BB connection seems fine but no useable data transfere!!

[#1]

I seem to have a reliable BB connection and am connecting at 768kb/s down and 448kb/s up (longish line).  I can access my router via my browser as usual and the status page shows 'connected' and I can see data being transfered but no web pages will load.
My browser is IE, I have done a system restore to an earlier time when browsing was OK.  I have disabled my Zonealarm firewall.  I have tried a differect PC and router and get exactly the same results.
When I connect via my dial-up modem everything works fine and browsing is normal (but slow obviously)
Where should I look next as I have run out of ideas?
Any help or ideas would be much appreciated.

[#2]

Hi Paulo,
Have you tried manually specifying our DNS servers on your router?

[#3]

Quote from: Jameseh

Hi Paulo, Have you tried manually specifying our DNS servers on your router?

Hi James,
Have not tried this as I thought it was probably done automatically.  Would need more details about this as I am not very knowledgable about router settings etc.
But may I tell you about the latest check that Plusnet team asked me to do.
Adam asked me to manually insert two IPs in my browser to try.
The first was 64.233.187.99 and Googles search page loaded successfully but I could not do a search.
The second was 212.159.8.2 and Plusnet home page loaded.  I could navigate the links on that page but could not login to my 'members centre' page.
I think this check must be quite significant but I dont fully understand the implications.  The suport team have not got back to me about this check yet but feel it should be followed up.
Thanks Paul

[#4]

Hi Paul
Is it a problem that has just occurred recently?
Is it just your regular sites you've had difficulty navigating to?
If so, try this (instructions are for XP, note about Vista below, you MUST be logged on as an administrator in XP to do this, if there is only one user account then you are the administrator):
1. Go to Start > Run
2. Type cmd and click OK
3. At the command prompt type ipconfig /flushdns
4. Press enter on your keyboard and Windows should confirm the resolver cache was flushed successfully (the DNS Client service maintains a cache of the results of nameserver queries for sites you visit frequently to increase the  speed of your navigation by reducing lookups but the records can become stale if the record exceeds the TTL value), clearing it will force Windows to query Plusnet's cache.
5. Click the X button and try again
If you are using Windows Vista the prcedure is pretty much the same aside from how you get to the command prompt and elevate privileges to admin as command line utilities cannot ask User Account Control for process elevation:
1. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and left-click on Run As Administrator.
3. Proceed as above.
If this doesn't work, let me know what router you are using and I'll try and help you out.
James, does Plusnet's network not support auto discovery of nameservers then as I'd have thought from a network management and customer support point of view you would have because it would allow you to add servers or change IPs as needed without risk of generating a support call spike.
Also can you advise how often Plusnet flush their central resolver cache?

[#5]

Thanks Techguy for that.    Problem has been continuous for nearly three weeks.  Before that have used BB successfully with very few problems for three years.  Dial-up unaffected.
Cannot connect to any site.
Tried the DNS flush as you instructed but this has not solved the problem.
Further help and advice appreciated.

[#6]

You could try using open DNS servers by putting the following in your router for DNS servers 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
Also you could try doing a ping and a tracert to see how far things are going, go to a command prompt as explained by techguy and then try:
ping www.google.com
and see what happens it that is ok then it probably isn't your net connection, if it fails try
tracert www.google.com
you could copy and paste the results into the forum

[#7]

Yeah definitely try OpenDNS
After modifying your nameservers you may find that the PPP session light (am going from using a netgear  router goes out momentarily) whole the connection is reset however I would advise that you a reboot of the router just to make sure all is ok.
Stange as it may sound sometimes a reboot of the router maybe all it takes to resolve the problem (had this issue before myself)
The downside is that you may notice your speed drop as this is the response to what is a point to point protcol session failure which as far as the systems are concerned may indicate line instability but the speed will recover over the course of a few days.
Not sure how to reboot your router via its software? pull the adapter jack plug out of the back and leave it for a good three minutes, plug back in and wait for the lights to go steady.
Good luck

[#8]

Quote from: adiewoo

You could try using open DNS servers by putting the following in your router for DNS servers 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

Adiewoo, Thanks, you are a hero!!  Put the open DNS servers you mentioned into my router and rebooted and hey-presto all is working for the first time in over three weeks.
What I'd love to know now is, why my old DNS addys stopped working (think they have been same for two years or more) and are there any implications in using the ones you gave.
In looking closer into the DNS entry in my router (Netgear) I see there is an option for 'get DNS automatically'.  Should I be using that setting instead?
Thanks also to Techguy for your help too.
Paul

[#9]

You can use the 'get DNS automatically' in you router and that will point you to the PlusNet ones.
I have mine ticked to get them automatically, but if you wanted to try setting them they are:
Primary DNS Server  212.159.13.49
Secondary DNS Server  212.159.13.50
Don't see any issues using open DNS, i have used them before when I had some issues.

[#10]

I know that Chris uses one Plusnet DNS server and the other one as OpenDNS, just in case either batches of servers should experience any difficulties.

[#11]

Thanks for extra info re DNS.
Bit disappointed that the guys on the Plusnet support team did not latch onto this issue as I've been in deep discussion with them for weeks.
They kept banging on about faulty BT pairs locally even though I told them time and again that synch was good and stable and that I was connected to there severs but could not use them.
But after all that....still LUV Plusnet and would not consider moving!!

[#12]

No probs
OpenDNS has got me out of a few problems in the past.