Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
PeterT32
Enthusiast - Level 2

My problem:  I cannot access certain web sites from regular browsers on Android or linux some days.   

I just spent 45 wasted minutes on the phone with a Verizon tech support who didn't know that Android and linux are different operating systems than Windows.  When he couldn't think of a solution, even though I pointed out to him that only someone on their core network team could solve this problem and I was just trying to relay information, he said that the problem isn't on the Verizon network.  It's clear to me that Verizon *is* a key component of the problem.

More of an explanation of the problem:  For example, tonight, I tried accessing www.nytimes.com from my linux computer, Android tablet, and Android phone (connected through FIOS via wifi).  I tried firefox and chrome.  In all cases, all the browser did was sit there and say it was 'waiting' for the website--even 20 minutes later.  When I tried to connect to the website using my phone's data service, no problem.  When I tried accessing the website from my office computer (via remote desktop), no problem.  That computer is not on the Verizon network, but it runs linux and exactly the same software as my home computer.  When I try accessing the website from a Windows machine at home or my wife's Apple, no problem.  When I try accessing the website using a command line text web browser (links2) from my linux computer over fios, no problem (accept for trying to read graphical pages without any formatting).  When I try using a web proxy (polysolveproxy), no problem, except I don't know that I can trust the proxy for more sensitive traffic (e.g. financial info).

That's today.  Yesterday, I was able to access nytimes.com from all my machines at home.  This problem has been occurring sporadically for months now.  Today it's nytimes.com that won't load.  Other days, it's a particular credit card website.  Some days it's only the blogs at the nytimes that won't load, but the paper itself will load.  I've had AT&T, Comcast, and Clear over the years, but never had anything that remotely looks like this problem.  I did find another post by someone in 2012 who was having problems connecting to various websites using FIOS.  I guess Verizon isn't keen on fixing this.

I see no way to reach someone at Verizon who could actually help with this.  The proxy solution might work if I'm trying to read the newspaper (assuming the paper doesn't start blocking articles because I'm not logged in), but I worry about proxies for financial information.  Not sure that an intermediary couldn't hack the encryption.

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Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
Hubrisnxs
Legend

FWIW, I use Android on FiOS all day long and don't have any issues like you mention, Also with the gazillion android users  that are out there, I would have to say that if this were a fios specific issue related to android devices, then we would see a lot more in the android news blogs and in tech news in general. 

The same would be true for Linux users.  There are a number of Linux users out there, and they are a very tight nit community, and if all of them had the same problems with FiOS - then that would be pretty big news in those circles as well.

I would wager a majority of the people that have responded here, also use android, and haven't had much of an issue like this.    

IF it almost always works over a proxy, then you likely just have a case of bad routing. 

The next time it happens try this and see if it helps.

Step 1 Record your WAN IP address at a website like whatismyip.com 

Step 2  release your IP address

Access the Verizon router GUI
Click on MY NETWORK icon at the top.
Select NETWORK CONNECTIONS from the menu on the left.
Select BROADBAND CONNECTION (coax or ethernet) depending on your connection to the ONT.
Click SETTINGS
Click RELEASE
Click APPLY
Disconnect the router immediately to prevent it from re-requesting a DHCP lease.

Step 3 **important**  wait at least 5 - 10 minutes before connecting your router back up.

Step 4  Check to see if your subnet changed after reconnecting, visit whatismyip.com and verify.

report back to homebase after you try it 

View solution in original post

Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
ElizabethS
Moderator Emeritus

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Before the agent can begin assisting you, they will need to collect further information from you.

Please go to your profile page for the forum, and look in the middle, right at the top where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases". You can reach your profile page by clicking on your name beside your post, or at the top left of this page underneath the title of the board.

Under “My Support Cases” you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions.

To ensure you know when they have responded to you, at the top of your support case there is a drop down menu for support case options. Open that and choose "subscribe".

Please keep all correspondence regarding your issue in the private support portal.

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Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
PJL
Master - Level 3

I'm opening this new thread because Verizon locks a thread when the issue is "escalated."  This is a reply to PeterT32.

What DNS are you using for you Linux computer?  My experience is that Android devices use the Google DNS servers by default (like 8.8.8.8).  I set my Android devices to use the Actiontec router (in the show advaced options settings for connecting to a WiFi network).  The issues may have been routing related based on DNS.  I've seen  this before with the default Android DNS which is why I've changed it to use the Actiontec router (which, of course uses the Veizon DNS).  I've also had better success with other DNS services than Google's. 

I could be wrong, but this is my experience.

Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

I agree.  From the OP's description, this looks to be a Linux / Android configuration issue, not a FiOS problem.

With the outages yesterday, access to non-Verizon DNSs may have been limited.

Hopefully the OP will see this thread and join in so we can help them.

Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
PeterT32
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks PJL!  Interesting idea.  I've never set the DNS and I believe the linux machine uses some dynamic DNS setup that responds to its environment.  nm-tool reports my DNS as my Verizon wifi router, which suggests a Verizon DNS is being used.  If that doesn't sound correct, let me know if you know of a better way to look that info up.

The other thing is, if this were a DNS issue, I'm not sure how I can access the nytimes.com website with a command line textual web browser (links2) from the same machine that cannot load the GUI.  I can also run a traceroute that terminates at a nytimes.com server.  I seem to be able to get to the website, but am unable to download the web page to a normal GUI web browser.

Peter

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Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
Hubrisnxs
Legend

When you can command line to a web url but can't display it in a web gui, then that always equals either a corrupt browser or malformed configuration.

Any ISP that you get, doesn't affect you or your PC's at a layer 4 or higher level.  They just give you layers 1-3, so physical connection, upto TCP/IP  

anything beyond that is all software and configurations.

the fact that you can telnet trace and ping to these sites, but not access the sites, points more to a software or config problem.

Try the alternate DNS's,  There is more to DNS than translating IP's to URL's, there can also be an impact to your routing based on what DNS server you are using, and changing from one DNS to another might avoid bad routing that could be the real culprit.

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Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
Hubrisnxs
Legend

FWIW, I use Android on FiOS all day long and don't have any issues like you mention, Also with the gazillion android users  that are out there, I would have to say that if this were a fios specific issue related to android devices, then we would see a lot more in the android news blogs and in tech news in general. 

The same would be true for Linux users.  There are a number of Linux users out there, and they are a very tight nit community, and if all of them had the same problems with FiOS - then that would be pretty big news in those circles as well.

I would wager a majority of the people that have responded here, also use android, and haven't had much of an issue like this.    

IF it almost always works over a proxy, then you likely just have a case of bad routing. 

The next time it happens try this and see if it helps.

Step 1 Record your WAN IP address at a website like whatismyip.com 

Step 2  release your IP address

Access the Verizon router GUI
Click on MY NETWORK icon at the top.
Select NETWORK CONNECTIONS from the menu on the left.
Select BROADBAND CONNECTION (coax or ethernet) depending on your connection to the ONT.
Click SETTINGS
Click RELEASE
Click APPLY
Disconnect the router immediately to prevent it from re-requesting a DHCP lease.

Step 3 **important**  wait at least 5 - 10 minutes before connecting your router back up.

Step 4  Check to see if your subnet changed after reconnecting, visit whatismyip.com and verify.

report back to homebase after you try it 

Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
PeterT32
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks Hubrisnxs:  I'll give that a try when I run into this again (hasn't happened for a bit, sometimes go a week or two before it happens again).

If I'm using the default Verizon DNS server and am having problems w/ Android / linux, I'm wondering how others aren't having the same issue.  Maybe I'm at some strange place where only I am having the problem.  Could be others are not regularly visiting websites that trigger the problem, that the problem is so irregular that they just think the website is having problems (I didn't recognize this problem for months, I'm still not sure whether CBS is one of the sites I can't reach some evenings because of this problem or not), or they recognize there's a problem but don't have the time or resources (including multiple OS's, remote desktop access, etc.) to run experiments to see whether FiOS is a necessary ingredient of the problem.

Peter

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Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
PeterT32
Enthusiast - Level 2
Hubrisnxs:  Looks like nytimes.com is blinking out on me quite a bit this week, and did so again tonight.  I followed your instructions (thanks for all the details).  And, I was then able to connect to the website.  So, getting a new ipaddress did seem to have an effect, though I'd like to try this a couple more times to be sure (I'll let you know!)--the problem does go away on its own, though I'm not sure how long this takes.  This is helpful as a trick to regain access to websites, such as a credit card website that also seems affected.  On the other hand, it's time consuming and I've been having outages of websites almost every day this week.  Given that I seem to be using a Verizon DNS server, whatever is going wrong is still within the Verizon system and they should fix it rather than my paying money to have to do somersaults to get around problems with their system.
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Re: Android and Linux cannot connect to certain web pages some of the time
PeterT32
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hubrisnxs:  My access to the nytimes from a gui browser was off for two days.  I followed your procedure, with only a brief shutdown of the modem, and I got the nytimes again, so you have identified a solution to the problem.  Many thanks!

This will be helpful when I badly need to connect to, say, a credit card website.  On the other hand, it's not a practical solution for access to websites I visit frequently.  My Verizon wifi modem is in another room from my computer (only practical setup in this house), so the only way I can release the lease and immediately turn off the modem is to use my tablet, which means a time-consuming process of using that, waiting a while for the lease to really die, and then listening to my wife getting upset because she's perpetually online and I just broke her connection.

Someone mentioned trying a different DNS server.  Anyone have tips on how to set that up & identifying a server that both works and I can trust?

Thanks again,

Peter

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