Site loading issues (random timeouts)

[angerfist122]

Hey,

So recently, I have been noticing a rather strange issue with my connection. While browsing, I would randomly have issues loading some websites. It'll take a while to load and then fail. When it fails, Chrome displays an ERR_TIMED_OUT message. The page then tries to reload and sometimes manages to. Once it loads, it tends to work OK. 

If I try to access the same site again later on, the issue may repeat. This particular problem is affecting some websites. Sites like Reddit and YouTube aren't having this problem. I have been using them without getting any ERR_TIMED_OUT errors. 

I haven't bothered doing much troubleshooting until today. Due to the infrequent nature of the issue, I thought spending time troubleshooting wouldn't get me anywhere. However, today I decided to do some digging. I found some sites that I can regularly reproduce the error on.

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/index.html

 http://allrecipes.co.uk 

https://www.luciawinebar.co.uk/ 

Those are some of the websites that regularly time out. There are others. Other websites, like Reddit and YouTube are not timing out at the same time. I always do a check when a timeout occurs on a website, it's only that specific site that does it. I can watch YouTube and load Reddit pages fine while the problematic page tries to load.

I originally thought this might be a Chrome-only issue. I found it today that this is not the case. The error also occurs on Firefox. Thinking it might be my PC, I tried on both my laptop and smartphone. The errors are present there too. This rules out an issue with my specific PC. My PC connects via Ethernet. I thought maybe it's a dying Ethernet cable or a driver issue. Since it happens on other Wi-Fi enabled devices, it's unlikely to be my Ethernet cable or drivers.

After determining it's not Chrome and that I am able to reproduce this error a lot quicker than I initially thought, I decided to try putting those sites through a VPN (Browsec Firefox extension) set to the UK. The problematic sites never time out. Once I turn the VPN off and try to reload them, they regularly start timing out again.

Anyone have any idea what the issue is here? My speed and ping are fine. Not all websites are affected. Setting my browser to run through a VPN stops the frequent timeouts on affected websites. I'm guessing this is an ISP-specific problem. How do you report this to Sky? Since speed checks turn out fine and my router syncs correctly at the right speed, I am thinking it might be difficult to get them to look at the issue.

A router reboot probably won't help either. I see from my router statistics that the router rebooted 67 hours ago. I've had this issue longer than this. 

Appreciate any input on this. 

[Chrisee]

@angerfist122 the issue you report sounds to be caused by Sky's DNS system having a bad day. If you dont know DNS is the system like directory enquiries that looks up the IP address of the site you want to access. Apps like You Tube have the IP addresses already so dont use the DNS system. 

Several workrounds firstly you can set any device to override the default DNS setting by entering an alternative in their network set up for the Sky connection loads to choose from Google's is pretty good the addresses are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Next you can often avoid the issue by simply powering down your hub for a few minutes and then re-starting it which forces a change to your public IP address and connection at Sky's end avoiding the dodgy unit causing the issue. Using a VPN also works although VPN providers can have DNS issues as well.

The only issue is if you use Sky's parental control apps as both need use of Sky's own DNS system.

[angerfist122]

I thought DNS as well, but then I remembered my main PC (that's wired via Ethernet) has already been configured to use the 1.1.1.1 DNS. Running ipconfig/all on CMD says I am using the CloudFlare DNS. I set it to that ages ago. 

My other devices are, of course, still using Sky's DNS server. The issue exists on both the 1.1.1.1 DNS and Sky's. I think that rules out DNS.

I haven't tried powering off the router for a few minutes though. I might try that to see if that helps. The router rebooted several days ago, so I thought maybe it already grabbed a new IP. 

[angerfist122]

Turned off router for 5 minutes and then switched it back on. I haven't been able to reproduce the issue since. I guess it was just some odd glitch that needed a complete power off to fix.