ADSL Problem - Certain ISP Accounts not Working

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bbabraham

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I use MWeb and I haven't had any problems with connections or stability.

Today I signed up with Afrihost and purchased 1 GB prepaid. After going through the verification process my account was activated but I'm having problems. It seems only certain web pages will open. It doesn't appear to be random as to whether the page will open or not. What I mean is that certain websites will never open (most that I've tried) and certain ones always do (such as Google and Speedtest.net). I also can't connect to the PSN (Playstation Network). I tried using an old prepaid account from Web Africa that I haven't used in ages and it's doing the same thing as the Afrihost account. I emailed Afrihost and they said it's nothing on their side and "Please check that the DNS settings on your router are set to obtain automatically. If you are still having a browsing issue you can call telkom & have them re-sychronise your line."

Under "DNS" on my router (D-Link DSL-504T) all I found was "DNS Selection". It was set to "Use User Discovered DNS Server Only". I changed it to "Use Auto Discovered DNS Server Only" but this didn't help so i changed it back.

I don't know what it is when Telkom re-sync the line. Is this something that takes 5 minutes or do they have to go out to the exchange and it could take a couple days? I'm on a 512k line btw.

When doing the Speedtest, I noticed that MWeb uses Telkom but Afrihost uses Internet Solutions. I don't know what Web Africa uses but could this have something to do with the problem?

Hope someone can help!:)
 
I've phoned Telkom and they reset the line but it didn't change anything.:(

So nobody have any ideas?
 
Start > Run > type "cmd" and run > type "ping websiteaddress.co.za"

The right click > Select all > right click again > paste the results on here.

This will tell us if it's a dns issue or something else.

It would also help if you posted the none working sites here and then users on the same ISP can tell you if they can visit the sites or not.
 
Using MWeb account:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Juice>ping websiteaddress.co.za

Pinging websiteaddress.co.za [96.31.76.235] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=364ms TTL=45
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=364ms TTL=45
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=364ms TTL=45
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=364ms TTL=45

Ping statistics for 96.31.76.235:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 364ms, Maximum = 364ms, Average = 364ms
Click to expand...

Using Afrihost account:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Juice>ping websiteaddress.co.za

Pinging websiteaddress.co.za [96.31.76.235] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=310ms TTL=41
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=321ms TTL=41
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=309ms TTL=41
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=315ms TTL=41

Ping statistics for 96.31.76.235:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 309ms, Maximum = 321ms, Average = 313ms
Click to expand...

Using Web Africa account:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Juice>ping websiteaddress.co.za

Pinging websiteaddress.co.za [96.31.76.235] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=305ms TTL=46
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=303ms TTL=46
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=306ms TTL=46
Reply from 96.31.76.235: bytes=32 time=303ms TTL=46

Ping statistics for 96.31.76.235:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 303ms, Maximum = 306ms, Average = 304ms
Click to expand...

An example of a website that I've not once yet been able to open is https://clientzone.afrihost.com/. But their homepage usually opens. I can open it using the MWeb account but not the Afrihost or Web Africa accounts.

EDIT: I've seen people "XXX" out their IP address before, should I be doing that?
 
I don't know if its related at all to your problem, but I cant connect to either Afrihost or Screamer, but Telkom works fine. the other two give me an "xDSL not synchronised" error followed by "incorrect username/password" although the user/pass hasn't been changed.
 
bbabraham said:
Under "DNS" on my router (D-Link DSL-504T) all I found was "DNS Selection". It was set to "Use User Discovered DNS Server Only". I changed it to "Use Auto Discovered DNS Server Only" but this didn't help so i changed it back.
Click to expand...

If you can currently connect to MWeb and surf the web without any problems then your line is obviously fine.

You mentioned that you have problems on both WebAfrica and Afrihost. HOwever, you didn't mention whether the WebAfrica account was an IS based, or WA based account (AFAIK they still have IS accounts too).

As for changing the ISP account to WebAfrica or Afrihost, the idea is to automatically have the router pick up which DNS servers the ISP is using (since they're different from ISP to ISP), so leave it on "Auto Discovered DNS", and save the settings.

Make sure you entered the Afrihost username/password correctly.

Also, did you perhaps previously enter the DNS settings manually in your LAN properties in Windows? It needs to be set to automatic.
To check, double-click on the LAN properties icon in the bottom right of the screen (2 little screens), click on Properties, on the next window highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and click on Properties. On the next window, ensure that "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" are selected. Click on OK, OK, etc.

Sometimes a bad DNS entry will be cached and you will need to flush the DNS. If you're using Windows XP, go to Start > Run and type cmd and click OK.
This will open a command prompt window.
On the command line, type:
ipconfig /flushdns
Press ENTER
You should see this message:
"Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

Reboot the router and the computer for fun.

This should sort out any DNS issues, if that was the problem. Try and visit the problematic sites again and see if it works now.
 
Last edited:
I think your problem is that you have two firewalls working at the same time - remember that Avast also has a 'network shield' built in.
Check those settings.
 
plazma said:
I think your problem is that you have two firewalls working at the same time - remember that Avast also has a 'network shield' built in.
Check those settings.
Click to expand...

Firstly I tried turning off the Window firewall but that didn't help.

Then I stopped my entire Avast Anti-Virus software and it fixed the problem!!! I've since turned Avast on again and I'm still not having any problems. Just a simple stopping of the software seems to have fixed it even though I'm now running it again.

What I don't understand is how Anti-Virus software on my PC could have stopped my PS3 from connecting to the Playstation Network (PSN)? I don't think I ever tried connection on the Playstation when my PC was off, but I still don't understand how Avast on my PC affected my PS3?

Thank you for the help though and just to confirm - all 3 MWeb, Afrihost and Web Africa accounts are now working.

And whether you suggestions worked or not, thanks to everyone who suggested things to try. Much appreciated!:)
 
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