Access problem . . .

[Ray]

Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with computers it is
this: Almost without exception I am unable to access any Gannett newspaper.
Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100 or so papers, there seems to
be an attempt, and then just a stall. I can get a connection no more than a
tenth of my attempts.

I've contacted Gannett and they insist there's nothing wrong with their
service. They say I'm the only one who has complained about the problem.
They think the problem is with Verizon DSL.

And this suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that when I try to
access the page through AOL dial-up which I have on my laptops. The problem
occurs only when I attempt to access Gannet through my Verizon DSL in
Baltimore.

Here is the link to one of Gannett's newspapers -- this one is in Rochester,
but it makes no difference what Gannett paper I try to access in any city, I
get the same result -- a stall.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

If others who use Verizon DSL in other cities have the same problem I have,
then it's a Verizon-wide problem. If not, it's Verizon in Baltimore.

Any feedback appreciated.

[John Dulak]

Post by Ray
Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with computers it is
this: Almost without exception I am unable to access any Gannett newspaper.
Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100 or so papers, there seems to
be an attempt, and then just a stall. I can get a connection no more than a
tenth of my attempts.
I've contacted Gannett and they insist there's nothing wrong with their
service. They say I'm the only one who has complained about the problem.
They think the problem is with Verizon DSL.
And this suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that when I try to
access the page through AOL dial-up which I have on my laptops. The problem
occurs only when I attempt to access Gannet through my Verizon DSL in
Baltimore.
Here is the link to one of Gannett's newspapers -- this one is in Rochester,
but it makes no difference what Gannett paper I try to access in any city, I
get the same result -- a stall.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
If others who use Verizon DSL in other cities have the same problem I have,
then it's a Verizon-wide problem. If not, it's Verizon in Baltimore.
Any feedback appreciated.

Ray:

That page works for me in Pittsburgh PA though it takes a looong time
to load in both Firefox and IE. I suspect it is loading all kinds of
"Active X" content or other such useless rubbish. I've noticed a
slowdown in:

http://finance.yahoo.com/

as well for that reason.

John

[Bit Twister]

Post by Ray
Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with computers it is
this: Almost without exception I am unable to access any Gannett newspaper.
Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100 or so papers, there seems to
be an attempt, and then just a stall. I can get a connection no more than a
tenth of my attempts.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Snapped right up for me from Dallas Tx running Firefox Beta 3 rc5.
Then again I have NoScript Add On installed to block java and I have
privoxy proxy installed to block ads and whatnot.

Fired up another account without NoScript and privoxy and it takes
about 8 seconds to finish downloading a bunch more junk on a 15/2 Fios
connection.

http://www.privoxy.org/

If you want to play with it, you can get my privoxy rules from my
Mandriva Linux install instructions found here
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.os.linux.mandriva/msg/a76245f3f5fab041
with a bunch of sites already added to +block in user.action.
You may want to add your router's ip under { +block } to prevent malware
cracks of your router while surfing.

A more extensive action file found here
http://www.neilvandyke.org/privoxy-rules/

Adding NoScript Add On to firefox http://noscript.net/getit
It's Options --> Advanced Untrusted
lets you set a few restrictions for Untrusted Sites.
I have all boxes checked for Untrusted sites.

[n***@sysadmininc.com]

Post by Bit Twister
Fired up another account without NoScript and privoxy and it takes
about 8 seconds to finish downloading a bunch more junk on a 15/2 Fios
connection.

I also have NoScript and it took about 3 seconds on 15/2 FiOS for me
here in Plano.

[Bit Twister]

Post by n***@sysadmininc.com

Post by Bit Twister
Fired up another account without NoScript and privoxy and it takes
about 8 seconds to finish downloading a bunch more junk on a 15/2 Fios
connection.

I also have NoScript and it took about 3 seconds on 15/2 FiOS for me
here in Plano.

So your two extra seconds were because of no ad blocking.

Black hats have been cracking ad servers to serv up malware
and using the browser to hack into the modem via Universal Plug and Play.

Even though I disabled Universal Plug and Play in the modem. I also
told provoxy to block access to 192.1.1.1 plus a bunch of ad sites.

Since then only, http://www.news.com/ has been the only site giving
me a hard time about viewing their Photo Galleries.

[Geoff]

Post by Ray
Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with computers it is
this: Almost without exception I am unable to access any Gannett newspaper.
Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100 or so papers, there seems to
be an attempt, and then just a stall. I can get a connection no more than a
tenth of my attempts.
I've contacted Gannett and they insist there's nothing wrong with their
service. They say I'm the only one who has complained about the problem.
They think the problem is with Verizon DSL.
And this suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that when I try to
access the page through AOL dial-up which I have on my laptops. The problem
occurs only when I attempt to access Gannet through my Verizon DSL in
Baltimore.
Here is the link to one of Gannett's newspapers -- this one is in Rochester,
but it makes no difference what Gannett paper I try to access in any city, I
get the same result -- a stall.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
If others who use Verizon DSL in other cities have the same problem I have,
then it's a Verizon-wide problem. If not, it's Verizon in Baltimore.
Any feedback appreciated.

Loads OK from So. California using IE7 and Opera 9.26. It does pull in
a huge amount of stuff from all kinds of places with all the
advertising, images and banners. Looking at the connected sites via
TCPView (or netstat -an in cmd prompt) gives us a picture of all the
hosts it makes you connect with just for a single page load.

This is a snapshot AFTER it settled down. There were at least a dozen
other connections established and closed as the page loaded, all to
the same sites before the list stabilized enough to snap this. Doing
netstat -an in a command prompt would be easier for this purpose.

Lots of Javascript to execute in the page too. If you have certain
anti-virus products scanning those scripts it could cause fatal
delays. Lots of variables involved.

Try pinging the IP's in these lists and see if any of them don't
respond properly, it may indicate a problem reaching them. Note: Some
sites and networks block ping frames so lack of ping is not
necessarily unconnectable on TCP:80.

At any rate, it loads fine even if it's a huge and messy first page.
As usual, newspapers and media outlets jam it all into the initial
page with the notion that they have something called "content". :)

iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.235.16:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.235.16:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.235.1:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.235.1:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.49.29.26:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.49.29.26:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.227.202:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.229.79:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 77.67.127.43:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.49.29.34:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 77.67.127.43:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 77.67.127.43:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 77.67.127.43:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 72.47.198.61:80 CLOSE_WAIT
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 72.47.198.61:80 CLOSE_WAIT
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 208.79.64.145:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.49.29.40:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.49.29.41:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 65.49.29.41:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 216.52.17.134:80 ESTABLISHED
iexplore.exe:2344 TCP 159.54.235.26:80 ESTABLISHED

Opera.exe:864 TCP 159.54.235.16:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 159.54.235.16:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 159.54.227.202:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.50:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.50:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.50:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.50:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 159.54.229.79:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.67:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.67:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 209.18.37.91:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 216.52.17.134:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED
Opera.exe:864 TCP 65.88.238.212:80 ESTABLISHED

[Han]

Post by Ray
Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with computers
it is this: Almost without exception I am unable to access any Gannett
newspaper. Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100 or so papers,
there seems to be an attempt, and then just a stall. I can get a
connection no more than a tenth of my attempts.
I've contacted Gannett and they insist there's nothing wrong with
their service. They say I'm the only one who has complained about the
problem. They think the problem is with Verizon DSL.
And this suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that when I try to
access the page through AOL dial-up which I have on my laptops. The
problem occurs only when I attempt to access Gannet through my Verizon
DSL in Baltimore.
Here is the link to one of Gannett's newspapers -- this one is in
Rochester, but it makes no difference what Gannett paper I try to
access in any city, I get the same result -- a stall.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
If others who use Verizon DSL in other cities have the same problem I
have, then it's a Verizon-wide problem. If not, it's Verizon in
Baltimore.
Any feedback appreciated.

Fios, slow Vista Home basic laptop (Acer 3680), Bergen County, NJ. Using
Firefox with some adblocker addon.
Page snapped right up, some "content" came in a bit slow, but basically
it was as instantaneous as just about anything.

[Twayne]

Post by Ray
Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with
computers it is this: Almost without exception I am unable to access
any Gannett newspaper. Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100
or so papers, there seems to be an attempt, and then just a stall. I
can get a connection no more than a tenth of my attempts.
I've contacted Gannett and they insist there's nothing wrong with
their service. They say I'm the only one who has complained about the
problem. They think the problem is with Verizon DSL.
And this suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that when I try to
access the page through AOL dial-up which I have on my laptops. The
problem occurs only when I attempt to access Gannet through my
Verizon DSL in Baltimore.
Here is the link to one of Gannett's newspapers -- this one is in
Rochester, but it makes no difference what Gannett paper I try to
access in any city, I get the same result -- a stall.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
If others who use Verizon DSL in other cities have the same problem I
have, then it's a Verizon-wide problem. If not, it's Verizon in
Baltimore.
Any feedback appreciated.

20 Seconds from link-click to page filled, quite a bit longer before ALL
loading completed (it's a busy page)(server was pausing a lot), maybe
about 32 seconds for it to give a "Done with Errors", no signs of
phishing, no probes, 3 identifiable cookies.

XP Pro SP2+, IE7, OE6, Verizon East Syracuse, NY pool, northeastern US
and 768KB DSL on copper, abt 0.9 mi from Central Office. Rochester is
about 300 miles away; didn't trace or anything since all seems to work
OK.

So ... seems to be working fine albeit the server pauses a lot as it
keeps feeding more and more to the page, but nothing awkward IMO.
Perhaps your settings are burping on the page errors, whatever they are?

[MLD]

Post by Ray
Of all the mysterious problems I have ever encountered with computers it
is this: Almost without exception I am unable to access any Gannett
newspaper. Whenever I attempt to access one of these 100 or so papers,
there seems to be an attempt, and then just a stall. I can get a
connection no more than a tenth of my attempts.
I've contacted Gannett and they insist there's nothing wrong with their
service. They say I'm the only one who has complained about the problem.
They think the problem is with Verizon DSL.
And this suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that when I try to
access the page through AOL dial-up which I have on my laptops. The
problem occurs only when I attempt to access Gannet through my Verizon DSL
in Baltimore.
Here is the link to one of Gannett's newspapers -- this one is in
Rochester, but it makes no difference what Gannett paper I try to access
in any city, I get the same result -- a stall.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
If others who use Verizon DSL in other cities have the same problem I
have, then it's a Verizon-wide problem. If not, it's Verizon in Baltimore.
Any feedback appreciated.

Not a problem for me---based on some of the other responses, you probably
should start to look elsewhere.
MLD