[SOLVED] Issues Connecting to Some Websites via Cable Modem

[Boris_yo]

Hello,

I am non-US and have issues connecting to some websites through my ISP's cable modem, be it wired connection or wireless.

However I have no such issue connecting through my cellular provider's 4LTE internet.

• In both cases I tried connecting from smartphone and laptop through wireless connection and from desktop computer using wired connection.
• I also tried different browsers on Android smartphone, laptop and desktop
• Cleared cache and cookies
• Connected wireless router to cable modem and connected to internet through it. Tried different DNS servers: Cloudflare, Google, NextDNS and all to no avail

At worst case website loads too slow without displaying anything so I don't wait. At best case website loads but some elements are missing/not displayed. All that as long as it's through my ISP's cable modem.

Here is a link to an album of 3 screenshots.

On first screenshot is when I access the website through cellular operator's network and how it should be displayed.

On second screenshot is when I access the website through ISP's cable modem. It's missing elements like light-blue background and instead of warning sign icon shows text.

On third screenshot is when I access website through ISP's cable modem. It now shows light-blue background and warnibg sign icon but is still missing weather background and weather data.

 

[kanewolf]

Hello,

I am non-US and have issues connecting to some websites through my ISP's cable modem, be it wired connection or wireless.

However I have no such issue connecting through my cellular provider's 4LTE internet.

• In both cases I tried connecting from smartphone and laptop through wireless connection and from desktop computer using wired connection.
• I also tried different browsers on Android smartphone, laptop and desktop
• Cleared cache and cookies
• Connected wireless router to cable modem and connected to internet through it. Tried different DNS servers: Cloudflare, Google, NextDNS and all to no avail

At worst case website loads too slow without displaying anything so I don't wait. At best case website loads but some elements are missing/not displayed. All that as long as it's through my ISP's cable modem.

Here is a link to an album of 3 screenshots.

On first screenshot is when I access the website through cellular operator's network and how it should be displayed.

On second screenshot is when I access the website through ISP's cable modem. It's missing elements like light-blue background and instead of warning sign icon shows text.

On third screenshot is when I access website through ISP's cable modem. It now shows light-blue background and warnibg sign icon but is still missing weather background and weather data.

First thing to tweak is your DNS (name service) provider. If you are using your ISP name service, that could be the problem.
Use the Google NameBench -- https://code.google.com/archive/p/namebench/ to help find the best DNS server. You can try Google's servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 to start with.

 

[Boris_yo]

I already mentioned that I tried it.

 

[SamirD]

This is just normal with the type of Internet available in that part of the world with the 'take it or leave it' attitude that is what you get for customer service.

The technical answer is that they probably have some routing or backbone issues or are filtering/pilfering the traffic, but that's also out of your control.

 

[kanewolf]

I already mentioned that I tried it.

Your ISP may have a problem. Might be time to look for another.

 

[gggplaya]

Try disabling IPv6 on the router if you can. Just to see what happens.

 

[SamirD]

Your ISP may have a problem. Might be time to look for another.

Probably, and with the monopolies over in that part of the world, they're all usually acting shady like this. I have a trip over there next month and I've got 2 wired connections from two different companies that are supposed to be there and I have a backup with my roaming hotspot--it's like finding decent service in rural America, except with bad attitudes.

 

[SamirD]

Try disabling IPv6 on the router if you can. Just to see what happens.

Great idea! Hope this solves the issue for the OP!

 

[Boris_yo]

Probably, and with the monopolies over in that part of the world, they're all usually acting shady like this.

How do you know this?

 

[bill001g]

There are some ISP that force a overide into the DNS although it is not common. What they do is force all traffic no matter what IP to their DNS server. The newer encrypted DNS prevents this. This happens in a number of countries that try to restrict access so it is not just ISP.

There are a couple ways to test for this but I it is not worth discussing unless the OP comes back to this thread.

 

[SamirD]

How do you know this?

Have a good friend from there. Plus I've seen outside the US--things aren't as straightforward in many countries around the world as they are here.

 

[Boris_yo]

@bill001g I am still here. How to test if my ISP is forcing DNS and how to bypass this?

I released WAN lease through my cable modem and after getting new lease only received IPv4 while IPv6 has not been assigned. Nothing changed with access issues to aforementioned website. Restarted cable modem and was assigned IPv6. By the way, resetting cable modem to factory defaults didn't do anything.

 

[bill001g]

There are a couple of things you can try.

You can try a vpn service. It will likely fix the issues but you will not know why and there is a monthly cost.

You can try to change your dns to 1.1.1.1. I would do it directly in your PC rather than on the router. You can also set it inside of chrome. The newer versions of chrome and firefox use encrypted DNS. It is designed to prevent interception. There is a test page on cloudflare but sometimes it is confusing.

Although it can be spoofed by a ISP....more likely the government...the simple NSLOOKUP command can show you a lot.

Try NSLOOKUP on various sites. What is key to watch for is the name/ip of the DNS server. This should match your dns. You can also try the nslook up command with 1.1.1.1 and 4.2.2.2 etc on the end of the command line. This will show you if different dns servers work. Note browsers can override the DNS you use with internal settings so this is not always fool proof.

 

[Boris_yo]

@bill001g My cable modem does not allow setting DNS so I can only set DNS on device level.

Cloudflare DNS didn't do anything too. However I used free OpenVPN and website works. I tried through NL and US locations.

 

[bill001g]

If the problem is not a DNS issues then it is more likely a routing issue.

What this means is the ISP is having some issue connecting to other ISP. So traffic that needs to go via a path though those connections may have issues. This generally does not happen even on many smaller ISP but sometime there business reasons a ISP can not get good connections to all the other major ISP.

The only way to fix it is with a VPN. Do not use free vpn services. There really is no such thing as free ones. There are some that have very low data caps that are good for testing but for long term use you need to pay for it. Some of the so called free vpn services have been caught running bit coin miners on people machines.

I think it has been covered previously but check again that you have IPV6 disabled in your PC nic settings. Also ensure that you do not have any of the so called "gamer" qos acceleration software. This is many times packaged with the motherboard or some video cards.