CHAP Authentication failed - again

[#1]

No broadband since Saturday morning. Sync fine but CHAP authentication failing. PN have been investigating this since then under ticket 47182687 but nothing has happened or changed. Am I the only one who finds the lack of information on these matters immensely frustrating? I spoke to a helpful support guy last night (after a 30 minute hold) and he said PN would be running tests for 3 days to see what the issue is. Really? It takes that long? In any case, my connection has now been out for 3 days and nothing has changed.
My suspicion over this is that PN have caused the problem. They've also been investigating another issue (46895809) whereby the tess-sulaman.co.za web site is invisible to me (and other PN users). On Saturday morning they unexpectedly asked me to switch my router off so they could carry out tests (that they did so without asking is another annoyance but we'll leave that for now). I don't know what tests PN were doing - they didn't say - but presumably they were assuming my identity to run tests as me. It seems a remarkable coincidence that another unrelated authentication problem arose at just this moment, but that's what PN claim. Whatever the truth of it, my connection never came back after those tests were complete.
I'm actually not that bothered about the invisible domain. I just wondered why it was being blocked. But from my perspective that investigation has killed my entire internet connection. Not happy.

[#2]

Domain works hunky dory here, so couldnt speak of other "pn users" who have the same problem..
2 questions:
1) What router are you using? are you sure this has not developed a problem, or you've been browsing through the pages and accidentally added a character to your username and pword? (Might be smart to re-enter them)
2) What DNS servers are you using? i dont use Plusnets but the domain resolves to 41.203.118.242 - although it appears to be a shared host as the IP itself does not load a page.

Quote

PN would be running tests for 3 days to see what the issue is

Sounds like BS to me. PN May monitor the connection for that time in regard to your open ticket(s) and issue someone to do something on Day 3, but i doubt it on a no-connection available ticket... surely?
Regards

[#3]

Thanks for the reply, Matt. I have reentered my ID/password but no harm in doing it again, I guess. Next time I'm nearby I'll try it. It's a Netgear DG834 by the way. I say "other users" because at work we happen to be on PN too - obviously a completely different account - and I can't see that domain from there either.
I'm just using the standard DNS I guess. Don't know - haven't changed that for years!
BS : yeah, that's what I figured. Seems like it's just a case of ntohing happening to me ...

[#4]

if your on a windows based machine.
XP -> Start -> Run -> type "cmd" (press enter) -> in your cmd window type "nslookup tess-sulaman.co.za"
Vista/7 -> "Start" -> type "cmd" (press enter) -> in your cmd window type "nslookup tess-sulaman.co.za"
you should get a result like this...

C:\Users\Matt>nslookup tess-sulaman.co.za
Server:  resolver1.opendns.com
Address:  208.67.222.222
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    tess-sulaman.co.za
Address:  41.203.18.242

The first 3 lines relate to your DNS server that you use (and who it is)
and the last 3 are about the Domain you requested a lookup for, if its anything different it could be a 'mistake' on the DNS server, in which case it should clear itself up eventually...
The host itself may also just be having problems - or they found themself on the IWF
Regards

[#5]

Thanks for that Matt - a very clear explanation. If only I had an internet connection at home I'd try it!

[#6]

Hi Xenolith
I've just been having a read through your tickets. I will have to feedback one or two issues I came across there. I wouldn't like to guess what's going on but I'll get someone to pick it up and get it resolved for you.
Jojo

[#7]

Thanks, Joanne - you're a star.

[#8]

Aha, sorry assumed you were posting from work which you stated is also on a pn connection  
at least you know how you can find out if its being a problem.
Changing your DNS to the same i use and you should get the same results as me (should resolve to the same IP), a lot of people prefer to use google (dns address: 8.8.8.8) but i dont like them to know too much!
Fingers crossed the prod from JoJo will pull up something conclusive.
Regards

[#9]

OK, so, things are finally happening. Apparently it's possible the tests PN ran on Saturday threw BT and they've locked me out. If that is true it puzzles me as to why PN didn't know that was going to happen. PN are BT no? But anyway - there's a much bigger question here.
It's this : what is the point of the PN Support ticket system? My experience of using it is that whenever I raise a question little or nothing happens. I check back frequently expecting an update but don't see anything useful. It's only when I post on this forum that things happen. I may as well just post on this forum so far as I can see.
In this case, my ticket "got lost" and was being ignored. PN have apologised but I have no confidence in the existing support systems. I would have waited forever without access if I just used the system as I should. The person I spoke to last night who assured me tests were ongoing was either lying or else he believed what the ticket said without actually checking. I wasted 45 minutes of my life to be lied to. No tests were taking place when PN assured me they were. That is not good enough. The lack of internet access of the weekend has caused me great inconvenience and it appears that not only did PN cause this problem, they then failed to address it when they said they were.

[#10]

HI Xenolith,
It does seem that there was a breakdown in support here, and your experience is not a good example of when things go wrong. I'm glad that you've brought up these points as it will help me to track where things went wrong and make sure any misinformation by agents is deal with.
I can see how this would dent your faith in the ticketing system, but overall it is a good system that works well, although not perfect.
If it turns out that we have caused this loss of service it is something I will make sure we learn from. Once it is resolved I'll make sure a gesture of goodwill is applied for your inconvenience.
Jojo

[#11]

Jojo,
Thanks, and it is reassuring to know that lessons will be learned. No one expects a perfect system, but frustrating delays do seem to be the norm when it comes to the occasional issues I have with PN.
FYI, the view that things only happen when this forum is posted to is not just from me. Other PN users (current and ex) have said precisely the same thing.
Simon/Xenolith.

[#12]

Hi,
Looks like it's been resolved now, and I can see a credit has been applied to your account as well. Hope that's all okay for you.
I understand the view on the forums and while we'd rather that wasn't the case I'm not sure it's something we'll ever be able to get away from fully - though of course we'll continue feeding back and developing the support teams continuously. We just have to make sure we don't show any bias when picking up issues from here.
Thanks very much for some valuable feedback.