Have you ever noticed that when something is wrong with your Internet connection, that your ISP thinks it’s your fault immediately?
I had an issue last night where I could not access anything that our hosting company hosted. This included sites like myITforum.com, blogs.msdn.com, blogs.technet.com, asp.net, communityserver.org, etc., etc. (yeah, we’re in good company).
After some troubleshooting on my end, it was determined that the DNS servers for our hosting company (Orcsweb) were being blocked by my ISP (TimeWarner/Roadrunner).
It’s fixed now, but why does your ISP always assume you know nothing about a computer or how it works? I took the time to troubleshoot for them and gave them all the information they needed to fix the problem, yet, here’s an email I just received from them this morning (after the fact), with their steps to fix the problem:
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Dear Rod,
Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable, Road Runner technical e-mail support.
As per your e-mail, I understand that you are not able to access some websites.
Rod, I can certainly help you with this.
Please follow the steps mentioned below to resolve the issue that you are facing.
CLEARING TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES AND COOKIES
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To clear the temporary files and cookies that Internet Explorer stores when browsing, please complete the following steps.
1) Open Internet Explorer.
2) Click the 'Tools' menu and select 'Internet Options'.
3) Click the 'Delete Files' button.
4) Click the 'Settings' button, then the 'View Files' button.
5) Click on 'Edit' and choose 'Select all' to highlight all the temporary Internet files.
6) Press the 'Delete' key on the keyboard to remove the files.
7) Click the 'Yes' button if you are prompted to confirm the action.
8) Close the Temporary Internet Files folder.
9) Click 'Ok' then 'Ok' again and the changes will be saved.
RESTORING DEFAULT SETTINGS
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To ensure any misconfiguration of the web browser is corrected, complete the following steps to restore it to the default settings.
1) Open Internet Explorer.
2) Click the 'Tools' menu and select 'Internet Options'.
3) Click the 'Security' tab.
4) Select the 'Internet Zone' icon and press the 'Default' button.
5) Select the 'Local Intranet Zone' icon and press the 'Default' button.
6) Select the 'Trusted Sites Zone' icon and press the 'Default' button.
7) Select the 'Restricted Sites Zone' icon and press the 'Default'
button.
8) Click on the 'Advanced' tab.
9) Click the 'Restore Defaults' button.
10) Click 'Ok'.
DISABLE PROXIES
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The specification of proxy servers instructs Internet Explorer to look for websites on an intermediary computer instead of obtaining it directly from our servers.
While this mechanism used to increase browsing speed, now it reduces browsing speed and often results in not being able to reach websites at all because they're not found on the proxy server.
For this reason proxy servers are not used by Road Runner.
1) Open Internet Explorer.
2) Click the 'Tools' menu and select 'Internet Options'.
3) Click the 'Connections' tab then the 'LAN Settings' button.
4) Remove any checkmarks that appear in this window.
5) Click 'Ok'.
DISABLE FIREWALLS, NETWORKING HARDWARE, AND FILE SHARING PROGRAMS
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Firewall and file sharing software (such as Kazaa, LimeWire, or Bit
Torrent) or a self installed home network may affect the speed of your Internet connection.
For troubleshooting purposes, please run the following tests with any firewall and file sharing programs disabled and with one computer connected directly to your cable modem, unless you had a home network installed for you by your local cable office.
If after following the steps provided you are still experiencing difficulty then please reply to this email with the previous correspondence. You can visit our online Support Site at help.rr.com.
Once again Rod, thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable, Road Runner technical e-mail support.
Regards,
Angelica,
Time Warner Cable,
Road Runner Technical Support.