How do you access google.com?

My isp is Plusnet - so this morning I, like many others, could not access certain websites, one of them being google.co.uk.

Somebody on the Plusnet forums said that google.com was accessibe via Plusnet but google.co.uk was not. So I tried typeing google.com into my browser (firefox) address bar and it was replaced with google.co.uk - which then failed to respond. I have tried several times since, same result (though .co.uk is now accessible). This is not due to a bookmark - as the google.co.uk url includes a conversation identifier of some sort - that I did not type on either occasion.

It appears that the google.com address responds by redirecting me to google.co.uk. Is this normal and does anyone know how to stop it and to access the .com address (other than a VPN to the States)?

Believe http://www.google.com/ncr will do what you want

Actually, you probably were accessing google.com however that was then re-directing you to .co.uk rather ta your browser. As MsS says /NCR - No Country Redirect is what is required.

Thank you - I have tried it and it works

I got https://www.google.se/ to work, and selected the English language option offered.

In reply to a post by EnglishMohican:

Thank you - I have tried it and it works

With the caveat of course that Google.com results will be USA-biased. A search for "web hosting" on Google.com will provide a list of American web hosts, whereas searching for "web hosting" on Google.co.uk produces a list of (mostly) British web hosts.

Personally I prefer the UK-biased results of Google.co.uk.