Unable to Connect to Wikipedia via Plusnet Broadband

[#1]

Thank god it's not just me! I've been having this issue for the past 48 hours and it's been driving me mental. I'm only now realising just how often I use Wikipedia in a day. 😫

My situation, if it helps:

• I've had the same PlusNet fixed IP for literally 20 years.
• Wikipedia is the only website I'm having this problem with.
• Unable to connect either via Linux/Firefox on ethernet (me) or Windows/Chrome on wifi (wife) but it works perfectly via mobile on Vodafone.

I've been checking all the "down detector" sites and there seems to be far fewer reports about it today. But that might be due to it being Christmas Day and people are doing other things. Who knows.

Hopefully this gets fixed soon!

[#2]

I've been having the same problem with Wikipedia. I've tried many browsers and switched off Plusnet's Safeguard in case that was the problem, but it didn't make any difference. Occasionally, Wikipedia works for a couple of minutes; when it does, it's super fast!

However, I can get Wikipedia on 5G from LycaMobile.

[#3]

Now at my parent’s house, they have Plusnet but FTTC and dynamic IP - they have no issue. I’m on FTTP, with a static IP.

[#4]

I'm also on FTTC with dynamic IP address and I do have the issue!

I also rebooted the router this morning to force an IP address change, but no difference.

[#5]

Probably doesn't help, but I'm on FTTP  with a static IP ( in the 80.229... subnet ) and don't have any problem

[#6]

Yes, Wiki is asking for funding.

I've noted that some embedded images (on web pages) are not there any more (many are, but not all). And opening the direct link to missing images provides a non-image.

Not a Plusnet DNS problem.

[#7]

Also an issue for me on the Android app and via Firefox on my Windows Laptop. I've done a capture and in both cases there's a lot of packets being retransmitted when connecting to text-lb.esams.wikimedia.org (185.15.59.224), as there's missing replies. Using 4G on the mobile or connecting to a VPN, on either device, resolves the problem. So it must be an issue with the network.

[#8]

Raising a ticket:   See https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Account-Billing/How-do-I-raise-a-ticket/td-p/1579564  

Whether anyone looks at these is another matter, but I was able to log the Wikipedia issue.  I still can't use Wikipedia today.

[#9]

I'm still not seeing any problems on Wikipedia using my NON Plusnet SoGEA connection

Given that these issues with browsing Wikipedia seem to be limited to SOME customers using their Plusnet or BT broadband - but not when they then try an alternative connection such as a VPN or 4G, etc,  and given that some users have tried alternative DNS (without success),  I'm wondering whether the type of router being used is the difference ? - For example is it just Plusnet/BT Hub(1 or 2) users that have a problem, and customers using third party router don't ? - Just a thought !

[#10]

We developed this issue of Wikipedia pages not loading about a week ago. If we switch WiFi off on our mobiles and go to 5G Wikipedia works as expected but all anything connected to WiFi through Plusnet won't load Wikipedia pages.

1) We are using desktops with macOS and have tried both Safari & Firefox. Mobiles are IOS.

2) Have tried using alternative DNS servers.

3) Cleared the caches of browsers.

We can't remember this ever happening before and we have been with Plusnet since 2008!

We have been using the same Plusnet Hub One router for about four years.

[#11]

I'm getting the problem with a 3rd party router - an ASUS RT-AC66 B1 - so the problem isn't caused by Plusnet supplied routers.

I have been able to get into Wikipedia in Windows by using a VPN on my Chrome Browser - in this case, Urban VPN (set to UK), which is free - I downloaded it from the Chrome store. It's not ideal, but at least I can get into Wikipedia without any trouble.

[#12]

Adding my voice to this thread as I have the same issue. We have Plusnet and Starlink, and if you connect the same device to the Starlink WiFi, Wikipedia (specifically wikimedia content, e.g., embedded images) works perfectly. Switch back to Plusnet and it stops loading.

SoGEA FTTC with a static IP if that matters .

[#13]

Exactly the same for me. May work for a while and then blocks access. I am using a BT Business Router as the Plusnet one did not work with my Ring Doorbell. Have tried all the normal things , router reboots etc but nothing improves matters.

[#14]

Just to add my grievance of being unable to connect to Wikipedia. I'm on a SoGEA FTTC connection with a dynamic IP in the 31.111.6.x range.

Traceroute:

Tracing route to dyna.wikimedia.org [185.15.59.224]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.254
  2    11 ms     7 ms     7 ms  172.16.10.206
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4    46 ms    11 ms    10 ms  136.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.136]
  5    10 ms    11 ms    10 ms  peer2-et0-0-2.slough.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.103.204]
  6    13 ms    12 ms    90 ms  linx-1.init7.net [195.66.224.175]
  7    17 ms    17 ms    33 ms  r2ams2.core.init7.net [5.180.135.240]
  8    17 ms    20 ms    18 ms  r1ams2.core.init7.net [5.180.135.234]
  9    16 ms    20 ms    19 ms  gw-wikimedia.init7.net [77.109.134.114]
 10    55 ms    26 ms    32 ms  et-0-0-50.asw1-bw27-esams.wikimedia.org [185.15.59.159]
 11     *       24 ms    15 ms  text-lb.esams.wikimedia.org [185.15.59.224]

Trace complete.

[#15]

Following up with some MTR outputs from Plusnet and Starlink for comparison. MTR ran from the same machine within minutes of each other.

Plusnet

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |
|                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|                       251.core.plus.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   12 |   12 |   28 |   14 |
|                            84.93.253.95 -    0 |  100 |  100 |   12 |   13 |   14 |   13 |
|                          195.99.125.144 -    0 |  100 |  100 |   12 |   13 |   14 |   13 |
|      peer2-et0-1-4.slough.ukcore.bt.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   14 |   17 |   50 |   14 |
|                      Request timed out. -  100 |   21 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |
|                   r2ams2.core.init7.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   20 |   22 |   43 |   20 |
|                   r1ams2.core.init7.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   19 |   21 |   58 |   20 |
|                  gw-wikimedia.init7.net -   46 |   37 |   20 |   19 |   20 |   21 |   19 |
| et-0-0-50.asw1-by27-esams.wikimedia.org -   60 |   30 |   12 |    0 |   24 |   28 |   23 |
|           upload-lb.esams.wikimedia.org -   74 |   26 |    7 |    0 |   19 |   20 |   19 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|

Starlink

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |
|                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|                                REDACTED -    0 |  100 |  100 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |
|                              100.64.0.1 -    0 |  100 |  100 |   20 |   28 |   52 |   36 |
|                            172.16.248.4 -    0 |  100 |  100 |   20 |   28 |   44 |   21 |
|                          149.19.108.153 -    0 |  100 |  100 |   20 |   27 |   60 |   29 |
|                        linx-1.init7.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   20 |   29 |   72 |   31 |
|                   r2ams2.core.init7.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   25 |   34 |   58 |   29 |
|                   r1ams2.core.init7.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   26 |   34 |   52 |   38 |
|                  gw-wikimedia.init7.net -    0 |  100 |  100 |   24 |   35 |   52 |   36 |
| et-0-0-50.asw1-by27-esams.wikimedia.org -    0 |  100 |  100 |   25 |   37 |   55 |   44 |
|           upload-lb.esams.wikimedia.org -    0 |  100 |  100 |   25 |   32 |   52 |   29 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|