Shocking service!!!!

[#1]

In the past few years I have been with the following isp's

1. Sky......superb service

2. postofficebb......superb service

3. shell bb .....awful service after first month

4. plusnet......terrivle service since day 1 and I will not be renewing my contract

Constant line drops and download speed fluctuations and now webpages are refusing to connect using brave browser, firefox, or ms edge but when I block my IP address by using Tor I connect right away

Hmmm… can't reach this page

www.easeus.com refused to connect.

Try:

• Did you mean http://easeus.com/?
• Search the web for easeus
• Checking the connection
• Checking the proxy and the firewall

ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

Getting the above with lots of sites my bank is another regular one!!!

Done all the usual virus check, clear cookies and history, flush dns, restart router, blah blah blah but when I block my IP address by using Tor I connect right away

why?

It looks like its pnet doing this?

[#2]

More likely the other service providers are doing it because THEY are using bad IP geolocation data. What is your external IP address (first two octet)?

If you search “where is my IP address” what are the results from various geolocation data providers? Sadly with relocated IP address ranges some providers (and consequently some users) get it wrong with unhelpful consequences. I agree that their service can be quite shabby.

[#3]

Hi there, I'm so sorry for the disappointing service with us, I'll pick this up, take ownership and make sure we get the browsing and connection issues sorted out. 

I'd like to try adding a static IP (free of charge) to your account to see if that resolves the browsing issues first so please let me know if that's OK and I'll get that added on to the account for you.

As for the issues with slow speeds and disconnections line tests aren't flagging any obvious causes for this so it would be best to look at arranging an engineer visit as the next step.

I've opened a ticket on your account here: https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=view_question&id=222642417 Please take a look when you can and let me know when you've responded.

[#4]

Adam

I have an update on this.

First of all I've been thinking about our conversation and I think there is a flaw in your reasoning behind sending out an engineer.

If It was to do with hardware like my wiring etc on my line being the culprit why would my line not be dropping completely? It doesn't and there is something else I remembered ......many times when the internet lost connection, peer to peer downloads would carry on, and I am sure that emails would carry on working too. There is also the fact that other isp's like sky and po broadband did not have this fault but shell bb did and both you and shell are running on the bt service.

I have been reading up on this on google and it has something to do with a port not listening or being congested.

Another thing regarding the refused connections......I have discovered that it must be something to do with a software fault on my pc because I have just finished building another pc and the first thing I tried on it was easeus.com and up it came instantly and it was connected to your pnet router.and as I type this I have just checked my phone and it too brings up easeus right away.

I don't think I need an engineer I think I need to find out what is wrong on my pc someone has suggested it could be to do with an update from microsoft its certainly a very common occurrence with sites giving you "10 things that might cause it" etc etc 

So as I am slowly migrating over to my new build cancel the engineer until I see what a clean install does for both faults. I know the refused connection one is fixed so maybe the other one will be!

I will update this when I know more! I am busy transferring huge amounts of data just now but when I finish I am going to try and restore my pc back to a time before ms updates just to see!

[#5]

Hi there

I know how to find my ip address but there is no point in me posting it as I do not know what this means

>>>>what are the results from various geolocation data providers?<<<<<

[#6]

Not WHAT is your IP address but WHERE is you IP located - for example see IP Address Lookup - Check Location of Your Public IP (iplocation.io) - how many different countries does it suggest you are in?

[#7]

Hi @ginchy 

I'm really sorry for the issues with your connection, and thanks for getting back to us. 

I'm picking up your case while Adam's away on holiday. Based on what you've said, I suspect there may be an issue with the equipment at the exchange as some providers, Sky included, generally use their own kit. 

Having said that, the potential issue you've identified with your PC may be clouding things. Do you have another device you can try to browse the internet from? This should tell us if there is an issue with your PC. 

[#8]

Ok thanks for helping me

The different results show I am in....

ENGLAND

WALES

BIRMINGHAM

EASTLEIGH

I am actually in Dumbarton within the Glasgow postcode.

Dose this tell you anything?

[#9]

My pc in the lounge has the issue

My new build in the kitchen is working perfect

My phone is working perfect

I doubt it means anything but my lounge pc is hardwired the other 2 are wireless.

[#10]

Can I just remind you that

Mictosoft edge

Firefox

Brave browser (chrome based)

All give the same "connection refused" error but when I use Tor browser which hides my ip address it works perfect

[#11]

Hi there,

Thanks for getting back to me @ginchy

If other devices are working OK but the issue's just with certain web browsers on one PC, that suggests the broadband that's going into your router's fine and the issue's something to do with the PC itself. 

I think that the IP address is a red herring here. The differing location wouldn't affect your connection. This would just be some third party geolocation databases being out of date and not reporting your IP as in the right location.

Let us know how it goes once you've restored your PC back in time. In the meantime, I'd tried to cancel the engineer visit, but it's at a point where I can't cancel it I'm afraid so the Qube engineer will still turn up in the timeslot we've agreed.

[#12]

---

@Gandalf wrote:

I think that the IP address is a red herring here. The differing location wouldn't affect your connection. This would just be some third party geolocation databases being out of date and not reporting your IP as in the right location.

---

From the OP...

"Getting the above with lots of sites my bank is another regular one!!!

Done all the usual virus check, clear cookies and history, flush dns, restart router, blah blah blah but when I block my IP address by using Tor I connect right away"

What is Tor? (whatismyipaddress.com)

"But in a nutshell, people use proxies because they don’t want anyone to have an idea of where they are located. The fact is, someone with limited technical skills can “track” your IP address to a general location, such as the city where you live."

If the perceived experience is that all is OK using a proxy server then that points precisely to a good fit for bad geolocation data (or DNS resolution failures) blocking access to the kind of sites (financial services) which do block access based on geolocation data.  So not entirely a red herring, but a reasonable issue for examination, given the reported evidence.  However there does appear to be a number of still smoking guns here.  Internet connectivity, indeed website rendering, differing on the same connection with different builds is not entirely unheard of!

[#13]

@Townman, though it would probably be the same external IP address on the other 2 devices that are working successfully, which might be where @Gandalf is coming from with that comment.

I'm saying "probably" here, as my work laptop using zScaler, which for most sites shows up as one of zScalers IP Addresses.  Avast keeps popping up on my MacBook wanting me to enable their VPN to hide my traffic too.  If anything like that was at play with either this PC, or the other 2 devices, then this might still be the cause.

[#14]

Lol on Friday you cancelled the engineer during the timeslot of 4pm to 6pm at 4.45pm????

Strange that you can do that but you can't do it 48 hours+ before!

I still don't understand why you decided to send one in the first place as it's obvious there is nowt wrong with my line but it was your choice so no need to apologise to me!

I can't restore my backup is corrupt.....I have other external backups but they are too far back. The internet dropping out problem will still persist anyway I reckon so maybe the engineer will find something. I had a problem recently which was fixed by an engineer but I never did get told what it was.....I completely lost dial tone but internet continued to work. This was about a month or 6 weeks ago. Could there be any connection?

[#15]

Different “engineer” cancellations might be due to different types of engineers. BTOR engineers are scheduled by the half day and need 48 hours notice of cancellation.

The new Qube engineers are booked in 2 hour slots - could be that they have different cancellation time frames.