COMCAST!!

[Ralph Jones]

Yeah, the stemmons.tx server is 68.86.89.206 and it can't get to 23.30.207.150 which doesn't return a name. nslookup says 23.30.207.150 is a nonexistent domain. Routing table error?

[Russell Holton]

Next time it fails, bring up a command window (i.e., type cmd in the Windows search bar) and type tracert -4 dev.avsig.com. The last URL it goes to before it fails will likely have 1950stemmons.tx in it. That will be the name of the server where we're blocked.

That's not how it shows for me. I didn't use the -4, but the last several hops did't return a name, just an IP.

I'm suspecting that something is claiming to be able to route to that IP address, but can't. That causes traffic to go down a dead-end road.

[Dave Siciliano]

Sorry to hear this folks. I don’t use Comcast. So that I could identify, I called Sprint today to upgrade my phone );

[Ralph Jones]

Next time it fails, bring up a command window (i.e., type cmd in the Windows search bar) and type tracert -4 dev.avsig.com. The last URL it goes to before it fails will likely have 1950stemmons.tx in it. That will be the name of the server where we're blocked.

[Jeff Hartmann]

Mine is still good...(?)

[Ray Tackett]

Comcast is definitely messing with it. Fortunately, I also have a VPN provider. Coming to you right now via a VPN endpoint in Outer Nowhere, NM. Can't get through via Comcast.

[Russell Holton]

It worked for awhile, and now it's dead again.

Getting in via my phone.

[Jeff Hartmann]

I was down for maybe...3 days? good now. I thought it was an update to Avsig...(Xfinity, comcast)

[Ray Tackett]

I had thought that Mike was having serious trouble. My ISP is Comcast. Anyhow, I'm back and making a few waves.

[Russell Holton]

Well, it works now....

I'll have to wait for it to break again.

[Ralph Jones]

Try running tracert -4 dev.avsig.com and see what you get.

[Russell Holton]

Oh, so I'm not the only one. I can access dev.avsig.com from home, but not work. I assumed it was a filter that got added. Maybe not.

No Comcast in my state.

[Ralph Jones]

I'm thinking some nasty thoughts about Comcast. Yeah, I know, who doesn't, but this is a biggie and it has a potential impact on Avsig.
After the recent rebuild of Avsig in the aftermath of an attack, I lost access to it. Here are the symptoms:

--aero-farm.com is accessible, and I can select anything from the blue Welcome page except the Forum.
--Trying to go to the forum ends in a "Connection timed out." Trying to go directly to dev.avsig.com produces the same result. A traceroute is attached.
--Once in a great while, the forum comes back for a few hours, then is gone again.
--Same problem exists on every machine on my router, including a Linux box which I had never used for this purpose.
--Forum is perfectly accessible on my cell or my wife's office machine.

OK, so far everything points to my router or cable modem. Naturally rebooted them, no result. So I walked into the Cave of Despair and called Comcast Support. Naturally I got an AI whose job is to keep the customers away from the human agents. It started actively trying to annoy me right away by making keyboard typing noises to pretend it was human. Eewww.

The human I finally got wouldn't stop being obsequious, prefacing every comment with praise for being a customer so long or regrets at causing me trouble. It took me half an hour to cajole her into actually trying to access dev.avsig.com herself, and I was vindicated when she couldn't. So something is blocking Comcast personnel from getting to Avsig. The traceroute suggests that it's a server in Texas.

Eventually she agreed to escalate (they must be powerfully motivated not to do that!), and said I'd hear back in an hour. That was three days ago.

So I tried the phone again, and this time got an agent in a different geographical area, and he was able to access the forum. So something is affecting some Comcast servers and not others. He had no idea what to do, and blew me off.

Next I did some searching online, and found I'm not alone: multiple people have precisely the same problem, each on a different website but always just one. Here are two, found on Comcast's own support forum, which means they presumably know about it:

https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/Your-H...e/td-p/3340837
https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/Xfinit...e/td-p/3305727

So here I am accessing the forum by way of a VPN. I'll see if Comcast ever gets back to me. Meanwhile, it worries me that other people may be locked out.