:

Your default transparent proxy cache (see Which is my cache?): often it works when selected explicitly even when not working transparently;
Another HTTP proxy cache at the same network centre of your ISP;

Which one would you recommend?

I'm in Manchester but my proxy is set at Cosham.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khublaikhan

Your default transparent proxy cache (see Which is my cache?): often it works when selected explicitly even when not working transparently;
Another HTTP proxy cache at the same network centre of your ISP;

Which one would you recommend?

The best thing to do is try them and see which works best for you. Oh and welcome to the forum :D

thanks guys - i really appreciate your help.....

and patience. Thank you.

We all have to start some were and what seems like childs play to me now seemed like rocket science when I first started out. :)

But don't change the port from 8080 - that should stay the same I believe

Quote:

Originally Posted by khublaikhan

thanks guys - i really appreciate your help.....

and patience. Thank you.

Hi khublaikhan & :welcome: to the forum.

It's definitely worth saving a copy of the proxy list (and Robin's guides) onto your PC - cos if the direct connection stops working you'll find it tricky looking up the available proxies on the web ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by khublaikhan

...I finally got through to the customer service guy who said I had been suspended.
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't know, it doesn't say.

I've had the same thing happen to me twice before now, roughly six months apart so its probably due to happen again :D

I use Firefox for a browser and have the Switchproxy extension installed. I leave it on "no proxy selected" until I have a problem when I switch to an explicit proxy. I check each day that I have an explicit proxy selected to see if having no proxy selected is back working OK and if it is leave it at that.