CAN NOT ACCESS THE VODAFONE WEBSITE

[JamesL]

To the eForum Tech Team or anyone else who can help

I do not understand why I can not access the vodafone website using my BT home hub but can using my vodafone prepay dongle?

I mean it can not be my computer that is at fault or the Internet connection I am receiving because if that was the case then I could not access any website at all regardless of whether I was using my BT home hub or my vodafone prepay dongle or anything else that I could use to connect to the Internet but this is just not the case as the only problem I am receiving is from www.vodafone.co.uk although like I said before I can still access this from my vodafone dongle but only the dongle and since I used to be able to access the website two or three weeks ago from my BT home Hub why I can not do it now is a real puzzel to me that I hope anyone who reads this can answer?

JamesL

[kitzer]

Talking to myself here, trying not to spam, but wanting to update the thread.

I have been repeatedly assured that the problem is with the vodafone website and the engineer is working to fix it. I have been promised in 2 hours that I will be able to log into my account.

Ive spent hours now with livechat. Someone reset my account yesterday and I had to go through that process all again which of course didnt work. Anyhow I will give them 2 hours and see if they fulfill their promise.. or whether Ive been fobbed off again. I was also promised something else and I shall see if that materialises too.

Ive been with vodafone since 1996, if I cant access my account then I will just have to go elsewhere to get a new phone

[JamesL]

YES Kitzer I agree with everything you have said 100% as I have also been with Vodafone since 1996 (on a pay monthly basis) although unlike you I can still access the website from prepay dongle but then that is not the point is it? Because not every has a dongle (regarless whether it be prepay or contract) that they can use to access the internet and it therefore follows if you can not access the website then you can not get into your account and if you can not get into your account then that beggs the question is it worh being a Vodafone customer especially when there is at least four other networks to choose from in the united kingdom?

JamesL

[kitzer]

As expected 12 oclock came and went and no resolution. The promises never happened. Nor did the promise to manually email me some information that I couldn't access.

Now I am furious. I have spent ages on the phone jumping through hoops, keep doing the same things over and over. Finally I was passed to technical support who insisted on resetting my account again (its now been done about a dozen times). Then I get told to go through and clear my internet history and cache AGAIN. Then I get cut off and now Im back to the end of the queue again.

This is dreadful service - I am not stupid. I have done WAY more troubleshooting than the average person could ever do.

@JamesL. Interesting that we have both been with vodafone since 1996. Out of interest though

1) Who is your ISP
2) Do you have a static IP

----
More info

I have just finally spoke with someone else. This is a vodafone issue that is affecting only a few accounts of which they are aware. Ive been told it will take 5-7 days for them to resolve my account.

They are aware that I have been lied to - blatently lied to by 2 separate members of their staff - they have a record of the logs and a complaint will be made.

ATM I have lost all faith in Vodafone and I am not renewing my contract with them like I originally intended. If they can resolve this then I may consider staying with them. But if they cant sort it then there are other providers out there and I will be requesting my PUK. PAC.

[drey_p]

---

@kitzer wrote:

I will be requesting my PUK.

---

Have you blocked your SIM card by entering the SIM PIN incorrectly too many times?  If so , you need a PUK to unblock the SIM.

If you're wanting to port your number to another network, (which is what I assume you mean) you need to make sure you ask for your PAC.

If you ask for the wrong one - it could cause you issues trying to port your number to another provider.

[kitzer]

Apologies drey that was a typo on my part.   I did know it was PAC (similar to MAC for DSL migration) but I had a brain fart whilst typing the above post.

Blame lack of sleep because of the texts which Vodaphone sent at silly o'clock... or just me getting older.

I have just had a call back from Vodafone to confirm that I am one of those caught up in this issue and then a text which says:

 We are confirming that your issue with the online account have {sic} been escalated and it should be resolved in working days between 5 to 7 days.

ETA
One thing that does concern me though is how this can apparently be account related rather than transit.   Someone else's account was sorted by a change of IP  (Laughable story I was told by one Vodafone rep today that they can change my IP for me ---  ermm  ok so they can control my ISP details?)   Unfortunately I cant test on another IP atm as I cant go anywhere as I have a broken foot, but I can access via my vodafone mobile data plan - I just dont like doing it that way as my S4 mini isnt the best for viewing anything and why I was thinking of upgrading to a larger screen phone.    Or rather I could access it until they reset my account that many times I now cant get any of the passwords to work and now it says my username is invalid  

[drey_p]

---

@kitzer wrote:

Apologies drey that was a typo on my part.   I did know it was PAC (similar to MAC for DSL migration) but I had a brain fart whilst typing the above post.

---

No probs - I just wanted to make sure you were asking for the right one!

[kitzer]

I have a horrible feeling this is not going to be fixed for me next week either.
A friend of mine called me last night and I was telling her why I wasnt upgrading my phone and she said her bf was also having the same issue and for the past few weeks had not been able to access his account either. Sick of being passed around from pillar to post for the past 2 weeks he requested his PAC yesterday and is going to O2 because of vodafones consant 'clear cookies' etc. Ironically he also had been with vodafone since 1996. Vodafone have now screwed with my account so I cant even access it via data plan, but I think that is a separate issue in that they messed around with my account so much it is now completely broken. I am also annoyed to lose my username associated with that account.  I think this is what will be fixed next week and not the underlying issue with the website.

I feel if it would be beneficial to do a recap

The Problem

• Unable to access the vodafone website www.vodafone.co.uk when using fixed line broadband.
• The page fails to load ie connection timeout/not available/takes too long to respond.
• Can still access account when using vodafone mobile included data or prepay dongles.
• Still able to access vodafone subdomains ie forum.vodafone or blog.vodafone which are hosted on different servers.
• It seems to have started on or around 21st Nov 2015
• No problems accessing any other site other than https://vodafone.co.uk

One other thing to mention is that i could access the website until I attempted to login.  Once the login attempt had started then the whole site became unavailable.   This is important to mention as from this point onwards I was using https rather than http.
 

Users so far reporting this issue

• JamesL
• 45dae
• dshunter
• iar1980
• sjbenton
• kitzer
• kdhuk (Plusnet forum)
• Paul (my friends bf)
• Several users here reporting same thing - Vodafone.isitdownrightnow

Useful link

Direct link to livechat which bypasses vodafone site  - Livechat

Things to try

This is a list of usual things to try which do not help in this instance

• Clear cookies
• Clear web cache/history
• Try a different web browser ie chrome/firefox
• Try using a different device or machine

Things that vodafone livechat have tried

This is a list of things vodafone have tried many times over which do not help

• Resetting the password
• Resetting the account
• Transferring and setting up a new account name

Other things to try

These are more advanced things to try which dont appear to have helped me but may help others.

• Full Router reboot.
  Unless you have a static or sticky IP this should give you a different IP address.  It may also slightly change your routing and put you on a different ISP gateway.
• Factory reset router.
  This takes settings back to default.
• Try a different router preferably a different make/model
  (I'm fortunate that I have several spare)
• Change DNS - try google or OpenDNS
• Change MTU - if you cant access some secure sites, often there is an MTU problem.  

[kitzer]

To me this would appear to be a configuration issue with the vodafone.co.uk website and or routing to the server in Germany.

I am hoping that one of the Vodafone reps can pick up on this post please and pass it on to the relevant tech people, because I tried to explain this on the phone yesterday but it seemed to go over peoples heads and they were more far concerned about me clearing my cookies for about the 15th time. 😕

A word on routing

I attatch a normal windows tracert (which uses ICMP). Here you can see that the vodafone server has ICMP switched off and ignoring ICMP pings

C:\Users\kitz>tracert www.vodafone.co.uk
Tracing route to www.vodafoneaws.co.uk [85.205.252.161]over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  lo0.11.central11.pcl-bng02.plus.net [195.166.130.152]
  3    11 ms    42 ms    12 ms  irb.11.PCL-CR01.plus.net [84.93.249.97]
  4    13 ms    12 ms    13 ms  ae1.ptw-cr01.plus.net [195.166.129.0]
  5    13 ms    15 ms    15 ms  ldngw1.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.209]
  6    25 ms    25 ms    25 ms  85.205.1.21
  7    25 ms    24 ms    24 ms  85.205.1.21
  8    26 ms    26 ms    26 ms  47.73.192.146
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 So I did a TCP trace over port 80 which should show me if my PC is establishing any sort of connection with the vodafone server:

C:\Users\kitz>tracetcp www.vodafone.co.uk:80
Tracing route to 85.205.252.161 on port 80 Over a maximum of 30 hops.
1       1 ms    1 ms    1 ms    192.168.1.1
2       13 ms   12 ms   12 ms   195.166.130.152 [lo0.11.central11.pcl-bng02.plus.net]
3       22 ms   13 ms   12 ms   84.93.249.98    [irb.11.PCL-CR02.plus.net]
4       13 ms   13 ms   13 ms   195.166.129.6   [ae2.pcl-cr01.plus.net]
5       33 ms   15 ms   15 ms   195.166.129.4   [ae2.ptw-cr01.plus.net]
6       18 ms   27 ms   55 ms   195.66.224.209  [ldngw1.arcor-ip.net]
7       27 ms   26 ms   26 ms   85.205.1.21
8       *       *       *       Request timed out.
9       *       *       *       Request timed out.
10      *       *       *       Request timed out.
11

I am not receiving the expected "Connection established to 85.205.252.161" message that you would expect to see from a TCP trace.

Below is an example of what you should see from a TCPtrace over port 80 even if the server isnt responding to ICMP

C:\Users\kitz>tracetcp www.kitz.co.uk:80
Tracing route to 185.24.98.37 [kitz.servers.eqx.misp.co.uk] on port 80 Over a maximum of 30 hops.
1       2 ms    1 ms    1 ms    192.168.1.1
2       12 ms   12 ms   12 ms   195.166.130.152 [lo0.11.central11.pcl-ng02.plus.net]
3       13 ms   12 ms   12 ms   84.93.249.98    [irb.11.PCL-CR02.plus.net]
4       13 ms   13 ms   51 ms   195.166.129.0   [ae1.ptw-cr01.plus.net]
5       14 ms   14 ms   13 ms   195.166.129.5   [ae2.ptw-cr02.plus.net]
6       14 ms   14 ms   14 ms   195.66.225.228  [uk.slo.ld5.101.r1.misp.co.uk]
7       15 ms   15 ms   14 ms   185.52.26.251   [switch-004.sl5.misp.co.uk]
8       Destination Reached in 14 ms. Connection established to 185.24.98.37
Trace Complete.

A word on MTU and the importance of ICMP

Usually when you cant access secure website there is an MTU problem somewhere. I noticed the other day that the vodafone.co.uk has ICMP turned off so one of the first things I did was tweak my MTU to see if that helps. Blocking ICMP on the server stops Path MTU discovery working so the server (or PC) doesn't know what size packet to send. If the packet is too large then it gets fragmented (broken) and the result is data not being received at the other end.

I note that the subdomain servers such as forum.vodafone does not have ICMP disabled and I can view these fine.

Ethernet by default will use an MTU of 1500. However, BT wholesale uses PPPoE for transmission of its FTTC products (Fibre/Infinity etc). PPPoE has a max MTU of 1492 due to the required 8 byte header.

*** It is interesting to note that there is a massive thread on this site whereby people on FTTC/Infinity have had MTU issues with Vodafone Sure Signal.

Finally...

Proof that something is broken between here and the vodafone.co.uk server

Wireshark Capture

Ive performed a wireshark capture for data packets between my PC and the vodafone.co.uk server.

Those black lines highlighed by wireshark are bad - very bad - and indicate the point of failure. 

Here we can clearly see that the vodafone server (85.205.252.161) isn't talking to my PC (192.168.1.5).  I am repeatedly saying 'hello' 'hello' but not receiving any data back.

Why this is Ive no idea.  It could be that the server is attempting to send me full 1500 byte packets, which are blackholed somewhere on the BTw network due to the PPPoA max being 1492, or it could be something else.   Anyhow I attatch the relevant cap which proves that I am not receiving any data at all from the vodafone.co.uk server which is the point of failure for me.   

[kitzer]

OFGS. Does no-one at Vodafone pay attention?

I got an email today stating they have fixed the 'stale data' on my account and the issue has been marked as resolved. I now have to make a fresh registration (Ignoring the fact theyve already done this).

Here comes the best part telling me what to do quote:-

1. Go to www.vodafone.co.uk

D'oh - How many times to I have to say this

The problem is www.vodafone.co.uk does not load.
Bangs head on the desk. 

[drey_p]

Try on any other connect, perhaps at work or on a friend's computer, because there is nothing wrong with the Vodafone Website - it is working perfectly across multiple devices / connections.  I still think the issue lies with your ISP.