Telstra - can't access website via laptop

[Tortoise]

Hi all you technoweenies. Puzzled. Been trying unsuccessfully this morning to access Telstra's website via my laptop (much easier for me to search and read than on my phone). Some website or other tells me the Telstra server is up, not down, at the moment. This is confirmed by the fact that I can access it by my phone. I can access any other website via my laptop that my heart desires. Any ideas?? Ta.

[north-north-west]

Try black magic. Sometimes it's the only thing known to work with Telstra.

[tastrax]

How is the laptop accessing the internet? Network cable, home wireless, or phone hotspot?

is it the same for all browsers on the laptop?

I am also assuming its the main Telstra website at https://www.telstra.com.au/

[Tortoise]

Try black magic. Sometimes it's the only thing known to work with Telstra.

If only other companies had as good coverage in remote Tassie! Maybe they do (the ones that use 'most of' the Telstra towers) - but so far nobody can tell me if/where the bits that aren't used make a difference. Have you jumped the rotten ship yet, nnw?

[Tortoise]

How is the laptop accessing the internet? Network cable, home wireless, or phone hotspot?

is it the same for all browsers on the laptop?

I am also assuming its the main Telstra website at https://www.telstra.com.au/

1. Home wireless
3. Yep
2. Oh, I always forget to check that! (Probably because it makes no sense to me.) Firefox is letting me in. Black magic not required.
Thanks, tastrax!

[north-north-west]

Try black magic. Sometimes it's the only thing known to work with Telstra.

If only other companies had as good coverage in remote Tassie! Maybe they do (the ones that use 'most of' the Telstra towers) - but so far nobody can tell me if/where the bits that aren't used make a difference. Have you jumped the rotten ship yet, nnw?

I went Optus when I switched to the NBN. Mobile is still with Telstra as they have the best rural coverage.

[highercountry]

I went Optus when I switched to the NBN. Mobile is still with Telstra as they have the best rural coverage.

NBN in my rural Vic area is a garbage "fixed wireless" system. Everybody is complaining about it.
18 months ago I signed up to an Optus Mobile Broadband plan (running off the phone tower) with an at-home wireless router supplied by Optus. $60.00/month, 200 Gb's and I'm measuring speeds up to 60 Mbps.
Craps all over NBN for around the same price. It is working very well. At long last I have decent broadband and it's not f****** Telstra.

[tastrax]

1. Home wireless
3. Yep
2. Oh, I always forget to check that! (Probably because it makes no sense to me.) Firefox is letting me in. Black magic not required.
Thanks, tastrax!

OK - possibly the non functioning browser is going through some unobtainable proxy server

[Tortoise]

1. Home wireless
3. Yep
2. Oh, I always forget to check that! (Probably because it makes no sense to me.) Firefox is letting me in. Black magic not required.
Thanks, tastrax!

OK - possibly the non functioning browser is going through some unobtainable proxy server

Thanks, tastrax. I'm trying to understand for future reference - so why does the same browser sometimes allow access to a website and sometimes not (while still allowing access to other websites at the time)? Do servers sometimes change to odd proxy servers and back again?

[tastrax]

No, could be a bunch of reasons - If you have tried to access a site and it failed, then the cache on your computer may contain the failed web page so every time you go there its reading from the cache. You can bypass the local cache by the following methods

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... your_cache

If its a proxy issue then its more likely that one browser has been set up to work in...say a corporate environment...where they want to log where folks have been. This means all internet requests go through the proxy before returning to you. Sometimes they MAY block access to sites (but unlikely they would block Telstra). If you cant reach the proxy server (because you are not in the corporate environment) then most probably all web browsing would fail.

[Tortoise]

No, could be a bunch of reasons - If you have tried to access a site and it failed, then the cache on your computer may contain the failed web page so every time you go there its reading from the cache. You can bypass the local cache by the following methods

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... your_cache

If its a proxy issue then its more likely that one browser has been set up to work in...say a corporate environment...where they want to log where folks have been. This means all internet requests go through the proxy before returning to you. Sometimes they MAY block access to sites (but unlikely they would block Telstra). If you cant reach the proxy server (because you are not in the corporate environment) then most probably all web browsing would fail.

Thanks - very helpful.