topic Re: Weird issue accessing some websites in Broadband

Weird issue accessing some websites

Batphone — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 13:25:42 GMT

I seem to have a weird issue in not being able to access some websites. I know PlusNet's filtering policy is quite agressive, so I am wondering whether its their filters that have automatically blocked a particular site. For example I can access:

britishgas.co.uk

but not:

energyaccount.britishgas.co.uk

The latter is required for login, accessing account services and submitting meter readings.

I checked my account settings on PlusNet and the firewall is turned off.

The thing is I can ping the site:

$ ping energyaccount.co.uk PING energyaccount.co.uk (88.208.253.64) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 88.208.253.64 (88.208.253.64): icmp_seq=1 ttl=247 time=13.8 ms 64 bytes from 88.208.253.64 (88.208.253.64): icmp_seq=2 ttl=247 time=14.9 ms 64 bytes from 88.208.253.64 (88.208.253.64): icmp_seq=3 ttl=247 time=14.2 ms 64 bytes from 88.208.253.64 (88.208.253.64): icmp_seq=4 ttl=247 time=13.5 ms ^C --- energyaccount.co.uk ping statistics --- 4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3005ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 13.489/14.085/14.942/0.547 ms

but not access the relevant service on that server. I have tried multiple devices connected to the WiFi at home. However, I can access that site on a mobile phone using mobile data rather than the WiFi. My mobile provider is also PlusNet, but they use the EE network, so the Internet traffic takes a different route to PlusNet home broadband.

Just to add to the confusion, when I spoke to BG yesterday to submit my meter readings, the assistant told me that she couldn't access the service either.... The guy on chat today tells me its up and running.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the site might have been compromised in some way which sometimes causes automated filtering to kick in at various levels. Could be some other weird problem though.

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

pjmarsh — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 13:42:09 GMT

I've just logged on to my British Gas account ok. One slight issue with what you've posted though, you say the issue is with energyaccount.britishgas.co.uk but you have pinged energyaccount.co.uk.

Are hub are you using?

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

Batphone — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 16:28:12 GMT

Yes, just to clarify, Firefox and Chrome behave slightly differently.

I Firefox I see a partial web page with the BG logo and login fields. I can specify the login username and password, but it then sits forever on the timer.

In Chrome its just a blank page.

I have tried on multiple devices at home. Only the phone works over mobile data.

My router is a Vigor 2860ac.

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 16:32:41 GMT

With the page open in your browser try ctrl+f5, this will clear the cache and request the page a fresh.

HTH

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

Batphone — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 16:56:55 GMT

Dan, thanks, but Ctrl-F5 made no difference.

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 18:36:03 GMT

@Batphone

I have no issues viewing british gas site, but not being a customer I can not go further!

A thought you could try https://www.britishgas.co.uk/identity/email-login-link assuming you see the page to add your email address!

Dan

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

Townman — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 19:06:51 GMT

@Batphone

There are three different sites (URLs) referenced here...

@Batphone wrote:

I seem to have a weird issue in not being able to access some websites.
britishgas.co.ukenergyaccount.britishgas.co.uk$ ping energyaccount.co.uk

The first connects to Gas and electricity, boilers and energy efficiency - British Gas https://www.britishgas.co.uk/

The second connects to Log in to your account (britishgas.co.uk) https://www.britishgas.co.uk/identity/

The third goes to a site under construction notice here - This website is still under construction. (prositehosting.co.uk)

For the first and second, note the redirections to the www.* URLs.

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

Batphone — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 08:17:44 GMT

Thanks Townman. The last one is actually an error on my part. The problem site was energyaccount.britishgas.co.uk which is a part of the britishgas.co.uk domain. It was possible for me to get to a partially displayed login screen in some browsers (e.g. Firefox) but it was not possible to actually log in. Chrome (which BG recommend) just showed a blank page.

I had an update yesterday from British Gas to say that the issue has now been resolved and lo and behold the site is now accessible and working. There was no explanation as to what the issue was or what its scope was (national? regional? local? ISP related?), so unfortunately I have no further information to pass on, but perhaps it was not a Plusnet filtering issue after all.

Re: Weird issue accessing some websites

billnotben — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:38:46 GMT

When I accessed mine a week ago, after a redirect, I was informed that I had been moved over to the new billing pages. I suppose it might be possible that you were somehow caught mid move.