Bizarre inability to access Google-related websites from a particular location

I have an issue that is absolutely perplexing me; hoping the greater
collective knowledge of this group can come to the rescue.

I have two homes, one in mexico (satellite internet connection through
a Linksys Wireless-G router) and another in Las Vegas (Cox digital
cable modem through a Netgear Wireless-Draft N router). I get online
in both locations without fail on my laptop (Macbook Pro 15"). Here's
where things start to get weird.

In Mexico, I have no issues using this laptop to access ANY internet
sites.

When I get online in Vegas, I can access all Internet sites EXCEPT
www.google.com or any other sites utilizing Google analytics
(particularly www.macworld.com and www.orbitz.com).

I've reset the modem, the router, flushed my DNS on the laptop --
nothing.

I traveled back to mexico after the first instance of this problem in
Vegas and had no issues getting back online there (Mexico). Back to
Vegas again, same problem.

Called Cox (the never-very-handy-ISP), told them the dilemma, and they
said they didn't support Macs. Well, of course they don't.
Troubleshooting the matter further, I was able to access these Google-
related sites from another PC and another Mac in the Vegas locale, so
the issue has to be local to my laptop build.

PLEASE HELP!!! I can't take anymore searching on MSN out of sheer
necessity...it's sapping my will to live.

Thanks in advance

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I have an issue that is absolutely perplexing me; hoping the greater
> collective knowledge of this group can come to the rescue.
>
> I have two homes, one in mexico (satellite internet connection through
> a Linksys Wireless-G router) and another in Las Vegas (Cox digital
> cable modem through a Netgear Wireless-Draft N router). I get online
> in both locations without fail on my laptop (Macbook Pro 15"). Here's
> where things start to get weird.
>
> In Mexico, I have no issues using this laptop to access ANY internet
> sites.
>
> When I get online in Vegas, I can access all Internet sites EXCEPT
> www.google.com or any other sites utilizing Google analytics
> (particularly www.macworld.com and www.orbitz.com).
>
> I've reset the modem, the router, flushed my DNS on the laptop --
> nothing.
>
> I traveled back to mexico after the first instance of this problem in
> Vegas and had no issues getting back online there (Mexico). Back to
> Vegas again, same problem.
>
> Called Cox (the never-very-handy-ISP), told them the dilemma, and they
> said they didn't support Macs. Well, of course they don't.
> Troubleshooting the matter further, I was able to access these Google-
> related sites from another PC and another Mac in the Vegas locale, so
> the issue has to be local to my laptop build.
>
> PLEASE HELP!!! I can't take anymore searching on MSN out of sheer
> necessity...it's sapping my will to live.

I don't support Macs either, but if I did, I would start with 'traceroute www.google.com' or 'ping
www.google.com' to verify that my machine could actually get to their site, and that my nameserver
was functioning correctly. If that works properly (and I think it should), then I would expect a
firewall problem; however, that should also cause problems in Mexico. You need to post this on an OS
X list.

Larry

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

>When I get online in Vegas, I can access all Internet sites EXCEPT
>www.google.com or any other sites utilizing Google analytics
>(particularly www.macworld.com and www.orbitz.com).

On you Mac, look into the file:
/etc/hosts
and see if there have been any entries added other than the basic
localhost and broadcast host lines. If you have to do some editing,
do it this way:
<http://kb.wisc.edu/middleware/page.php?id=4506>

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On May 31, 5:30 pm, t...@playaprestigeproperties.com wrote:
> I have an issue that is absolutely perplexing me; hoping the greater
> collective knowledge of this group can come to the rescue.
>
> I have two homes, one in mexico (satellite internet connection through
> a Linksys Wireless-G router) and another in Las Vegas (Cox digital
> cable modem through a Netgear Wireless-Draft N router). I get online
> in both locations without fail on my laptop (Macbook Pro 15"). Here's
> where things start to get weird.
>
> In Mexico, I have no issues using this laptop to access ANY internet
> sites.
>
> When I get online in Vegas, I can access all Internet sites EXCEPTwww.google.comor any other sites utilizing Google analytics
> (particularlywww.macworld.comandwww.orbitz.com).
>
> I've reset the modem, the router, flushed my DNS on the laptop --
> nothing.
>
> I traveled back to mexico after the first instance of this problem in
> Vegas and had no issues getting back online there (Mexico). Back to
> Vegas again, same problem.
>
> Called Cox (the never-very-handy-ISP), told them the dilemma, and they
> said they didn't support Macs. Well, of course they don't.
> Troubleshooting the matter further, I was able to access these Google-
> related sites from another PC and another Mac in the Vegas locale, so
> the issue has to be local to my laptop build.
>
> PLEASE HELP!!! I can't take anymore searching on MSN out of sheer
> necessity...it's sapping my will to live.
>
> Thanks in advance

Yeah, might be DNS issues with the laptop you're connected to, but
doubt it. Otherwise I have no other suggestions.

"Soccrmastr" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message> Yeah, might be DNS
issues with the laptop you're connected to, but
> doubt it. Otherwise I have no other suggestions.

What I'm really curious to know is if he can ping one of the IP's of
google.?

ping 64.233.167.99
if that does not fail
type http://64.233.167.99 into a browser
let us know what happens..
I'm having a hard time believing it's in the laptop.. but who knows..

Adair

It might be worth checking the proxy setting on your browser. If your
Sat ISP is Hughes then they like to have you use a proxy - 192.168.0.1
port 84. Hughesnet will run without it in any case.

This setting might carry over to your other connection, though I can't
see how it would be a google specific problem.

Does sound more like hosts file /DNS thing.

Don't some routers have a DNS cache thing going? I think that DD-WRT
has that option. Try eliminating the router from the connection.

Steve

On May 31, 8:57 pm, "Adair Witner" <buhbear...@mail.com> wrote:
> "Soccrmastr" <soccrmast...@gmail.com> wrote in message> Yeah, might be DNS
>
> issues with the laptop you're connected to, but
>
> > doubt it. Otherwise I have no other suggestions.
>
> What I'm really curious to know is if he can ping one of the IP's of
> google.?
>
> ping 64.233.167.99
> if that does not fail
> typehttp://64.233.167.99into a browser
> let us know what happens..
> I'm having a hard time believing it's in the laptop.. but who knows..
>
> Adair

Thanks all for the ideas. I'm in Mexico right now, but will try these
solutions when I return to Vegas and let you know the outcome. Very
appreciative for all the info. Thanks again.

On Jun 1, 5:25 pm, t...@playaprestigeproperties.com wrote:
> On May 31, 8:57 pm, "Adair Witner" <buhbear...@mail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Soccrmastr" <soccrmast...@gmail.com> wrote in message> Yeah, might be DNS
>
> > issues with the laptop you're connected to, but
>
> > > doubt it. Otherwise I have no other suggestions.
>
> > What I'm really curious to know is if he can ping one of the IP's of
> > google.?
>
> > ping 64.233.167.99
> > if that does not fail
> > typehttp://64.233.167.99intoa browser
> > let us know what happens..
> > I'm having a hard time believing it's in the laptop.. but who knows..
>
> > Adair
>
> Thanks all for the ideas. I'm in Mexico right now, but will try these
> solutions when I return to Vegas and let you know the outcome. Very
> appreciative for all the info. Thanks again.- Hide quoted text -


Agree that you should check the hosts file.

I strongly suspect that google arrange to
resolve names differently depending on where
they think that your IP address is geographically
located.

In the UK I get:-

nslookup
> www.google.com
Server: xxxx
Address: 10.x.x.x

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.l.google.com
Addresses: 66.102.9.147, 66.102.9.104, 66.102.9.99
Aliases: www.google.com

This offers a possible explanation for the
different behaviour in the two locations.

(E-Mail Removed) hath wroth:

>Agree that you should check the hosts file.
>
>I strongly suspect that google arrange to
>resolve names differently depending on where
>they think that your IP address is geographically
>located.
>
>In the UK I get:-
>
>nslookup
>> www.google.com
>Server: xxxx
>Address: 10.x.x.x
>
>Non-authoritative answer:
>Name: www.l.google.com
>Addresses: 66.102.9.147, 66.102.9.104, 66.102.9.99
>Aliases: www.google.com
>
>This offers a possible explanation for the
>different behaviour in the two locations.

Yep. From the left coast of the USA, I get (trimmed):
nslookup
www.google.com
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.l.google.com
Addresses: 72.14.253.103, 72.14.253.147, 72.14.253.104, 72.14.253.99
Aliases: www.google.com

Quite different depending on where you're located. If one of those
useless internet speedup utilities were dumping IP lookups into the
hosts file to eliminate alleged DNS lookup delays, this could easily
be the culprit.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Jun 3, 7:03 pm, Jeff Liebermann <j...@cruzio.com> wrote:
> B...@hotmail.co.uk hath wroth:
>
>
>
>
>
> >Agree that you should check the hosts file.
>
> >I strongly suspect that google arrange to
> >resolve names differently depending on where
> >they think that your IP address is geographically
> >located.
>
> >In the UK I get:-
>
> >nslookup
> >>www.google.com
> >Server: xxxx
> >Address: 10.x.x.x
>
> >Non-authoritative answer:
> >Name: www.l.google.com
> >Addresses: 66.102.9.147, 66.102.9.104, 66.102.9.99
> >Aliases: www.google.com
>
> >This offers a possible explanation for the
> >different behaviour in the two locations.
>
> Yep. From the left coast of the USA, I get (trimmed):
> nslookupwww.google.com
> Non-authoritative answer:
> Name: www.l.google.com
> Addresses: 72.14.253.103, 72.14.253.147, 72.14.253.104, 72.14.253.99
> Aliases: www.google.com
>
> Quite different depending on where you're located. If one of those
> useless internet speedup utilities were dumping IP lookups into the
> hosts file to eliminate alleged DNS lookup delays, this could easily
> be the culprit.

Thanks, good to have that connfirmed.

I had noticed that www.google.com was about 15ms
from London and realised that it was unlikely that they
had based their servers all in Europe:-)

Amsterdam, Paris?

This attempted geographic detection does
cause us problems with our remote offices since
at present we have only one routable address block
which we advertise relevant bits of from various
locations. Upsets some web sites, :-( but not
those that are business critical :-)

Thanks.