Recent DNS issues - NTL speaks....

[Begize]

Just out of frustration the other night, I filled out the NTL "eCommunicator" feedback form thing asking them what was going on:

It's about time you fixed these DNS issues. For it to happen once is unlucky, twice is stupid, three times smacks of gross incompitence and the inability to learn from previous problems.

Issue a formal apology, tells us what happened and more to the point, what you are doing to stop it happening again

Just got this reply:

Hi Susan,

Please accept my apologies for the problems you have been experiencing

The DNS issues that you refer to were caused by DDoS attacks on the servers, the issue has since been resolved and Ntl are investigating ways to prevent this from happening again.

If you have any further issues with your broadband service please reply to this with details of the problems and we will investigate these further for you.

Thank you for contacting ntl

Gareth

To which I have replied:

Thanks for taking the time to reply and your brief explanation.

I'll look forward to the formal statement and apology to all your customers. I appreciate that these problems may not be exactly NTL's fault and I understand that due to their nature, it may not be possible to give out too much info, but the fact that they can happen and have done repeatedly makes me worry whether NTL are doing enough to prevent them happening again.

By the way, my name's Simon, not Susan.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Begize

Just out of frustration the other night, I filled out the NTL "eCommunicator" feedback form thing asking them what was going on:

It's about time you fixed these DNS issues. For it to happen once is unlucky, twice is stupid, three times smacks of gross incompitence and the inability to learn from previous problems.

Issue a formal apology, tells us what happened and more to the point, what you are doing to stop it happening again

Just got this reply:

Hi Susan,

Please accept my apologies for the problems you have been experiencing

The DNS issues that you refer to were caused by DDoS attacks on the servers, the issue has since been resolved and Ntl are investigating ways to prevent this from happening again.

If you have any further issues with your broadband service please reply to this with details of the problems and we will investigate these further for you.

Thank you for contacting ntl

Gareth

To which I have replied:

Thanks for taking the time to reply and your brief explanation.

I'll look forward to the formal statement and apology to all your customers. I appreciate that these problems may not be exactly NTL's fault and I understand that due to their nature, it may not be possible to give out too much info, but the fact that they can happen and have done repeatedly makes me worry whether NTL are doing enough to prevent them happening again.

By the way, my name's Simon, not Susan.

Thanks again.

I am totally shocked they could even be bothered to reply to be honest.

[chrisjones]

Good work Susan! ;-)

Its ok they keep calling me Miss J Taylor.. whoever she is?

[crowlord]

talk about great minds. here is my version!

3 DNS problems in 4 months. Currently using the belfast proxy as peterborough wont display all pages. Not acceptable.
Date: 6/7/2006 7:56:13 PM Area of Feedback: Broadband: Internet Service Reliability Rating: Bad Company Reply:

Hi Paul,



Please accept my apologies for the problems you have been experiencing.



The problems that you were experiencing may have been caused by a DDoS attack that effected our DNS, these have since been resolved. The problems would have included inability to view internet pages.



If you have any further issues with your broadband service please reply with details regarding the issues and we will investigate these for you.



Thank you for contacting ntl

Phil
Notice the spelling mistake in italics. Must be using Microsofts spell checker!

[MFKR78]

This is what disgusts me about NTL. The level of customer service is nothing short of a shambles.

I mean firstly it's bad enough that they get repeatedly attacked and are too slow to do anything about it. Then they keep everybody in the dark and effectively sweep it under the carpet unless you continue to push and make a big fuss. Now on top of those you get a generic e-mail back which they can't even be arsed to spell properly.

I'd love to think now that Branson is on board things will change, even though he's currently a silent partner I was under the impression it would be changing to Virgin TV? If so I'm certain he won't have the image of the company under his name anywhere near as bad as NTL's currently is.

[dev]

Originally Posted by MFKR78

This is what disgusts me about NTL. The level of customer service is nothing short of a shambles.

I mean firstly it's bad enough that they get repeatedly attacked and are too slow to do anything about it. Then they keep everybody in the dark and effectively sweep it under the carpet unless you continue to push and make a big fuss. Now on top of those you get a generic e-mail back which they can't even be arsed to spell properly.

I'd love to think now that Branson is on board things will change, even though he's currently a silent partner I was under the impression it would be changing to Virgin TV? If so I'm certain he won't have the image of the company under his name anywhere near as bad as NTL's currently is.

first, how is it their fault they get attacked?
secondly, being a target of a DDoS attack isn't always something you can stop
thirdly, if it's under investigation by the police they aren't allowed to say anything and how many of NTL's customers would understand the problem?
fourthly, a generic email would only say there was problems, generic emails don't give details

[MFKR78]

As several people have posted it's one thing being attacked, but being attacked three times is something else. This is a major company here not some 2 bit backstreet job (even though at times they seem to act just like that) things should be in place to deal with these situations. Sure I don't say they can stop everything but I'm certain companies have a way of dealing with these situations or it would be happening everywhere constantly. NTL are well known for breaking down left right and centre, whether they are being attacked or whether it's their own fault. This is why people are always in uproar when something breaks yet again as it happens so often.

Also NTL are well known for their shoddy customer service. They always hide behind the same excuses and think resetting your connection is the answer to almost everything. They talk to you like you have no idea what a computer is, hoping that they can fob you off with an excuse that doesn't show the company up for what it is.

That e-mail sounds generic to me, how come both those answers said almost the exact same thing. They couldn't even be bothered to check it was spelled correctly. This is not something a major company should be doing. A major company checks these things because they don't want to come across as unprofessional. NTL unfortunately do just that.

Also I'd like to point out I have worked for NTL in the past so I know what I'm talking about.

[Begize]

Originally Posted by dev

first, how is it their fault they get attacked?
secondly, being a target of a DDoS attack isn't always something you can stop
thirdly, if it's under investigation by the police they aren't allowed to say anything and how many of NTL's customers would understand the problem?
fourthly, a generic email would only say there was problems, generic emails don't give details

Of course it's not their fault they get attacked just like it's not your fault if your house get broken into. The things is that the more you do to stop people breaking into your house (window locks, alarm etc), the less likely it is to happen.

Using that logic it worries me that NTL have now been hit three times in as many weeks - not forgetting that this also happened in March - http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/...service-attack. If my house got burgled once I'd make sure I got better locks and did something about it. I'm not confident that NTL are learning from the experience.

How many other ISP's have been hit in similar ways? It's not something they would shout about but you certainly don't read about other users experiencing similar issues with, say, Wanadoo, Tiscalli etc.

Staying with the burglary simile, chances are the potential robbers find an easier house to break into without the extra defences and I wonder if NTL are that easier house, so to speak. Of course it could be that, as one of the leading ISP's in the UK, NTL are a prime target for this kind of thing but it also follows that they should do more to prevent it.

Obviously if things are being investigated by the Police then they may not be able to say anything but it is common courtesy and customer service to at least issue a proper apology, a basic explanation of the problem and to say that they are doing something to stop it happening in the future (if they indeed are).

[chrisjones]

The (rapidly enlarging) big finger point to one overwhelming fact. NTL are trying to provide thier service on the cheap. Thier whole way of going about things seems to revolve on spending as little as possible - even if the end result is a poor service.

[NightElf]

Originally Posted by crowlord

talk about great minds. here is my version!

3 DNS problems in 4 months. Currently using the belfast proxy as peterborough wont display all pages. Not acceptable.
Date: 6/7/2006 7:56:13 PM Area of Feedback: Broadband: Internet Service Reliability Rating: Bad Company Reply:

Hi Paul,



Please accept my apologies for the problems you have been experiencing.



The problems that you were experiencing may have been caused by a DDoS attack that effected our DNS, these have since been resolved. The problems would have included inability to view internet pages.



If you have any further issues with your broadband service please reply with details regarding the issues and we will investigate these for you.



Thank you for contacting ntl

Phil
Notice the spelling mistake in italics. Must be using Microsofts spell checker!

Hello,

I'm still on the peterborough proxy (i guess since im in peterborough) but i was having issues earlier. How do i go about changing my proxy server to an alternative proxy. Is there somewhere i can get a list of proxy server ips? Sorry if this has already been posted somewhere else.

Thanks in advance.

-NE

[AbyssUnderground]

Proxy list: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/forum/article.php?a=10

[NightElf]

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

Proxy list: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/forum/article.php?a=10

Thanks =)

-NE

Originally Posted by dev

first, how is it their fault they get attacked?

Attacked the first time you can give them some slack.
Attacked a second time and you start to think why is it so easy for someone to do this.
Attacked a third time and i can only think that

A. They dont know how to stop it.
B. There security is so slack it beggars belief
C. They dont have the system in place to deal with this SO WHY NOT.

My personal outlook on this is that if they spent more time looking at there network instead of looking for ways to make there employees redundant they might be able to fix this properly.

[MFKR78]

When I was there they treated their employees like dirt.

Those revolving doors they have on the front of the local building are there for a good reason

Originally Posted by MFKR78

When I was there they treated their employees like dirt.

Those revolving doors they have on the front of the local building are there for a good reason

I know what you mean