Sky Broadband Issues & workaround

[Martyn Dale]

It looks like someone over at sky/easynet has blocked us again.

I can assure you the problem does not lie with us. It is not only affecting connections to ProBoards but other websites too.

If you look at the URL posted below there is a discussion of connectivity issues to various websites. The timing of the first set of posts match up with the issues a couple of days ago as well as point of time it was resolved.

The issues for all those websites also started again at the same time as the issues with ProBoards re-occurred.

forums.thinkbroadband.com/ukonline/3818457-are-easynet-starting-to-block-access-to-file-hosting-sites.html?vc=1

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We do have a workaround for you to be able to access your forums:


To access your forum (for example faq.proboards.com) just add :8080 after the .com
eg. faq.proboards.com:8080

[Martyn Dale]

Update:
Once we knew the issue was at easynet, i called their network operations center to detail the issue.

I was asked to send in all relevant technical information via email. I sent that off right before typing this message. Hopefully i will get a response quickly and they can get working on a resolution.

[johnnysbabe]

Hi Martyn and co

I'm a newbie here and really appreciate all your hard work regarding the SKY/easynet debacle.

I'm a regular user of c19 proboard and have found the last few days frustrating to say the least!!

I did try the workaround solution you suggested and I couldn't get it to work - probably due to my technical incompetence.

Any other solutions/tips I could try?

Thanks in advance

johnnysbabe

[wayner]

The :8080 after .com on the forum im trying to log onto does not work either? Phoned Sky who deny it is a problem their end, although in my experience it is Skys policy to never accept responsibility for problems regardless of whether the fault lies with them. Any idea's please, or do i just switch to Virgin.
Wayner.

[charliefarley]

Mar 20, 2010 23:15:14 GMT -8 wayner said:

The :8080 after .com on the forum im trying to log onto does not work either? Phoned Sky who deny it is a problem their end, although in my experience it is Skys policy to never accept responsibility for problems regardless of whether the fault lies with them. Any idea's please, or do i just switch to Virgin.
Wayner.

Sky always do that, I had a fault with my Mums broadband that carried on weeks, and I spoke to numerous people about it, and finally this woman comes on the phone, and she is so shocked that all the others couldnt see the solution...

But how do you call the help desk and say "hello is there a woman there"

She had an American accent, I really wish I had her name

[tanzaniterose]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one that's seeing this, I thought I was going mad. Thanks for the :8080, works for my forum.

[johnnysbabe]

Hi All

Just got off the phone to SKY!!
Incandescent is a pretty good description of my mood at the moment.

I was given the run around for a few minutes and then when I got through to the right person he told me that it would probably take 2 DAYS to put right - and that their engineers were working flat out on it - Yeah, right!!

I didnt take it out on him - after all the poor s*d's only there to answer my questions etc - it's not his fault. It was the blatant sugar-coating of the spiel that he gave me, that made me angry.

You know the sort of thing;

'Your custom is vitally important to us and our engineers are working flat out to rectify this problem'.

'We are not sure how this problem has come about - it is probably from the Proboard site - we at SKY aim to provide a first class service to our customers'.

Yet when I asked him why this problem had arisen he didn't have an answer for me, technical or otherwise!

Just thought I'd keep fellow sufferers with the latest on my experience.

I'm off to lie down in a darkened room now to calm down, lol!

[charliefarley]

Lol, they KNOW its them!
If it was proboards, then all the non-sky users would also have the problem!
I think its in their training "deny deny deny, then eventually fix"

I am just thankful that proboards has such caring staff that have made a workaround for now.... not that I am addicted to my computer, but I dont get to sit down much, and its so annoying when you do get to relax and you cant get into your site..

thanks again proboards

[stevie1]

It is so frustrating, i have just set up my new forum and advertised both it and proboards to all of my customers and friends and then it went down and now i cant see if anyone has written on it.
but i suppose it will be sorted eventually.
steve

[Dave L]

Well it's still not fixed but i did receive an email from Sky earlier today, and they acknowledge that it's at their end so no fob-off.

Unfortunately, no solution either, yet. Here it is:

Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre.

We are aware of this issue and are currently working on a permanent fix.At this moment in time we are unable to provide a timescale as to when this will be resolved.

Kind regards etc.
[name provided]

I did give them a link to the previous thread to this one.

[daisyprincess]

I have a horrible feeling they will not resolve the matter as quickly as I would like or if they do at all. I get an awful odd feeling we are not being told the truth and they know it is not a technical problem.

I have rang 5 times to Sky techno services and as others have mentioned, we get the same old spiel. It appears when I spoke to someone this morning they have blocked all portals with the 8080, as they are getting a lot of viruses and spam. They also mentioned the sites that are having problems as well are file sharing sites such as Rapidshare and megaupload. So are Sky blocking us before new legislations come in about file sharing where a provider can or will block sites but as I run a fan site, I don't see how they can band me under Radpidshare or any file sharing site. Which is grossly unfair.

I really do hope though, it is a technical problem, which is what they are saying and I will be able to log on to my fan site without any problems tomorrow, but if their techno guys are working around the clock to resolve this issue, why are most of us still unable to log on to our forums.

I have also emailed Easynet part of bskyb with a complaint as well.

Contact numbers.

London
Chancellor House
5 Thomas More Square
London
E1W 1YW
[e-mail]
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Location Map
Brick Lane
1 Brick Lane
London
E1 6PU
[e-mail]
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Location Map
Manchester
Easynet Manchester
1st floor, Digital World Centre, 1 Lowry Plaza, The Quays, Salford Quays
Manchester
M50 3UB
[e-mail]
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Location Map
Thames Valley
Easynet Slough
70 Buckingham Ave
Slough
SL1 4PN
[e-mail]
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
NRSWA: [phone]

[wildflower]

Hope it gets sorted soon as i too am tearing my hair out with frustration at it.

[artemisa]

Thank you to everyone here who is continuing to try and find a solution to this problem, as well as those who are sharing info. etc.

I really hope things get sorted soon. I've held off ringing Sky, because it's so expensive and from what most of you are saying, they are just fobbing people off.

I'm angry that they can just block sites, etc., with no warning.

I'm not at all computer savvy so would be lost without the assistance here. Many thanks again.

[daisyprincess]

I have now been informed, as I have telephoned Sky again, that ProBoards have allegedly been reported to the UK Government due to supporting file sharing sites more than any other.

Therefore Sky had instruction to block all these sites, including, unfortunately sites that have no connection to file sharing.

The outlook is that according to SKY, this situation is not going to change and blocks will allegedly not be lifted.

They are, however, looking to individual sites, like mine, so they can allow us to access our site and forum. That however, could take days.

That is what I was told today, I can only hope that tomorrow will be different.

SKY also said that they have acted first as they are the largest telecommunication and media provider.

[Martyn Dale]

So they have gone from "its not us" to "there might be a problem" to "it was intentional".

Do you have any information as to who said that? We are just a forum host and have nothing to do with filesharing.