Now what do I do? Move?
I have been fighting with a computer problem for the last three weeks. On frequent occasion - I can not access my website(s) nor get my email.
At first, I thought my web host was having problems, as I could access other websites - just not any on that server (including my web host’s). I began searching for another host, as I had outgrown my space allocation, and knew I needed to find a reasonable host with more space at a reasonable cost.
My current host claimed that the server was up, and could not see any reason why my sites weren’t coming up for me. They felt that the problem with with my Internet Service Provider (ISP) known to many as Comcast.
After several calls to Comcast, they were sure it had to be my Vonage router. When we took the router out of the path - I did regain access. Unbeknownst to us at the time… that was just a coincidence of time.
Vonage, like many other Internet companies, has several layers of technical support that you are required to go through - and each one has you perform the same acts that the technician before had requested. Most annoying is having to repeat your name, address, etc., as they pass you from tech to tech. Shouldn’t this stuff be automated?
On one occasion, the third level tech did reprogram my router with additional ports and voila! - my sites were back up on all computers. At that point, we thought we had tamed the beast… but alas, we were wrong.
When I called Vonage back, I got up their top-level tech support - the uber-geek. He quickly determined that Vonage will ship me a new router - ASAP.
Well last weekend, I started to notice a pattern to the problem. It seems that I could access my websites and email until I was trying to backup my website through FTP. While the FTP was happening, I would lose the connection and thus access to any of my sites on the server - including my email.
I had been so busy the last couple of weeks, building new single property websites for my new featured listings, that I was starting to lose sleep over it. I had to upload these websites when I could - as much as I could - ’til I was shut down… over and over again.
Since it was the weekend, I removed the Vonage router and network switches from my network and wired straight into my production computer. That’s when I realized that Vonage wasn’t the problem.
At this point, I was convinced it HAD to be my web host. I traced the path back to their servers with the Comcast techs, and Comcast assured me that since we could see the packet traffic leave the Comcast network, it was not their fault. And since we could see the route all the way back to my host - who else could it be?
So I signed up with my new web host, hostmonster, and now have 200 times as much storage space - at less than half the cost of my existing host! That’s right - I went from 1500MB of space costing me $160 a year, to 300,000MB (300Gigs) for $142 for two years! What an unbelievable deal!
So I began to build the new website under the domain BrokersFirstRealty.net and figured I would simply move the database from the old host to the new host once I had the site built.
Boy, was I wrong
Not being an uber-geek, I didn’t realize that this was not possible in the way that I was doing it. Well, maybe it was - with someone else doing it… but I digress.
If you’re thinking of doing your own blog, you might want to consider letting Jim Cronin from the Real Estate Tomato or Mary McKnight of RSS Pieces do it for you.
I needed to - once again - update my blogging platform. This is part and parcel of managing your own blog, unless you let somebody like Jim and Mary handle it for you.
The problem is that I couldn’t be sure that my files were properly backed up. They should be, as I keep on copy on the local machine before I upload it to the web… but I was trying to be sure - and, unfortunately, that process keeps knocking off the server.
At this point I was very angry with the old host, as I had spent waaaaay too many hours messing with this website stuff. After all - I’m a real estate broker, not an IT guru.
So I took the plunge and updated my WordPress platform without a backup… keeping my fingers crossed that all my customizations would work once the site was updated. For the most part, everything went well, and with the new version I was able to export my posts and comments to the new website.
It’s not over ’til the fat lady sings
And she ain’t singing, yet!
I moved a few of my websites over to the new host, satisfied with the setup - and happy that I wasn’t having connection issues with them.
I then logged into Network Solutions, who is my registrar for BrokersFirstRealty.com. to change the DNS settings so that the Internet routers would point to my new webhost. This should have been the last part of the solution to this problem.
Boy, was I wrong
[rant on] I have been with Network Solutions for 10 years. I have always been satisfied with their services as a registrar with only one exception - they charge too much money. I finally got wise and signed up with GoDaddy, as their price and service can’t be beat.
So I log into my account at Network Solutions, and perform the familiar ritual of changing the Nameservers to my new host. After all, I had done this with a few of my other sites, and it was simple, easy and quick. Not anymore. Now, Network Solutions wants the DNS to point to their servers for 48 hours first - then you can log in and change them to another server.
What??!! I have to point my domain to a server where my web pages do NOT reside - for 48 hours??!! You’ve gotta be kidding me!
Network Solutions - I’ve got your solution
I logged into GoDaddy to request a transfer of three more of my domains from Network Solutions to GoDaddy. Now in the past, this has been an easy process… but maybe Network Solutions hired somebody from AOL or GirlsGoneWild to handle transfers and cancellations, as I was not getting my familiar transfer authorization emails.
So I called Network Solutions, and had to tell them to send my the authorization emails (which they did) and naturally they wanted to know why I was leaving - which I was happy to tell them. "But we can offer you registration as low as $14.99!" the account rep tells me. "How many years do I have to register for to get that price?" I asked. "Ten" was his reply.
For the record, GoDaddy charges $8.99 a year for a one year registration… much better than the $35.00 that Network Solutions charges. I should’ve signed up with GoDaddy years ago.
I also told the Network Solutions rep that this new procedure of requiring the DNS to point to their servers for 48 hours was ridiculous - and that, alone, would be reason enough to leave Network Solutions.[rant off]
I wish this was the end of my problems
Because it’s not. I was still working with my old web host to resolve the connection issue - and he told me that this problem has occurred before… with Comcast customers. At first, I figured that he was playing the blame game, but maybe he’s onto something.
On Thursday, I couldn’t access my websites on the new host.
Hmm… let’s see… changed Vonage routers… changed web hosts… still have the problem
I figured it wouldn’t hurt to call hostmonster. I’ve called them in the past to ask technical questions, and they never kept me on hold and walked me through the answer very quickly. The rep wrote up a report, and a network engineer sent me an email within a few hours.
"We have gotten a few complaints from Comcast customers, it appears that Comcast has blocked traffic to our service from your customers on port 80. You will need to talk to Comcast about this issue." his email read.
Now that’s BOTH web hosts - with servers located in different parts of the country - saying the same thing.
So I called a friend of mine who lives 30 miles away - and is also a Comcast subscriber. He couldn’t access my website, either. I also found another website hosted on a Yahoo server (Todd Carpenter’s Mariah.com) that we could not pull up.
The source of the problem is found
After two long weeks of working on this problem - in addition to my work in real estate - I am exhausted. I haven’t been able to blog, as I have been too busy trying to resolve these issues.
Now the ball is in Comcast’s court. I sincerely hope they find a solution to this problem very soon, as they have a large portion of the Atlanta area under their service umbrella.
On The Web, Rants, Technology | 5 Comments »
