I've moved to the USA - apparently

[#1]

At the beginning of this week my modem decided to reset itself at about 0200 in the morning. When I logged on during the day I found that almost all the websites I normally visited that offered 'retail opportunities' were quoting me prices in US dollars instead of £ sterling. Further investigation showed that I appeared to be connected to an IP address in Texas -  150.143.59.223 (BT Americas) but still showing as a Plusnet  server - and that I couldn't download UK specific items such as BBC iPlayer. I tried a couple of resets but couldn't shift it, but then left it as I didn't want the dreaded BT DLM to start interfering as speeds were still unchanged although ping scores had increased slightly

This was sorted by another undemanded overnight 'reset', and I'm now connected to a UK server (146.200.204.148) - but a lot of sites still think I'm in the States! What have I done wrong?

[#2]

If you're not using a PN supplied router (which is locked), try changing your router DNS settings to Google's - see if that helps?
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

[#3]

There has been lots of similar problems recently which were caused by Plusnet obtaining IP addresses from the States. One way around it may be to install a free VPN service. Following advice here, https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Holiday-home-in-France-how-to-setup-a-..., I have installed Winscribe as a browser extension to my  Chrome browser. You get 10GB free per month and can easily switch it in or out. If you find a problematic website you can switch it in and select the destination as UK. The only snag I can see is that being a secure VPM, it does not transmit your IP address so this could cause problems. Having said that, it costs nothing to try it out. 

[#4]

Another way around the IP address problem is to pay a one off £5 to have a static IP address.

https://www.plus.net/AddOns.html

To date PN have not used the troublesome "imported" IP addresses for their static IP addresses.

[#5 · Accepted solution]

I'm aware of that but also aware that the supply is limited so was offering another suggestion for those who neither want or need a fixed address. Windscribe is also ideal for browsing generally without attracting targetted junk..

[#6]

Thanks for both suggestions - I'm having a look at Winscribe now.

I should have added that this happened to me whilst still on ADSL before Christmas, and I was advised by PN that they had bought some IP addresses from the states but that they were all being transferred to the UK - and withing two days I had 'returned to the fold' with no further action.

This time tho' I was more concerned as I was back on a UK server after a couple of days, but still apparently in the USA for on line purposes!

[#7]

Apparently a lot of us did!

... and it is:

BT Americas, Inc
 NetRange:       150.143.0.0 - 150.143.255.255

The above is a huge amount of IPs indeed.

Maybe JEE-Cee-H-QU   is using this 'deviation' for log us into their HUGE severs?

Just a non-so-strange idea!

[#8]

Well

After about 3 months of stability a power outage (and reboot of the modem/router) dropped me back to a BT America server - and a drop of 4mbs in download speed. Another thunderstorm and power failure and another BT America server, and the fastest download speed I've had - nearly 35 mbs. Unfortunately this only lasted a few days and then for some reason it changed at 2.00 amback to yet another BT America server - and back to a lower speed.

The best thing of all - a number of my internet connected devices have changed their internal clocks to EST - East Coast USA tme. Played havoc with on/off settings and took me a couple of days to work out why!

So one question - why does each server (in my limited experience) give different up/download speeds? Maybe Plusnet could give an answer (and please can I go back to 150.143.60.171)

Shackman

[#9]

The two things are unrelated.  It isn't a server you are connected to, that is the address that your router is being assigned.  The speed (assuming you mean sync speed which will be showing on your router, rather than throughput speed that you would see on a speedtest), would be determined by a number of things including the amount of noise on your line at the time of connecting (which can vary on time of day, weather conditions and such like), the number of errors that your line has previously experienced over a certain time period, and how many times it has had to reconnect recently.

[#10]

Sorry - my poor use of terminology. I think of the IP address the router is assigned to as a server, and that is what I called it in my post. I have now been connected to about six or seven different BT America IP addresses, and each one has given me different speeds (not sync speed, but using both Ookla and DSL reports). I should also add that the download speeds have remained stable for each of the IP addresses - for instance when on 150.143.59.142 about 29 mbps,, as opposed to 46.208.212.139 (a Plusnet IP) giving me 32 mbps), and the best was 150.143.60.171  (BT America again) which gave me 34-35 mbps over three days before it was changed at 2.00am to my present IP (150.143.59.130) which in turn has knocked me back to 28-29 mbps. The time of day or night makes no difference (within about .4 mbps) - and the line had suffered no errors or disconnects over nearly three months until the first power failure.

And I still don't know why a number of household internet clocks have changed to EST/EDT.

[#11]

---

@Shackman205 wrote:

And I still don't know why a number of household internet clocks have changed to EST/EDT.

This will be because of the time server that your router is set to use. If the router thinks it's in the USA then that is the local time that it will report..Many devices use this as their time reference. Normally I understand that the time server picks up GMT and local devices are configured to identify the time zone. It all depends on what router you have, if it's a BT/Plusnet one you probably have no control as it's assumed that you are in the UK. Why not give up the battle, pay a fiver and have a fixed IP address?

---

[#12]

Sorry to hear that the issue has returned again. I have raised this for you from our side, and we will be in touch shortly once we have implemented the solution.

[#13]

I have a few questions:

1. WHY is this happening - give us a technical explanation, please

2. why it KEEPS happening?

3. why are we left hanging dry, while NOTHING really happens?

ALL of those that are lamenting this are usually those that KNOW what they are talking about and other that do not, it simply is because they do not have the knowledge to see what is happening and only found out after they started to have problems and they searched for it in these forums or help from a family member or friend that knows what is going on and explains it to them.

Either way, BT [not PlusNEt] is messing up with us.

They have been interfering since they purchased PlusNet!

Time to get into 2018 and leave the 1980s

I have 2 accounts and both are messing up my work - I cannot explain in what way as it is private.

Any time yesterday would be nice.

[#14]

Probably nothing related to this, but................

Even my keyboard has declared UDI and gone to US settings!

[#15]

After going round in circles for a few minutes, including removing and reloading the keyboard and confirming all the settings were for a UK keyboard, I discovered the  computer default Region/Language had reset to 'English (US)'. Not my doing, but perhaps another by product of a US IP.

Just a heads up if anyone else has the same problem