Is my Isp playing Silly Beggars?

I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.

However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these people
(they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month). Strange things
happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared complain, and sign up
with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to connect with my frequently
used pages. All other pages loaded fine.There was nothing wrong with the
sites themselves, and I could connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly
got in ok through a proxy. My suspicion is that these people were
deliberately capping or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think
of a legitimate reason for these things happening?

I am actually quite worried, as I have signed up with my new provider, and
all seems well, but it is not activated yet, and the old isp might try to
prevent the process in some way. I am not contractually obliged to stay with
them.

Any comments?

Jennie

> I was suddenly unable to connect with my frequently
> used pages. All other pages loaded fine.There was nothing wrong with the
> sites themselves, and I could connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly
> got in ok through a proxy.

Check your Hosts file. Just search for hosts. One should be a text
file that you can open with Notepad.
There should be a local host entry, other entries than
localhost may relate to your problem.
It's always a good idea to backup system files before modifying
them, just copy and paste hosts into another folder.
Now you can delete any extra entries, then see if it all
comes good.
It's also a good idea to make the hosts file read only, to
prevent it being hijacked by the addition of rogue entries.
Once you have changed to your new ISP your old ISP
shouldn't be able to screw anything up.
A router that has a good, built in, hardware firewall, offers
a lot of protection, though some dodgy web sites can
still cause problems, as can dodgy programs.

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:48:28 UTC, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> It's also a good idea to make the hosts file read only, to
> prevent it being hijacked by the addition of rogue entries.

Any program that can modify the hosts file is usually capable of
changing its read-only setting. False security.

--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

The orijinal wrote:

> I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
> another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.
>
> However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these people
> (they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month). Strange things
> happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared complain, and sign up
> with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to connect with my frequently
> used pages. All other pages loaded fine.There was nothing wrong with the
> sites themselves, and I could connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly
> got in ok through a proxy. My suspicion is that these people were
> deliberately capping or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think
> of a legitimate reason for these things happening?
>
> I am actually quite worried, as I have signed up with my new provider, and
> all seems well, but it is not activated yet, and the old isp might try to
> prevent the process in some way.

That would be illegal.


> I am not contractually obliged to stay with them.

Any more trouble and you should contact Ofcom.

You WON'T hurt yourself by naming them either. Name and shame I say.

Graham

In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:08:29, The orijinal
wrote:

>I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
>another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.

AOL perchance?

>However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these people
>(they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month). Strange things
>happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared complain, and sign up
>with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to connect with my frequently
>used pages. All other pages loaded fine.There was nothing wrong with the
>sites themselves, and I could connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly
>got in ok through a proxy. My suspicion is that these people were
>deliberately capping or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think
>of a legitimate reason for these things happening?

They can do what they like, but I have evidenced that AOL have blocked
access to other ISPs sign-up pages. Very frustrating. Of course the
AOL user merely thinks the other ISP is pants for having duff websites.

Going via an open-access dial-up disproves this of course.

>I am actually quite worried, as I have signed up with my new provider, and
>all seems well, but it is not activated yet, and the old isp might try to
>prevent the process in some way. I am not contractually obliged to stay with
>them.
>
>Any comments?

If my guess is correct, your major problem is going to be getting rid of
the infestation of the original software so un-helpfully provided by the
first ISP...

A decent new ISP (NewNet, IdNet, Zen etc) won't impose any restrictions
or their own 'branding' on anything.

--
Jim Crowther

Jim Crowther wrote:
> In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:08:29, The orijinal
> wrote:
>
>> I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
>> another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.
>
> AOL perchance?
>
>> However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these
>> people (they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month).
>> Strange things happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared
>> complain, and sign up with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to
>> connect with my frequently used pages. All other pages loaded
>> fine.There was nothing wrong with the sites themselves, and I could
>> connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly got in ok through a
>> proxy. My suspicion is that these people were deliberately capping
>> or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think of a
>> legitimate reason for these things happening?
>
> They can do what they like, but I have evidenced that AOL have blocked
> access to other ISPs sign-up pages.

I think you'll find it's the other way around and that some websites block
access from AOL's browser? Easily cured by switching to IE or some other
browser.

(kim)

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>> I was suddenly unable to connect with my frequently
>> used pages. All other pages loaded fine.There was nothing wrong with
>> the sites themselves, and I could connect to them fine on dial up,
>> and briefly got in ok through a proxy.
>
> Check your Hosts file. Just search for hosts. One should be a text
> file that you can open with Notepad.
> There should be a local host entry, other entries than
> localhost may relate to your problem.
> It's always a good idea to backup system files before modifying
> them, just copy and paste hosts into another folder.
> Now you can delete any extra entries, then see if it all
> comes good.
> It's also a good idea to make the hosts file read only, to
> prevent it being hijacked by the addition of rogue entries.
> Once you have changed to your new ISP your old ISP
> shouldn't be able to screw anything up.
> A router that has a good, built in, hardware firewall, offers
> a lot of protection, though some dodgy web sites can
> still cause problems, as can dodgy programs.

Thanks for the suggestion, and I have checked the hosts file - nothing
untoward. But unless I am mis-understanding something here, any rogue
entries would block access to the pages however I connected.

I use a host file manager and have a host file from a reputable source (MVPS
HOSTS file is a free download from:: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/ )

Jennie.

In uk.telecom.broadband, on Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:24:02, kim wrote:

>Jim Crowther wrote:
>> In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:08:29, The orijinal
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
>>> another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.
>>
>> AOL perchance?
>>
>>> However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these
>>> people (they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month).
>>> Strange things happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared
>>> complain, and sign up with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to
>>> connect with my frequently used pages. All other pages loaded
>>> fine.There was nothing wrong with the sites themselves, and I could
>>> connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly got in ok through a
>>> proxy. My suspicion is that these people were deliberately capping
>>> or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think of a
>>> legitimate reason for these things happening?
>>
>> They can do what they like, but I have evidenced that AOL have blocked
>> access to other ISPs sign-up pages.
>
>I think you'll find it's the other way around and that some websites block
>access from AOL's browser? Easily cured by switching to IE or some other
>browser.

No, I've never tried via the AOL browser. Any 'clients' I may have had
who were on AOL were weaned off the AOL portal very early on.

I used DNS checks via AOL's DNS and certain human-readable addresses
returned 'timed out' with no IP given. Use another DNS and you get the
IP address. Try that, you get a 404. Use another connection, no
problem.

Specifically, in three cases using AOL connections, I could access
NewNet's home-page - but their sign-up page just wouldn't work. Use a
dial-up, no problem.

I'm not fussed enough to raise any challenge to AOL, but now I know how
to demonstrate to their customers (when they query it) what a censored
goldfish bowl they have accepted before.

--
Jim Crowther

Eeyore wrote:
> The orijinal wrote:
>
>> I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
>> another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.
>>
>> However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these
>> people (they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month).
>> Strange things happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared
>> complain, and sign up with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to
>> connect with my frequently used pages. All other pages loaded
>> fine.There was nothing wrong with the sites themselves, and I could
>> connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly got in ok through a
>> proxy. My suspicion is that these people were deliberately capping
>> or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think of a
>> legitimate reason for these things happening?
>>
>> I am actually quite worried, as I have signed up with my new
>> provider, and all seems well, but it is not activated yet, and the
>> old isp might try to prevent the process in some way.
>
> That would be illegal.
>
True - but I wouldn't put it past them to make things difficult, all the
same

>> I am not contractually obliged to stay with them.
>
> Any more trouble and you should contact Ofcom.
>
I will certainly be contacting Ofcom anyway, as they are demanding "money
with menaces".

> You WON'T hurt yourself by naming them either. Name and shame I say.
>
> Graham

I have no problem with naming and shaming in general, and have done so
elsewhere. I just don't want to be landed with a libel suit over the
specific accusation that I am unable to sustantiate.

Jennie

Jim Crowther wrote:
> In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:08:29, The orijinal
> wrote:
>
>> I admit, I do not have the technical know how to prove it one way or
>> another, which is why I'm naming no names, for the time being.
>
> AOL perchance?
>
Nope, -Wouldn't touch 'em with the proverbial.

>> However, now that I have been able to obtain a MAC code from these
>> people (they were amongs those who wouldn't until last month).
>> Strange things happened. It has stopped now, but as soon as I dared
>> complain, and sign up with a new provider, I was suddenly unable to
>> connect with my frequently used pages. All other pages loaded
>> fine.There was nothing wrong with the sites themselves, and I could
>> connect to them fine on dial up, and briefly got in ok through a
>> proxy. My suspicion is that these people were deliberately capping
>> or blocking access to cause annoyance.Can anyone think of a
>> legitimate reason for these things happening?
>
> They can do what they like, but I have evidenced that AOL have blocked
> access to other ISPs sign-up pages. Very frustrating. Of course the
> AOL user merely thinks the other ISP is pants for having duff
> websites.
>
> Going via an open-access dial-up disproves this of course.
>
>> I am actually quite worried, as I have signed up with my new
>> provider, and all seems well, but it is not activated yet, and the
>> old isp might try to prevent the process in some way. I am not
>> contractually obliged to stay with them.
>>
>> Any comments?
>
> If my guess is correct, your major problem is going to be getting rid
> of
> the infestation of the original software so un-helpfully provided by
> the first ISP...
>
No, thats not the problem. I always set up my connections manually, - even
where software is provided.

> A decent new ISP (NewNet, IdNet, Zen etc) won't impose any
> restrictions
> or their own 'branding' on anything.

These people were decent once. I've been with 'em since dial -up days in
2001. They're still trading under their old name but have been taken over by
different people, and they are resorting to desperate measures to try and
make customers stay.

Jennie