TalkTalkBusiness taking forever to fix a fault

My ISP is TalkTalk Business and my emails are hosted with Vidahost on their server ns31.sovdns.com
I am using Outlook 2013 as my email client and connect using IMAP. I have a fixed IP..

Everything was working just fine until a week ago when the flow of emails suddenly stopped. On to Vidahost to get it sorted.who quickly pointed out that a tracer route from my network to their server failed while still within the TalkTalk network. They confirmed that my IP was white listed on there server.

On to TalkTalk to get it resolved but given the complete run around asking for quite irrelevant information to determine if my configuration within Outlook was correct. and they would will get an email expert to look into the issue and report back within 48 hours, When I pointed out that it was a network specialist was really required, TTB said it couldn't escalate the issue until it was established that there were no problems with the email setup.

Received a text message from TTB around 60 hours later to say the fault had been fixed - it wasn't. So back onto TTB where we discovered the ticket had been closed and that another 48 hours would be required to investigate the matter further and this is still ongoing.

Within Outlook there is another email account that is working perfectly.

Decided to VPN into a friends network and found that my emails came through just fine all be it with asmall time delay.

I know a number of people who also use TTB and asked them to carry out the same trace route I used, on their PC. The trace route failed for them as well. My daughter is on Zen and the trace route completed satisfactory as did a close friend who uses BTInternet.

For a rapid resolution to the issue, Vidahost have offered to move my domain to another server. Or i could move to another ISP. Either choice would see my email service working but it would be a lot of reconfiguration for me to do. .

I just can not understand why TTB are taking so long to resolve this issue, Can anyone offer an insight why this is so difficult to fix? Meanwhile does a tracert to ns31.sovdns.com fail for you as well?

Isn't that just their DNS server? Not the email server.

I presume you've already sent across the results of your failed tracert to TTB support? That's the real proof in the pudding which will show the problem is at TT's end and not elsewhere.

Btw no issues on my FluidOne connection

C:\>tracert ns31.sovdns.com

Tracing route to ns31.sovdns.com [195.238.172.50]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 2 ms READYSHARE [192.168.1.1]
2 22 ms 20 ms 19 ms 77-89-165-7.fluidata.co.uk [77.89.165.7]
3 22 ms 19 ms 22 ms 77-89-165-29.fluidata.co.uk [77.89.165.29]
4 22 ms 19 ms 20 ms 77-89-177-66.fluidata.co.uk [77.89.177.66]
5 22 ms 19 ms 20 ms 83-223-115-33.as29017.net [83.223.115.33]
6 22 ms 20 ms 20 ms xe-0-0-1.border-1.sov.lon.uk.as29017.net [89.145.125.26]
7 23 ms 20 ms 21 ms uk.slo.ld5.101.r1.misp.co.uk [195.66.225.228]
8 25 ms 21 ms 22 ms uk.slo.prgn.aggr.sw1.misp.co.uk [185.52.26.185]
9 26 ms 21 ms 22 ms uk.slo.prgn.b10.stk1.misp.co.uk [185.52.26.180]
10 23 ms 20 ms 20 ms ns31.sovdns.com [195.238.172.50]

Trace complete.

C:\>

Meanwhile does a tracert to ns31.sovdns.com fail for you as well?

Got there in the end with my ADSL 3Meg connection

Tracing route to ns31.sovdns.com [195.238.172.50]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.254
2 44 ms 43 ms 42 ms 410.xe-2-2-0.central10.pcn-bng04.plus.net [84.93.253.88]

3 44 ms 43 ms 45 ms 411.be8.pcn-ir01.plus.net [84.93.253.91]
4 44 ms 44 ms 44 ms core1-BE1.colindale.ukcore.bt.net [195.99.125.132]
5 45 ms 45 ms 45 ms peer6-hu0-6-0-2.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.103.13]

6 44 ms 45 ms 44 ms t2c3-et-7-3-0-0.uk-lon1.eu.bt.net [166.49.211.230]
7 45 ms 45 ms 44 ms hu0-6-0-4.ccr22.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.14.65]

8 45 ms 45 ms 45 ms be2870.ccr41.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.58.173]
9 46 ms 46 ms 46 ms be2791.ccr21.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.56.78]
10 45 ms 45 ms 44 ms 149.6.149.46
11 46 ms 46 ms 46 ms 185.52.26.128
12 47 ms 47 ms 47 ms 185.52.26.183
13 52 ms 52 ms 53 ms uk.slo.prgn.b10.stk1.misp.co.uk [185.52.26.180]
14 47 ms 46 ms 46 ms ns31.sovdns.com [195.238.172.50]

Trace complete.

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

I presume you've already sent across the results of your failed tracert to TTB support? That's the real proof in the pudding which will show the problem is at TT's end and not elsewhere.

Btw no issues on my FluidOne connection

C:\>tracert ns31.sovdns.com

Tracing route to ns31.sovdns.com [195.238.172.50]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 2 ms READYSHARE [192.168.1.1]
2 22 ms 20 ms 19 ms 77-89-165-7.fluidata.co.uk [77.89.165.7]
3 22 ms 19 ms 22 ms 77-89-165-29.fluidata.co.uk [77.89.165.29]
4 22 ms 19 ms 20 ms 77-89-177-66.fluidata.co.uk [77.89.177.66]
5 22 ms 19 ms 20 ms 83-223-115-33.as29017.net [83.223.115.33]
6 22 ms 20 ms 20 ms xe-0-0-1.border-1.sov.lon.uk.as29017.net [89.145.125.26]
7 23 ms 20 ms 21 ms uk.slo.ld5.101.r1.misp.co.uk [195.66.225.228]
8 25 ms 21 ms 22 ms uk.slo.prgn.aggr.sw1.misp.co.uk [185.52.26.185]
9 26 ms 21 ms 22 ms uk.slo.prgn.b10.stk1.misp.co.uk [185.52.26.180]
10 23 ms 20 ms 20 ms ns31.sovdns.com [195.238.172.50]

Trace complete.

C:\>

Thank you for your interest in this issue. Cutting to the chase we want to see a compete trace route to 195.238.172.50 to compete from our own networked connected desktop.. If it does then emails would operate normally.

But sadly from our desktop we grind to a halt at hop 6 while still within the TalkTalk network

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tracing route to lorage.co.uk [195.238.172.50] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms <1 ms 192.168.134.1
2 18 ms 18 ms 18 ms host-62-24-254-203.as13285.net [62.24.254.203]
3 22 ms 19 ms 20 ms host-78-151-228-51.as13285.net [78.151.228.51]
4 20 ms 19 ms 19 ms host-78-151-228-56.as13285.net [78.151.228.56]
5 18 ms 19 ms 19 ms host-78-144-9-65.as13285.net [78.144.9.65]
6 19 ms 24 ms 20 ms host-78-144-14-7.as13285.net [78.144.14.7]
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This trace has indeed been shared with TTB

To eliminate any issues with the computer or the LAN itself the trace route command was invoked from within the router, which unfortunately doesn't show hostnames, with this result., ::

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
traceroute to 195.238.172.50, 30 hops max through WAN2 protocol ICMP
1 62.24.254.203 30 ms
2 78.151.228.51 20 ms
3 78.151.228.56 20 ms
4 78.144.9.65 20 ms
5 78.144.14.7 40 ms
6 Request timed out. *
7 Request timed out. *
Trace complete.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again it grinds to a halt when we reach 78.144.14.7. The same command was also invoked from the routers of other TTB customers without success although the hops stoped at a different IP address in the range 78.44.14.1 to 250.

Just for the record here is my tracert from my router:displays:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
traceroute to 195.238.172.50, 30 hops max through WAN1 protocol ICMP
1 62.3.80.17 20 ms
2 62.3.80.38 20 ms
3 77.67.66.225 20 ms
4 Request timed out. *
5 4.69.167.94 10 ms
6 4.69.167.94 10 ms
7 212.187.195.54 10 ms
8 185.52.26.128 20 ms
9 185.52.26.183 20 ms
10 185.52.26.180 30 ms
11 195.238.172.50 20 ms
Trace complete.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not perfect, but we get there.in the end.

Will all TTB subscribes be able to join the party real soon? No that is the big question.

I suggest you email your trace routes to TTB's network team directly, they sorted out ping issues on my line very quickly last year. Obviously mention your closed/existing ticket numbers

[email protected]

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

I suggest you email your trace routes to TTB's network team directly, they sorted out ping issues on my line very quickly last year. Obviously mention your closed/existing ticket numbers

[email protected]

Would welcome by PM if necessary the email address to use. Thank You.

At a guess I'd say it is [email protected]

Have exactly same issue, in that I can not see my web site. It just times out.
Have raised a ticket with Vidahost in hope they have more clout to get issue resolved. Have you done this too? After all not in Vidahost's interest for their clients to be inaccessible.

In reply to a post by Charlaba:

Have exactly same issue, in that I can not see my web site. It just times out.
Have raised a ticket with Vidahost in hope they have more clout to get issue resolved. Have you done this too? After all not in Vidahost's interest for their clients to be inaccessible.

Interesting. I'll be interested to to see your tracert to your website. Any chance you could PM me with the trace?