dslreports logo
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
uniqs
1808
Velox
join:2013-10-18

Velox

Member

Mediacom Redirects AGAIN

Click for full size
I have tried everything to stop the Medicom redirects and even when I successfully reach the Preferences page and change it (again) the redirects come back quickly. Now I can no longer reach the preferences page, I get this new "locked" vs preferences sever offline (for weeks?) page. Any ideas/help??

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Hello Velox,
I have started investigating this for you. As soon as I have an answer I will let you know here.
MediacomChad

MediacomChad to Velox

Premium Member

to Velox
Can you tell me how you got to this page?
Velox
join:2013-10-18

Velox

Member

Click for full size
Type in any bogus web address, like helpme.what and hit enter, the browser (every one I have tried) goes to the redirect page, the upper right side of the redirect Mediacom page has the usual Why Am I Here? link, click that it takes me directly to the page I posted above. Why is the Mediacom default to Force a redirect to Mediacom which we can only stop by opting out, yet opting out does not work, and now there is not even access to any preference to opt out.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad to Velox

Premium Member

to Velox
Thanks for this information. This will help us look int this further. I have our Tier2 engaged
MediacomChad

MediacomChad to Velox

Premium Member

to Velox
Hello Veloz,
Thank you for your patience. We have a ticket on this issue already and it is currently being investigated. As soon as we have a resolution I will let you know here.
drewgruesome
Crawler Meat
join:2009-12-01
Waverly, IA

drewgruesome to Velox

Member

to Velox
The simplest way I can tell you to stop this from happening is to change your DNS server.

Here are the instructions for windows 7. I'm sure you can google directions if you have a different operating system.

»windows.microsoft.com/en ··· indows-7

Change your DNS server to (primary) 8.8.8.8 and (secondary) 8.8.4.4. These are the google DNS servers. Changing this will prevent you from ever seeing the mediacom redirects ever again.

However you should also be forewarned that doing so will also prevent you from seeing other (possibly important) redirects from mediacom like your usage alerts/warnings etc. Do so at your own risk.

But, if you absolutely must be rid of the mediacom redirects this should do it for you. This is exactly what I did to escape them myself.
DSM_Sparky
join:2009-01-16
West Des Moines, IA

DSM_Sparky to MediacomChad

Member

to MediacomChad
I gave up trying to turn off Mediacom NXDOMAIN DNS redirects after months of "Tier 2" checking into it (from 2013-01-07 to 2013-09-15 from the DSLReports IM logs between MediacomChad and me) and turning up nothing.

I experienced the following tonight:

- Open a web browser and go to a nonexistent hostname (e.g. oaishefgaosiehgaowiehf.com)
- Arrive at a page (»assist.mediacomcable.com ··· iehf.com) with the note "We did not find results for: oaishefgaosiehgaowiehf.com. Try the suggestions below or type a new query above"
- Click on the "Opt Out of this Service" link at the bottom of the page
- The first time I clicked the "Opt Out of this Service" link tonight, I was taken to the regular "Enable/Disable" typo redirection page, however the top of the page included a new statement along the lines of "Mediacom has partnered with Yahoo and other groups on the Internet to [help with typos]. To opt out of this service, " (paraphrasing, sorry).
- I "clicked here" and was taken to "Your Preferences Are Currently Locked: The preference settings for your IP are currently locked either because you are not allowed to set preferences or because the preference server is currently offline." »search.mediacomcable.com ··· cked.php
- Now every subsequent time I click on the "Opt Out of this Service" link I'm taken directly to the "Your Preferences Are Currently Locked" page

Would love to get this fixed--just IM'ed my account number to MediacomChad.
DSM_Sparky

DSM_Sparky to drewgruesome

Member

to drewgruesome
said by drewgruesome:

Change your DNS server to (primary) 8.8.8.8 and (secondary) 8.8.4.4. These are the google DNS servers. Changing this will prevent you from ever seeing the mediacom redirects ever again.

Note this could have a negative impact with some content delivery networks (CDNs) that deliver media (mostly video) from large content companies such as Apple (iTunes), Netflix, etc. Different DNS servers are given different DNS records so your computer/device is pointed at a "nearby" CDN server for faster service.
drewgruesome
Crawler Meat
join:2009-12-01
Waverly, IA

1 recommendation

drewgruesome

Member

Actually, I've noticed nothing but a POSITIVE impact with CDNs from this change. Using Google DNS servers has actually (vastly) improved the performance of youtube, twitch, hulu and netflix for me. I can only assume that Google has better (or faster) peering connections which allow me to receive data from these sources easier. I'm no network admin or anything, so take my experience with a grain of salt.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad to DSM_Sparky

Premium Member

to DSM_Sparky
Thank You for the IM. As soon as I get any info, I will followup with you there.
chris92
join:2008-09-20
Coal Valley, IL

1 recommendation

chris92 to Velox

Member

to Velox
said by drewgruesome:

Using Google DNS servers has actually (vastly) improved the performance of youtube, twitch, hulu and netflix for me. I can only assume that Google has better (or faster) peering connections which allow me to receive data from these sources easier.

That is not how the internet works. DNS is like a phone book, not the phone line.

As for OP, I would use Open DNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, and stay away from Google's, as cool as it may seem.
InterceptorX
join:2009-08-23
Streator, IL

InterceptorX

Member

said by chris92:

As for OP, I would use Open DNS: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220, and stay away from Google's, as cool as it may seem.

Care to explain?

thedragonmas
Premium Member
join:2007-12-28
Albany, GA
Netgear R6300 v2
ARRIS SB6180

thedragonmas

Premium Member

said by InterceptorX:

Care to explain?

simplified. (i.e. im no network admin). you want to go to google, you type in google.com in your address bar, the browser then requests the IP address from the dns server, the dns server replies with an address. your browser then goes to the address via what ever "path" the ISP selects. the dns can not specify a path.

i.e. you want to call doe, you look up their phone number in the phone book, you pick up your phone and dial, you have no control over what path the phone call takes, the phone company does.
chris92
join:2008-09-20
Coal Valley, IL

chris92 to InterceptorX

Member

to InterceptorX
You get some pretty cool filtering options you can do, even though I don't use them anymore. There is also phishing/mistyping protection built in, which is great for my parents. I've never had it go down, either.

Sure Google has their "phishing protection", but it is complete garbage, many times I've seen it block legitimate websites for no reason at all. Also I don't want Google tracking EVERY website I go to.

As for ping times, Open DNS is 35ms, Google's is 28ms, and Mediacom's is 30ms, so no noticeable difference with any of them.
drewgruesome
Crawler Meat
join:2009-12-01
Waverly, IA

drewgruesome

Member

My problem with Mediacom's DNS servers is not their response time, but their DOWN time. During the first several weeks of my service with Mediacom their DNS servers were down repeatedly and for hours at a time, making my internet service with them useless.

Hence my switch to using Google's DNS servers. Since the switch I have not noticed ANY downtime at all.

As far as my experience with faster browsing of youtube, netflix etc since switching DNS servers - perhaps my perception of increased performance relates to increased DNS record lookup speed. I can't explain it as I've mentioned I'm not a network admin, but this is my experience. Take it as you will.
alarson83
join:2007-01-06
West Des Moines, IA

alarson83

Member

said by drewgruesome:

My problem with Mediacom's DNS servers is not their response time, but their DOWN time. During the first several weeks of my service with Mediacom their DNS servers were down repeatedly and for hours at a time, making my internet service with them useless.

Hence my switch to using Google's DNS servers. Since the switch I have not noticed ANY downtime at all.

As far as my experience with faster browsing of youtube, netflix etc since switching DNS servers - perhaps my perception of increased performance relates to increased DNS record lookup speed. I can't explain it as I've mentioned I'm not a network admin, but this is my experience. Take it as you will.

Additionally you'll also notice that if a site switches its location (such as it might when switching host providers) that the update of that DNS information will happen much faster to google's DNS servers than it usually will to mediacom's.
DSM_Sparky
join:2009-01-16
West Des Moines, IA

DSM_Sparky to thedragonmas

Member

to thedragonmas
said by thedragonmas:

said by InterceptorX:

Care to explain?

simplified. (i.e. im no network admin). you want to go to google, you type in google.com in your address bar, the browser then requests the IP address from the dns server, the dns server replies with an address. your browser then goes to the address via what ever "path" the ISP selects. the dns can not specify a path.

i.e. you want to call doe, you look up their phone number in the phone book, you pick up your phone and dial, you have no control over what path the phone call takes, the phone company does.

Yes, but the assumption there is that there's one source/server for a particular piece of information, whereas NetFlix/Amazon/Apple have many many servers.

Think of it this way--if one asks directory assistance for McDonalds, there's one a mile away and one in Boise, Idaho. They both serve the same cheeseburgers and the same same soft drinks. However the cheeseburger and drink will be obtained much more quickly by going to the McDonald's one mile away rather than Boise.

In the same way, there are local phone books with information optimized for the people in that locale. One could check a (theoretical) "national" phone book for McDonalds, but the local phone book will give local results. If someone checks a "national" phone book (OpenDNS, Google Public DNS) they're going to receive valid yet unoptimized results due to the lack of geographical information. In the same way, Amazon/Netflix/Apple may try to provide Mediacom's "local" DNS servers with "local" servers for streaming video.

Does it work perfectly? No. In fact I'm not surprised it may have the opposite effect in some cases, but it can have a positive effect. If Netflix can make a customer's video stream that much smoother with a "local" server they may choose Netflix over a competing service.

A related idea--Netflix's "Open Connect Content Delivery Network": »www.netflix.com/openconnect .

ltsnow
Premium Member
join:2006-04-08
Valdosta, GA

ltsnow to Velox

Premium Member

to Velox
This problem has been going on for years and it never gets fixed. I was getting the "preferences are locked" page sometimes, but recently I have not. I have to disable the redirects about once a week. I don't think they will ever fix it.
GLIMMER
join:2004-01-17
Fisher, IL

2 recommendations

GLIMMER to DSM_Sparky

Member

to DSM_Sparky
said by DSM_Sparky See Profile
A related idea--Netflix's "Open Connect Content Delivery Network": »www.netflix.com/openconnect .
[/bquote :

If you think mediacom is ever going to do the openconnect thing your dreaming. Hell Netflix is PAYING comcast for access. Front page of DSL reports today


NormanS
I gave her time to steal my mind away
MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
TP-Link TD-8616
Asus RT-AC66U B1
Netgear FR114P

NormanS

MVM

said by GLIMMER:

If you think mediacom is ever going to do the openconnect thing your dreaming. Hell Netflix is PAYING comcast for access. Front page of DSL reports today

Mediacom doesn't have the leverage to make Netflix pay.
NormanS

NormanS to chris92

MVM

to chris92
said by chris92:

As for ping times, Open DNS is 35ms, Google's is 28ms, and Mediacom's is 30ms, so no noticeable difference with any of them.

Not from where I sit. I can't test the Mediacom DNS servers; too lazy to identify them as I am not an MC customer. But OpenDNS is dead last, after my ISP, Google (pretty much neck-and-neck), and Level 3:
 Final benchmark results, sorted by nameserver performance:
 (average cached name retrieval speed, fastest to slowest)
 
  208.201.224. 11 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.023 | 0.025 | 0.026 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.027 | 0.079 | 0.262 | 0.070 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.047 | 0.107 | 0.232 | 0.057 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                      ns1.sonic.net
             SONOMA - Sonoma Interconnect,US
 
    8.  8.  4.  4 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.024 | 0.025 | 0.026 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.047 | 0.112 | 0.272 | 0.070 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.074 | 0.134 | 0.211 | 0.044 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
             google-public-dns-b.google.com
                 GOOGLE - Google Inc.,US
 
  208.201.224. 33 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.025 | 0.026 | 0.027 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.030 | 0.074 | 0.235 | 0.061 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.050 | 0.110 | 0.235 | 0.060 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                      ns2.sonic.net
             SONOMA - Sonoma Interconnect,US
 
    4.  2.  2.  4 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.033 | 0.034 | 0.035 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.036 | 0.098 | 0.233 | 0.059 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.035 | 0.085 | 0.133 | 0.026 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                 d.resolvers.level3.net
        LEVEL3 - Level 3 Communications, Inc.,US
 
    4.  2.  2.  3 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.034 | 0.035 | 0.036 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.036 | 0.102 | 0.216 | 0.055 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.035 | 0.088 | 0.147 | 0.027 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                 c.resolvers.level3.net
        LEVEL3 - Level 3 Communications, Inc.,US
 
    8.  8.  8.  8 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.043 | 0.044 | 0.065 | 0.003 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.045 | 0.108 | 0.245 | 0.068 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.072 | 0.125 | 0.209 | 0.051 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
             google-public-dns-a.google.com
                 GOOGLE - Google Inc.,US
 
  208. 67.222.222 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.075 | 0.076 | 0.076 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.077 | 0.168 | 0.603 | 0.119 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.076 | 0.197 | 0.285 | 0.064 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                  resolver1.opendns.com
                OPENDNS - OpenDNS, LLC,US
 
  208. 67.220.220 |  Min  |  Avg  |  Max  |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
  ----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
  - Cached Name   | 0.075 | 0.076 | 0.077 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
  - Uncached Name | 0.077 | 0.170 | 0.586 | 0.119 | 100.0 |
  - DotCom Lookup | 0.112 | 0.220 | 0.335 | 0.056 | 100.0 |
  ---<-------->---+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
                  resolver2.opendns.com
                OPENDNS - OpenDNS, LLC,US
 
  UTC: 2014-04-26, from 23:28:01 to 23:28:31, for 00:29.928
 
 
chris92
join:2008-09-20
Coal Valley, IL

chris92

Member

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about »www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm . I remember using that a few years ago to see what the best one was on my Sprint connection, and turned out to be a Sprint one . . I just ran this on my Mediacom connection, and tested my "top 50" I created. Looks like a couple AT&T DNS servers are the best, which makes sense, sense the traffic goes through AT&T fiber to Chicago. Other top ones were "Internap Network", Sprintlink, and Verizon.

I recommend everyone try using this tool if you do not need any extra DNS tools. The AT&T ones came out at 0.012, and Sprintlink and Verizon were at 0.014, Google DNS made my list, but ended up being at 0.036.

ilikeanon
@67.173.166.x

ilikeanon

Anon

The GRC tool is good, but here is another benchmark tool: »code.google.com/p/namebench/

Remember that if your own router (default gateway, commonly 192.168.x.1) appears in the list, that means your router is doing DNS proxy or masquerading, which is slowing you down, and makes you more likely for rebinding attacks, I'd strongly suggest you disable it.

If for some reason you like your ISP's DNS servers, but want to remove there "guide" page there are two other work-around's 1) In SimpleDNS Plus use the Ignore DNS Request Plug-In or Fixed IP Address Plug-In or 2) In DNS Redirector block the domain of the guide page - you could sinkhole the guide page to an invalid IP, or your the IP of your own webserver - to host just a blank page, or a page that says "ISP guide page would have appeared here" perhaps with a Google search bar instead.