As I write this, I'm having to go through a us-based open proxy server. The reason? Most of NTL's services seem to have died in the last half hour or so. In fact, it appears that other ISPs have also had their services affected. So what the hell is going on?
I can't find this in the news yet so I don't know. Instead, I'd like you to think about this: if the net were to completely stop working tomorrow, how badly would you be affected? We, as computer users, should know best of all how important it is to have a backup plan in case things go wrong (well at least one backup plan, but more is better)
In short, never rely totally on the net being available, because just when you need it most, it'll probably die for a bit.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
I've just gotten through to guardian.co.uk, not that it means anything since that is one of the few UK sites I check.
Didn't the UK just get flush toilets a few years ago? (this from friends of mine who were at Oxford, and my frustration at trying to reach them via email).
2 - jadester
yeah it seems (ed? haven't changed the proxy back yet...) to be just the ISPs themselves, rather than sites. Still strange
3 - chilin_dude
is it down AGAIN?
anyone got a dns server list?
4 - Oli Kingshott
There's a fat virus going around, taking out routers of dns servers. Most of Ntl, Aol, and some of BT is down.
5 - jadester
ah yeah, that was very annoying
6 - Martijn Brunott
Bulldog users in the south will notice both South assigned DNS Servers unavail.
(Primary: 83.146.21.5 / Alternate: 83.146.21.6)
Just use the North ones for now:
(Primary: 212.158.248.5/Alternate: 212.158.248.6)
or do what I did, set your primary to 83.146.21.5 and secondary to 212.158.248.5. That way you can rely on the secondary in a completely different location to try avoid this happening in future.
7 - Greg Z
Had the bulldog problem as well, and I verify that the proposed solution (northern dns servers) works.