ISP redirect to their web search page on 404

Hi,

My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
'Suggested web sites" page. They have an opt out preference page
which will not work. 'Customer service' will only say that I should
'opt out' and cannot explain why that option is not working for me.
Is there a way to stop this from within IE8?
Thank you
Jeff

Jeff Higgins wrote:

> My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
> 'Suggested web sites" page. They have an opt out preference page
> which will not work. 'Customer service' will only say that I should
> 'opt out' and cannot explain why that option is not working for me.
> Is there a way to stop this from within IE8?

If you use your ISP's DNS server, and if their DNS server is configured
to never fail on a lookup but instead redirect to their "suggested
sites" page then you're screwed. Comcast did the same thing but they
provided an opt-out process (which usually took under 4 hours to
complete). Verisign tried the same fiasco many years ago with their
stranglehold over the .com top-level domains (but there were so many
complaints that they quit, threatened to return, but never did). It
appears your ISP intends to let their customers opt-out of the redirect
page for DNS lookup failures. How long have you waited for it to get
updated for your account? Did you change your cable modem after opting
out? Have you asked for someone higher up than the first-level
script-reading near-boob tech that answers when you call your ISP's tech
support line? You'll need to push to get your ticket escalated beyond
the idiot that first answers their support calls.

OpenDNS is an alternate DNS service you could use. Configure your
TCP/IP settings to use it instead of your ISP's (i.e., switch from
dynamically assigning your ISP's DNS server to specifying to use
OpenDNS' DNS server). However, OpenDNS also has their redirect service
for DNS lookups that would otherwise fail. You must open an account
with OpenDNS, keep your current WAN-side IP address updated in your
account (which requires you install an IP updater client on your host),
and disable their redirect service (Typo Correction). They need to know
your current IP address so they know what account's settings to apply
when they get a connection to their DNS server. Alas, when you disable
their redirect service, they disable many features in a free account
(i.e., they really want to generate revenue from that Google search on
their redirect page). If you use OpenDNS without an account, you get
stuck with their DNS redirection. If you use OpenDNS with an account
(and an IP updater client to keep your current dynamic IP address
recorded in your OpenDNS account), you can disable the Typo Correction
feature but will lose lots of other features of having an account (if
you even care about them).

There are probably other public DNS services (some free) that you could
use that might not implement a DNS redirection "service". Happy
hunting.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%2Bdns+lookup+%2Bfree

VanguardLH wrote:
> Jeff Higgins wrote:

>> My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
>> 'Suggested web sites" page.

> ... then you're screwed. ...

Hey buddy, can you spare a dime?
Tip jars.
Virtual panhandlers.
Shrug.

It's been several days since I declined the 'help'.
I reckon I'll attempt to escalate ...
Another day, another damned ...

> ... Happy hunting. ...

Grateful thanks for the lucid discussion on
alternative DNS servers, I've some reading to do.

> http://www.google.com/search?q=%2Bdns+lookup+%2Bfree

Appreciative
Jeff Higgins

"Jeff Higgins" <oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:hblb6u$qd1$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> Hi,
>
> My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
> 'Suggested web sites" page. They have an opt out preference page
> which will not work. 'Customer service' will only say that I should
> 'opt out' and cannot explain why that option is not working for me.
> Is there a way to stop this from within IE8?
> Thank you
> Jeff

When you say "404" do you mean sites that don't exist (which is what
VanguardLH's reply is all about), or do you actually mean a real 404
response from a server (where the site exists, but the page requested
doesn't).

In the latter case, this would indicate that your ISP is forcing all HTTP
requests via a proxy and is intercepting the HTTP 404 response code to
display the suggested sites. Vanguard's information won't help in this
case - you'll need to find a way to get around that proxy.

A quick search on Google for Suddenlink and suggested sites brings up a few
posts on various forums from people stating they'd already changed DNS
servers and it makes no difference, which suggests that they are using an
HTTP proxy and intercepting response codes - personally I'd switch ISP, but
if that's not an option then you could look at finding (either free or
subscription based) an SSL proxy somewhere outside of your ISP that you can
make all your browser requests through - the SSL encryption will mean that
your ISP can't intercept any specific response codes because they won't be
able to decrypt the data.

--
Dan

Dan wrote:
>
> "Jeff Higgins" <oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:hblb6u$qd1$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Hi,
>>
>> My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
>> 'Suggested web sites" page. They have an opt out preference page
>> which will not work. 'Customer service' will only say that I should
>> 'opt out' and cannot explain why that option is not working for me.
>> Is there a way to stop this from within IE8?
>> Thank you
>> Jeff
>
> When you say "404" do you mean sites that don't exist (which is what
> VanguardLH's reply is all about), or do you actually mean a real 404
> response from a server (where the site exists, but the page requested
> doesn't).

Well..
The prompt for this post was:
<http://www.qanyon.com/TechZone/TechZoneTranscoder>.

If I type this into the address bar or attempt to follow
a link to this address I get Suddenlink 'suggested sites'.

If I type <http://www.qanyon.com/TechZone/>
I go to someone offering to sell the site.

If I type <http://bzz> I get
res://ieframe.dll/dnserror.htm#http://bzz/>

If I type <http://bzz.com/> I go to <http://www.bzzagent.com/>
??? (chuckles) where in the world did that come from?

So I guess my knowledge of the HTTP is lacking.

I enjoy learning and studying, I really do.
But this whole subject is not one that I would have
picked to engage.

Anyway..

>
> In the latter case, this would indicate that your ISP is forcing all
> HTTP requests via a proxy and is intercepting the HTTP 404 response code
> to display the suggested sites. Vanguard's information won't help in
> this case - you'll need to find a way to get around that proxy.
>
> A quick search on Google for Suddenlink and suggested sites brings up a
> few posts on various forums from people stating they'd already changed
> DNS servers and it makes no difference, which suggests that they are
> using an HTTP proxy and intercepting response codes - personally I'd
> switch ISP, but if that's not an option then you could look at finding
> (either free or subscription based) an SSL proxy somewhere outside of
> your ISP that you can make all your browser requests through - the SSL
> encryption will mean that your ISP can't intercept any specific response
> codes because they won't be able to decrypt the data.
>

Well, some more reading.
Switching ISPs is certainly an option, but one that would require some
careful thought. (an alternative may present the same problem) In the
grand scheme this is a very minor annoyance, but cumlative. I'm very
grateful for the additional information. I'll do the follow-up reading,
begin hammering on 'Customer Service', etc. I'm hopeful I can make it
stop, now armed with a clearer idea of the situation, Thanks.

Appreciative
Jeff Higgins

"Jeff Higgins" <oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:hbn51g$c34$1@news.eternal-september.org...
: Dan wrote:
: >
: > "Jeff Higgins" <oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote in message
: > news:hblb6u$qd1$1@news.eternal-september.org...
: >> Hi,
: >>
: >> My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
: >> 'Suggested web sites" page. They have an opt out preference page
: >> which will not work. 'Customer service' will only say that I should
: >> 'opt out' and cannot explain why that option is not working for me.
: >> Is there a way to stop this from within IE8?
: >> Thank you
: >> Jeff
: >
: > When you say "404" do you mean sites that don't exist (which is what
: > VanguardLH's reply is all about), or do you actually mean a real 404
: > response from a server (where the site exists, but the page requested
: > doesn't).
:
: Well..
: The prompt for this post was:
: <http://www.qanyon.com/TechZone/TechZoneTranscoder>.
:
: If I type this into the address bar or attempt to follow
: a link to this address I get Suddenlink 'suggested sites'.
:
: If I type <http://www.qanyon.com/TechZone/>
: I go to someone offering to sell the site.
:
: If I type <http://bzz> I get
: res://ieframe.dll/dnserror.htm#http://bzz/>
:
: If I type <http://bzz.com/> I go to <http://www.bzzagent.com/>
: ??? (chuckles) where in the world did that come from?
:
: So I guess my knowledge of the HTTP is lacking.
:
: I enjoy learning and studying, I really do.
: But this whole subject is not one that I would have
: picked to engage.
:
: Anyway..

It happens in any browser, not just IE. It's something your ISP or the web
site owners or someone else has done, perhaps on a dns record level.

There is nothing *you* can do about it, unless you can figure out the opt
out. It's not a browser issue.
:
: >
: > In the latter case, this would indicate that your ISP is forcing all
: > HTTP requests via a proxy and is intercepting the HTTP 404 response code
: > to display the suggested sites. Vanguard's information won't help in
: > this case - you'll need to find a way to get around that proxy.
: >
: > A quick search on Google for Suddenlink and suggested sites brings up a
: > few posts on various forums from people stating they'd already changed
: > DNS servers and it makes no difference, which suggests that they are
: > using an HTTP proxy and intercepting response codes - personally I'd
: > switch ISP, but if that's not an option then you could look at finding
: > (either free or subscription based) an SSL proxy somewhere outside of
: > your ISP that you can make all your browser requests through - the SSL
: > encryption will mean that your ISP can't intercept any specific response
: > codes because they won't be able to decrypt the data.
: >
:
: Well, some more reading.
: Switching ISPs is certainly an option, but one that would require some
: careful thought. (an alternative may present the same problem) In the
: grand scheme this is a very minor annoyance, but cumlative. I'm very
: grateful for the additional information. I'll do the follow-up reading,
: begin hammering on 'Customer Service', etc. I'm hopeful I can make it
: stop, now armed with a clearer idea of the situation, Thanks.
:
: Appreciative
: Jeff Higgins
:

"Jeff Higgins" <oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:hbn51g$c34$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> Dan wrote:
>>
>> "Jeff Higgins" <oohiggins@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:hblb6u$qd1$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> My ISP (Suddenlink) redirects all 404 (if not others) to their
>>> 'Suggested web sites" page. They have an opt out preference page
>>> which will not work. 'Customer service' will only say that I should
>>> 'opt out' and cannot explain why that option is not working for me.
>>> Is there a way to stop this from within IE8?
>>> Thank you
>>> Jeff
>>
>> When you say "404" do you mean sites that don't exist (which is what
>> VanguardLH's reply is all about), or do you actually mean a real 404
>> response from a server (where the site exists, but the page requested
>> doesn't).
>
> Well..
> The prompt for this post was:
> <http://www.qanyon.com/TechZone/TechZoneTranscoder>.
>
> If I type this into the address bar or attempt to follow
> a link to this address I get Suddenlink 'suggested sites'.

I get an advert for someone selling the domain and a prompt to install the
Office Data Provider for WBEM, which is odd. Looking at the HTTP traffic in
Fiddler2 I can see that it is a 404 response, with the HTML content set to
the advert for the domain.

> If I type <http://www.qanyon.com/TechZone/>
> I go to someone offering to sell the site.

I get the same, same as above.

> If I type <http://bzz> I get
> res://ieframe.dll/dnserror.htm#http://bzz/>

This is normal for a non-existent domain

> If I type <http://bzz.com/> I go to <http://www.bzzagent.com/>
> ??? (chuckles) where in the world did that come from?

Sounds like it redirects, pretty normal.

> So I guess my knowledge of the HTTP is lacking.
>
> I enjoy learning and studying, I really do.
> But this whole subject is not one that I would have
> picked to engage.
>
> Anyway..
>
>>
>> In the latter case, this would indicate that your ISP is forcing all HTTP
>> requests via a proxy and is intercepting the HTTP 404 response code to
>> display the suggested sites. Vanguard's information won't help in this
>> case - you'll need to find a way to get around that proxy.
>>
>> A quick search on Google for Suddenlink and suggested sites brings up a
>> few posts on various forums from people stating they'd already changed
>> DNS servers and it makes no difference, which suggests that they are
>> using an HTTP proxy and intercepting response codes - personally I'd
>> switch ISP, but if that's not an option then you could look at finding
>> (either free or subscription based) an SSL proxy somewhere outside of
>> your ISP that you can make all your browser requests through - the SSL
>> encryption will mean that your ISP can't intercept any specific response
>> codes because they won't be able to decrypt the data.
>>
>
> Well, some more reading.
> Switching ISPs is certainly an option, but one that would require some
> careful thought. (an alternative may present the same problem) In the
> grand scheme this is a very minor annoyance, but cumlative. I'm very
> grateful for the additional information. I'll do the follow-up reading,
> begin hammering on 'Customer Service', etc. I'm hopeful I can make it
> stop, now armed with a clearer idea of the situation, Thanks.

Given what I can see for those URLs above I would suspect that your ISP is
indeed proxying all connections and injecting it's suggested sites page when
there is a 404 HTTP response code. Changing your DNS won't make any
difference, you need to get this disabled by your ISP or, as I suggested
before, find a secured proxy you can use so they can't intercept responses.

--
Dan

"Dan" <news@worldofspack.com> wrote in message
news:O1yi4slUKHA.4780@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> Given what I can see for those URLs above I would suspect that your ISP is
> indeed proxying all connections and injecting it's suggested sites page
> when there is a 404 HTTP response code. Changing your DNS won't make any
> difference, you need to get this disabled by your ISP or, as I suggested
> before, find a secured proxy you can use so they can't intercept
> responses.
>

Sorry, one other thing came to mind - the possibility that your browser is
hosting a plugin from your ISP that is handling this, in which case there is
something you can do about it.

If you start up IE in "no add-ons" mode does it still happen?

--
Dan

Dan wrote:
> Given what I can see for those URLs above I would suspect that your ISP
> is indeed proxying all connections and injecting it's suggested sites
> page when there is a 404 HTTP response code. Changing your DNS won't
> make any difference, you need to get this disabled by your ISP or, as I
> suggested before, find a secured proxy you can use so they can't
> intercept responses.
>
Thanks for the follow-up Dan.
I'll attempt another go with SL. Hopefully I've neglected to follow
precisely a procedure or what-not, and this will have become a non-issue.
If it comes to it, I may transcribe some of this discussion.
Either way I'll post back with the outcome.

I appreciate your time,
Thanks.
JH

Dan wrote:
>
> "Dan" <news@worldofspack.com> wrote in message
> news:O1yi4slUKHA.4780@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>
>> Given what I can see for those URLs above I would suspect that your
>> ISP is indeed proxying all connections and injecting it's suggested
>> sites page when there is a 404 HTTP response code. Changing your DNS
>> won't make any difference, you need to get this disabled by your ISP
>> or, as I suggested before, find a secured proxy you can use so they
>> can't intercept responses.
>>
>
> Sorry, one other thing came to mind - the possibility that your browser
> is hosting a plugin from your ISP that is handling this, in which case
> there is something you can do about it.
>
> If you start up IE in "no add-ons" mode does it still happen?
>

run -> iexplore –extoff -> still goes to SL