Proxy server for IS DSL?

D

donn_edwards

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I am doing web testing and need to be able to explicitly specify a proxy server in my browser. My company has moved from M-Web to Internet Solutions, so now I can't use dsl-cache.saix.net:8080 any more because I'm no longer a SAIX client.

I have tried to ask IS "support" for the answer to this simple question, and all they could tell me is
We have couple proxies, they are all sitting in the range of 196.35.158.176/23.
Click to expand...
I have explained to them that allowing my browser to detect the proxy automatically is not an option for the testing I need to do.

So I tried pinging IP addresses starting at 196.35.158.176 and found some that responded fairly quickly:
196.35.158.178
196.35.158.179
196.35.158.183
But NONE of them will work as an HTTP proxy. If I use
196.35.158.183:80
then nothing happens, and every web page I tried doesn't load (Using Firefox)

My current IP address is 196.210.224.9 and gateway is 196.210.152.129
Can anyone tell me what proxy server to use?
 
donn_edwards said:
I am doing web testing and need to be able to explicitly specify a proxy server in my browser. My company has moved from M-Web to Internet Solutions, so now I can't use dsl-cache.saix.net:8080 any more because I'm no longer a SAIX client.

I have tried to ask IS "support" for the answer to this simple question, and all they could tell me is I have explained to them that allowing my browser to detect the proxy automatically is not an option for the testing I need to do.

So I tried pinging IP addresses starting at 196.35.158.176 and found some that responded fairly quickly:
196.35.158.178
196.35.158.179
196.35.158.183
But NONE of them will work as an HTTP proxy. If I use
196.35.158.183:80
then nothing happens, and every web page I tried doesn't load (Using Firefox)

My current IP address is 196.210.224.9 and gateway is 196.210.152.129
Can anyone tell me what proxy server to use?
Click to expand...

Have you tried port 8080?
 
As far as I know IS have transparent proxies - what testing is it that you need to do that requires you to have a proxy ?
 
Gambit said:
Have you tried port 8080?
Click to expand...

Yes, and 1080 and 8080

As far as I know IS have transparent proxies - what testing is it that you need to do that requires you to have a proxy ?
Click to expand...

IS may have transparent proxies, but their support department has no idea how to use them explicitly.

There are two reasons why I want to specify the proxy: the first one is because their bandwidth sucks and I am hoping that connecting to the proxy will help. After all, I should be able to do Windows Updates at full speed because everyone else has downloaded this stuff before. At best I'm getting 50% utilisation of a 384kbps link, which is sad.

The second is more tricky to explain, but I need it because I am also using SwissVPN when testing web sites. So I want to have one browser using local connections and another going via Europe at the same time. It is simple to set up once I have a proxy that works
 
ermm, you are using their proxies whether you want to or not, they're transparent :)

why not just adjust your routing table for country-specific routes?
 
rurapente said:
ermm, you are using their proxies whether you want to or not, they're transparent :)

why not just adjust your routing table for country-specific routes?
Click to expand...

That won't work because I want to test http://www.mustang.co.za from two different locations at the same time. I use one browser with the VPN, and another with the local proxy. Simple. Setting an explicit proxy allows me to do this. dslcache.saix.net:8080 worked fine, and I could specify a routing table for its location so it didn't go via Europe.
 
Telkom Wholesale

Get your company to give the above guys a ring.

Contact details have been posted here on the site in another thread.

Going from MWeb to IS is not quite going from the pan into the fire
but
it is a bit like burning your fingers :D


MW
 
I have no say in the contracts. 14 years ago when I worked at The Star newspaper Internet Solutions gave great service and everything worked. M-Web uses SAIX for its DSL, so there is no difference between the incompetence of M-Web and the incompetence of Telkom. But IS is supposed to be better. They are not.

ISDSL is worse than useless, and I'm sure their "transparent" proxies don't work. Since when does it take from 3pm to 10.30pm to download 71Mb, especially when the download is Microsoft Live Essentials, which I'm sure gets downloaded dozens of times a day.

I never thought I would say that Telkom was better, but in this case they are. I never thought I'd *need* a proxy server, but dsl-cache.saix.net actually works, whereas the "transparent proxy" in my area for SAIX is just plain broken, and I gave up trying to explain this to both M-Web and the Telkom fault line. Sometimes its just simpler to work around the problem than report it.

It seems that in this case IS doesn't have a workaround. Their system is broken and that's it. I'm getting faster downloads via Europe than via ISDSL's so-called proxies. That's sad.
 
Now that you mention the slow speeds, I do recall a client of mine that was having a similar problem. After much complaining I managed to get IS to allow the client to bypass the flaky IS proxy and all was well again....
 
It would seem that IS don't actually have a proxy server I can use. I find this extremely odd for an ISP

Customers cannot use our caches explicitly.

Our caches are only transparent, customers cannot configure their browser to use the IS caches.

The customer does not need a proxy setting.
Click to expand...

So I have asked them what I should do if I actually need a proxy. I guess they need to put the "S" back into ISP and IS.
 
donn_edwards said:
I have no say in the contracts. 14 years ago when I worked at The Star newspaper Internet Solutions gave great service and everything worked. M-Web uses SAIX for its DSL, so there is no difference between the incompetence of M-Web and the incompetence of Telkom. But IS is supposed to be better. They are not.

ISDSL is worse than useless, and I'm sure their "transparent" proxies don't work. Since when does it take from 3pm to 10.30pm to download 71Mb, especially when the download is Microsoft Live Essentials, which I'm sure gets downloaded dozens of times a day.

I never thought I would say that Telkom was better, but in this case they are. I never thought I'd *need* a proxy server, but dsl-cache.saix.net actually works, whereas the "transparent proxy" in my area for SAIX is just plain broken, and I gave up trying to explain this to both M-Web and the Telkom fault line. Sometimes its just simpler to work around the problem than report it.

It seems that in this case IS doesn't have a workaround. Their system is broken and that's it. I'm getting faster downloads via Europe than via ISDSL's so-called proxies. That's sad.
Click to expand...

i have to say, that its pretty dumb blaming ISPs, for routing methods you want customized for your own use. Buy a server with VPN services in various locations and test like that.

and, your comment on Mweb/SAIX is flawed, sice Mweb Business DSL customers always used IS, SAIX was the home user base. Unless you were using the home DSL for business purposes who knows...

The transparent proxies are not just there for your bandwidth speed, they have other functions, that DONT include your routing preferences. As I said, if you want to originate connections out of other physical locations, get entry points into those locations.

And your ISDSL story of "dog slow" is also based on no fact, since I'm browsing through IS DSL and getting over 480kbps downloads from FTP, HTTP, Torrents and more.

Finally, ISPs dont have to provide you with a proxy, the transparent's are there simply to cache objects that are very commonly used to lower some of the repeat bandwidth usage. You are given a live IP address thats internet-routable and thats that.
 
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And WTH is that : "Check out SwissVPN (US$7 per month) to bypass SAIX/Telkom/M-Web proxies/blocking/DNS or www.itshidden.com"

blocking what? The ISPs transparent proxies do not block content, they do not log your every move, they are caching servers to speed up the network and reduce re-requests for similar objects.
 
your comment on Mweb/SAIX is flawed, sice Mweb Business DSL customers always used IS, SAIX was the home user base. Unless you were using the home DSL for business purposes who knows
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Some of your "facts" are wrong. I had an M-Web/Tiscali DSL business account that worked through SAIX, not IS. I used smtp.saix.net for email, and dsl-cache.saix.net for proxying. Yet it was a business account, with a 100GB monthly bandwidth minimum.

I also specified 208.67.222.222 for my DNS service (OpenDNS), but SAIX/Mweb intercepted those calls and rerouted them to their dreadfully slow local DNS servers. When the DNS flaw was reported July 2008 it took SAIX a long time to fix their servers, yet OpenDNS was fixed almost immediately.

Finally, ISPs dont have to provide you with a proxy, the transparent's are there simply to cache objects that are very commonly used to lower some of the repeat bandwidth usage. You are given a live IP address thats internet-routable and thats that.
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I agree that they don't HAVE to, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't. I used SAIX's proxy and it improved my performace. IS used to have cache.is.co.za but at some point they stopped offering it. If a customer needs or wants a proxy, the ISP should provide one. IS doesn't. So much for service.

And your ISDSL story of "dog slow" is also based on no fact, since I'm browsing through IS DSL and getting over 480kbps downloads from FTP, HTTP, Torrents and more.
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What is your line speed? 512kbps, or 4MB? It clearly isn't 384kbps. I thought of upgrading my line speed from 384kbps to 512kbps, but if they can't even get 384kbps right, what's the point? You aren't getting 512kbps, but clearly you are paying for it. And the speed difference is only useful for time-consuming downloads anyway.

Which part of the graphs on my blog post are incorrect?

On Saturday 2nd January I reported to IS that it took 7.5 hours to download 71MB, part of Windows Live Essentials, which is a common download and should already be in the proxy cache. They were unable to explain why I was getting such pathetic speeds at 3pm on a Saturday. Especially when I get full download speeds on Sundays.

"Check out SwissVPN (US$7 per month) to bypass SAIX/Telkom/M-Web proxies/blocking/DNS or www.itshidden.com"
blocking what? The ISPs transparent proxies do not block content, they do not log your every move, they are caching servers to speed up the network and reduce re-requests for similar objects.
Click to expand...

SAIX intercepts DNS requests. SAIX interferes with eMule traffic during office hoursw, and blocks access to some https pages. Whether this is deliberate or not I don't know, but since I have started using SwissVPN.net the problems have ceased. I could use eMule at any time of the day or night, and https works correctly. For some reason the local transparent SAIX proxy was broken, which is why I was forced to use dsl-cache.saix.net

480kbps downloads from FTP, HTTP, Torrents and more
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If you want to open yourself to prosecution for using torrents though IS, be my guest. If your torrent downloads include copyrighted material (not all do) then IS can hand over your details for prosecution. I prefer to use a secure VPN. eMule and BitTorrent is not illegal in Switzerland.

that its pretty dumb blaming ISPs, for routing methods you want customized for your own use. Buy a server with VPN services in various locations and test like that.
Click to expand...
I didn't want the ISP to customise any routing tables. If they had provided me with a proxy server I could have done it without any problems. Now I have to use two machines for testing instead of one. One uses SwissVPN, the other doesn't. I guess it's a better way of testing but it has complicated my workflow.

I hope this clarifies your questions and misunderstandings. FWIW, my Audible downloads started at 10h53 and after 2.5 hours the first 81 MB file is on 94% and the second is on 84%. That works out at 139kbps, which sucks.
 
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