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Unable to access Plusnet website

FIXED
kissinuk
Grafter
Posts: 41
Thanks: 12
Registered: ‎06-04-2008

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

Great to hear this is getting fixed, however IIRC it was first raised back in August, it's now October..

To start with this was only affecting my tablet, then this week my phone too, now my desktop. Not a great customer experience.

seabasskarp
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Thanks: 20
Registered: ‎14-09-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

Not really bully tactics, it's called depreciating old insecure stuff and moving the Internet forward. The number of sites still using SHA-1 TLS handshakes accounts for 0.02% of the Internet. Without this sort of awareness we'd still be using SSL V3.0...

corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,367
Thanks: 692
Fixes: 18
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website


@Townman wrote:


More bully-boy tactics from Google ....


I disagree - I'm on Google's side on this one. The deprecation of SHA1 TLS handshakes is a decision by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) which was proposed in 2021 - so there has been plenty of time for servers to be updated accordingly.

Google are well placed to see what exploits are being actively used, and it would be bad for them to not coerce companies that run insecure servers to  update them.

As a major ISP, Plusnet should be on top of things like this, and shouldn't need lengthy threads like this one to provoke a (tardy) response. 

jcjefferies
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎04-10-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

I first noticed the problem Monday when I tried to respond to a "Its Time to Renew" email but get the error "www.plus.net uses an unsupported protocol". I waited several days for the problem to be sorted out as all other web sites seem to work as normal. I have tried on a Windows 10 laptop, Windows 10 PC, Chrome OS laptop and Android tablet and all give the same error so unable to renew!!

MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 16,187
Thanks: 6,171
Fixes: 445
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

@jcjefferies if you need to get on the the website urgently before the problem is fixed , then there is a temporary workaround here https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Unable-to-access-Plusnet-website/m-p/1936858#M32243

Treat this ONLY as a temporary workaround though, and revert to the default once you no longer need access

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

jcjefferies
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎04-10-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

Not sure what the link is for as it just takes you back to page two of this thread with posts a month ago!

MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 16,187
Thanks: 6,171
Fixes: 445
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

@jcjefferies  Sorry , the link was meant to take you directly to this which is  on that page

Hi fellow Chrome users.

I've found a solution:

type chrome://flags into the address bar.  Then type TLS in the search field.

You should see an option that comes up "Allow SHA-1 server signatures in TLS."  Enable this.  Click on Relaunch and you should find that the Plusnet website is now accessible.

I hope it works for you.  It did for me.

 

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

ont
Dabbler
Posts: 12
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎20-06-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

That's really bad advice telling people to reduce their browser security just to accommodate the only website I've come across that hasn't addressed this long-coming issue.
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 16,187
Thanks: 6,171
Fixes: 445
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

If you read my previous post I did stress that

Treat this ONLY as a temporary workaround though, and revert to the default once you no longer need access

and only if access is needed urgently!!

The problem is in the process of being rectified

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

bobpullen
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 16,926
Thanks: 5,012
Fixes: 317
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website


@seabasskarp wrote:

Not really bully tactics, it's called depreciating old insecure stuff and moving the Internet forward. The number of sites still using SHA-1 TLS handshakes accounts for 0.02% of the Internet...


And I doubt plus.net is in that 0.02% data set to be honest. Run any TLS check on the site and it will come up reasonably favourably.

The irony is not lost (from here) -

Screenshot 2023-10-04 20.59.23.pngScreenshot 2023-10-04 20.59.40.png

I'm hopeful the issue should be resolved overnight.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
If I've been helpful then please give thanks ⤵

OldBigKid
Newbie
Posts: 4
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-09-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

Hi, Just thought I would check and plus.net now loads on my chrome browser without any changes to it's config on my android phone. Wanted to let everyone know so they can see how they get on.
Batfrog
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 121
Thanks: 61
Registered: ‎13-06-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

 

@OldBigKid   Hi, Just thought I would check and plus.net now loads on my chrome browser without any changes to it's config on my android phone. Wanted to let everyone know so they can see how they get on.

Hmm. 07:30 this morning my Android phone too. Still not working on Windows 11 /Chrome Laptop !!

Still progress I suppose.

 

jgj18
Hooked
Posts: 7
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎04-09-2023

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

I've reset my chrome SHA1 flag to default on both mobile and Windows, and the site does now work on both.

 

Good to see this fixed - it's taken some time, but I guess Plusnet have to proceed very carefully with a change where one false move could bring the whole site down.

tonym
Hooked
Posts: 5
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎08-09-2011

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website

Happy to report that, having been unable to access the Plusnet site on my Chromebook since August (problem first encountered when I tried to respond to my "It's Time To Renew" email), I can now get in without any flag-tweaking, or switching to another browser. 👍

corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,367
Thanks: 692
Fixes: 18
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Unable to access Plusnet website


@jgj18 wrote:

Good to see this fixed - it's taken some time, but I guess Plusnet have to proceed very carefully with a change where one false move could bring the whole site down.


You mean like make the site unavailable to many of its (potential) customers? I'm not sure they could have made it much worse than it was - and in any case they really should know what they're doing (or get someone in to manage their website that does know).