Having trouble getting to a web page

I wrote a request at the end of a posting over a day ago, and asked
some of you out there to check a link on Cingular's home page. So far,
nobody has replied.

Before starting, if possible, delete cookies, and clear files (IE), or
cache (Netscape and Firefox). I am asking everyone who cares to reply
to go to www.cingular.com. At the lower right hand corner is a link
that says: "Former AT&T Wireless Customers". While clicking on that
link, watch the status bar at the bottom of the browser, and see if
'www.attwireless.com' ever appears. For me, the link starts out at
www.cingular.com/ocs , but redirects eventually to www.attwireless.com
, then no page ever loads, it just times out. I've tried IE, Netscape
7.2, and Firefox with the same results.

Any of you having the same problem as I do, I would be curious which
city, or at least which state you are connecting from, and which ISP
you are using. Also are you using dial-up, dsl, or cable?

You who can get to a log in page, do you ever see www.attwireless.com
ever appear in the status bar at the bottom of the browser - even if
momentarily?

---

› See More: Having trouble getting to a web page

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on 22 Jul 2005
20:43:03 -0700, "GomJabbar" <[email protected]> wrote:

>I wrote a request at the end of a posting over a day ago, and asked
>some of you out there to check a link on Cingular's home page. So far,
>nobody has replied.
>
>Before starting, if possible, delete cookies, and clear files (IE), or
>cache (Netscape and Firefox). I am asking everyone who cares to reply
>to go to www.cingular.com. At the lower right hand corner is a link
>that says: "Former AT&T Wireless Customers". While clicking on that
>link, watch the status bar at the bottom of the browser, and see if
>'www.attwireless.com' ever appears. For me, the link starts out at
>www.cingular.com/ocs , but redirects eventually to www.attwireless.com
>, then no page ever loads, it just times out. I've tried IE, Netscape
>7.2, and Firefox with the same results.
>
>Any of you having the same problem as I do, I would be curious which
>city, or at least which state you are connecting from, and which ISP
>you are using. Also are you using dial-up, dsl, or cable?
>
>You who can get to a log in page, do you ever see www.attwireless.com
>ever appear in the status bar at the bottom of the browser - even if
>momentarily?

Doing what you asked, it opened up a new window that redirected a number of
times and finally wound up at
<https://onlinecare.cingular.com/my-account/?awredirect=awspecificpage&_requestid=82537>
with an overlay window that said "This Page Has Moved to Cingular.com", in
both Firefox and IE. I was connecting over SBC DSL in the San Francisco Bay
Area.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

Jack wrote:

> You should note that neither link was at the "lower right corner" of the
> first page. They were both near the top of the page. You should also
> have seen several replies to your initial post, which could point to a
> problem with your newsreader or browser.

As I wrote, I've tried 3 different browsers, so I don't think that is
the problem. I did notice however, that the home page changes once it
has stored some cookies (or data some other way). On one brower that I
never deleted the cookies, I see the the link near the top of the page.
And this is even though I typed in www.cingular.com in the browser
location bar. Apparantly it redirects to a different page according to
any cookies stored.

So typing in www.cingular.com can take you to different pages,
depending on the cookies already stored. When I typed in
www.cingular.com with all cookies and cache deleted, I get the problem
page originally described.

Netscape 7.2 with cookies stored from the past, I get this page when I
type in: www.cingular.com
http://www.cingular.com/index_welcome
Mouse over link for Former AT&T Wireless Customers, I get:
http://www.attwireless.com/ocs

IE or Firefox with all cookies deleted and cache or files deleted, I
get this page when I type in: www.cingular.com
http://www.cingular.com/indexc
Mouse over link for Former AT&T Wireless Customers, I get:
http://www.cingular.com/ocs

Neither of the above links for Former AT&T Wireless Customers works for
me. I always end up at a dead link.

GomJabbar wrote:
> I wrote a request at the end of a posting over a day ago, and asked
> some of you out there to check a link on Cingular's home page. So far,
> nobody has replied.
>
> Before starting, if possible, delete cookies, and clear files (IE), or
> cache (Netscape and Firefox). I am asking everyone who cares to reply
> to go to www.cingular.com. At the lower right hand corner is a link
> that says: "Former AT&T Wireless Customers". While clicking on that
> link, watch the status bar at the bottom of the browser, and see if
> 'www.attwireless.com' ever appears.

It does not. I took a screenshot of what I get, including the URL I'm
redirected to:

http://tinyurl.com/8homl

After about 20 seconds or so, the "this page has been moved" overlay
disappears, revealing the full web page.

I'm viewing the page on a newly installed Verizon DSL connection in NJ,
on a machine running Windows XP on a self-built machine (installed in
January 05). I normally use Firefox, but to ensure I had no history, no
cache and no cookies lingering, I loaded that page up in IE (which I
normally NEVER use).

Also: just tried loading up the same page on my IBM Thinkpad T42 that's
two months old, Windows XP, on IE as well. This time on a neighbor's
comcast cable modem connection (WiFi used with their permission). I got
the exact same result.


> For me, the link starts out at
> www.cingular.com/ocs , but redirects eventually to www.attwireless.com
> , then no page ever loads, it just times out. I've tried IE, Netscape
> 7.2, and Firefox with the same results.

You may have a DNS cache entry taht isn't going away. Have you tried
opening a cmd shell and issuing an "ipconfig /flushdns" ?



--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

GomJabbar wrote:
> Jack wrote:
>
>
>>You should note that neither link was at the "lower right corner" of the
>>first page. They were both near the top of the page. You should also
>>have seen several replies to your initial post, which could point to a
>>problem with your newsreader or browser.
>
>
> As I wrote, I've tried 3 different browsers, so I don't think that is
> the problem. I did notice however, that the home page changes once it
> has stored some cookies (or data some other way). On one brower that I
> never deleted the cookies, I see the the link near the top of the page.


You know now that I think of it, is this on a laptop, or do you have
access TO a laptop? If so, can you perhaps find a Starbucks, kinko's or
some other place with a wireless hotspot (preferrably one served by an
ISP different from the one you nromally use), then clear the cache and
cookies and try loading the page again?

This sounds like an odd request, but I did discover, quite by accident,
that Cingular not only checks cookies but also decides what kind of page
to serve you based on what organization, business or region it THINKS
your IP is associated with.

Case in point: right now, on IE, with a clear cache, history and
cookies, I get the following page:

http://tinyurl.com/8fxpc

However, whenever I browse the Cingular web page from my computer at
work, even with a clear cache/cookies/history, and even from ANOTHER
computer at work that I know has NEVER visited the cingular site before,
I get:

http://tinyurl.com/dsode

Both times, the only URL I typed in was www.cingular.com

What's funny about this is that Cingular's website seems to be
associating the block of IPs at my place of work with the US Navy;
assumes as a result that I'm a US Navy employee or officer or something,
and then serves me a page tailored to US Navy-specific discounts.
However, I DON'T WORK FOR THE NAVY. I don't think we've even done
business with the Navy, ever, and the domain associated with that IP
block is a nondescript .com type domain.

Evidently, when I'm on my Verizon DSL connection at home, the site
doesn't associate me with much of anything except maybe a home
connection, and gives me the generic "back to school" specials page.

It might be fouled up associations like this that are causing the
problem. Cingular may have a region-specific or organization-specific
page that is being served to your particular block of IP addresses, that
does not have the correct redirect added to it. This would explain why
we can access the page, and you can't.

Also: I just tried the "former ATT wireless customers" link on the "US
Navy" page. It DID try to connect to attwireless.com and stalled for
about 10 seconds, then brought me to the reidrect page that
Iscree-capped in my previous post. So most definitely, the redirects
are being treated differently, just like the main pages aare IP-block
specific.



--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

I would like to thank everyone that responded. I really appreciate
your replies.

Isaiah, I think you might be on to something here. You covered several
things that hadn't occurred to me. Obviously, you have something
besides air between your ears. ;=)

Flushing the DNS cache was a good idea, something I hadn't thought of.
I flushed the DNS cache, cleared all information in Firefox, typed
www.cingular.com in the location bar, and was brought to the "Back to
School" page that you saw (http://tinyurl.com/8fxpc). I clicked on the
link for "Former AT&T Wireless Customers", and was again redirected to
www.attwireless.com, and the page timed out - with nothing loading. In
fact, if I type www.attwireless.com into the location bar and hit
enter, the page never loads, it just times out.

But the thought that Cingular would serve up pages depending upon the
block of IP addresses that they come from - Wow.

Isaiah wrote:
> It might be fouled up associations like this that are causing the
> problem. Cingular may have a region-specific or
> organization-specific page that is being served to your particular block
> of IP addresses, that does not have the correct redirect added to it.
> This would explain why we can access the page, and you can't.

Anyone out there who cares to try this last test, open your browser,
delete your cookies, clear your cache (files), type www.attwireless.com
into the location bar of your browser and hit enter. Do you ever get a
page that loads and does not time-out?

This entire thread has been brought to Cingular Wireless' attention.
Hopefully it will get to the right person, who will get the ball
rolling, and this problem will be finally resolved.

In <[email protected]> "GomJabbar" <[email protected]> writes:

>Anyone out there who cares to try this last test, open your browser,
>delete your cookies, clear your cache (files), type www.attwireless.com
>into the location bar of your browser and hit enter. Do you ever get a
>page that loads and does not time-out?

Using iCab on a Mac, I get to the "back to school" page, with a url:

http://www.cingular.com/indexa?awredirect=awgenericpage

Note that there's an akamai server involved for parts of it, so it's
certainly possible that's part of the problem you're seeing.

I tried it a bunch of times, clearing te caceh and all cookies in
between, and got the same result.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
[email protected]
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

Interesting Jack. I'll have to look into it. I do have Spybot on my
laptop, but I am not sure if it's active except when I start it.

Regarding the HOSTS files, I remember hearing the name sometime in the
past, but I am not really familiar with them. I'll have to do a little
research on this. Thanks for the reply.

Jack D. Russell, Sr. wrote:
> Which could relate to an errant entry in a HOSTS file or similar Ad
> blocker that is preventing the page from loading. Examine your HOSTS
> file for any references to akamai, 2o7.net, cingularglobal, etc.
> Temporarily renaming the HOSTS file to something else while disabling
> any Ad/popup blockers you may have running should show you if they are
> causing the problem. Good luck.


I use the #1 rated HOSTS file which blocks akamai and 2o7.net but not
cingularglobal. I'm also using SpyBot and SpywareBlaster. I'm not
getting messages about any popups being blocked in FireFox for this
website. I cannot get my browser to stick on the attwireless page.

Update:

Thanks Ed, for the reply. I followed Jack's advice. I verified that
Spybot was not running. I renamed all the HOSTS files. I flushed the
DNS cache. I launched Firefox and cleared all information (cookies,
cache, etc.). I set up Firefox to allow Pop-Ups. Then I went online.

I typed www.cingular.com in the location bar and was brought to
www.cingular.com/indexc. At the lower right hand corner is a link that
says: "Former AT&T Wireless Customers". While clicking on that link,
the status bar at the bottom of the browser shows that I start out at
www.cingular.com/ocs , but eventually redirect to www.attwireless.com,
then no page ever loads, it just times out.

GomJabbar wrote:
> I would like to thank everyone that responded. I really appreciate
> your replies.
>
> Isaiah, I think you might be on to something here. You covered several
> things that hadn't occurred to me. Obviously, you have something
> besides air between your ears. ;=)

Eh, it's all luck, really, and this is assuming that my theory IS in
fact the problem. It had just dawned on me that it might be related
because I couldn't (and still can't) for the life of me figure out why
Cingular was so concerned about showing me what discounts the Navy was
getting, and ONLY from my work computers. It's not random either: any
machine connected to the IP block at work will ALWAYS get a page listing
what great benefits you get from Cingular as a Navy employee, and yet
nowhere else that I have net access will get these pages.

If their content delivery system is wrong about this, I just wodnered
what ELSE the system could be wrong about, and former attwireless
customers in various regions of the country could be having issues with
account access as a result.

--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

Thanks again, Isaiah. I guess all I can do now is
wait.....................

UPDATE: Yesterday, Aug. 3rd, Cingular resolved the issue I had
regarding the link "Former AT&T Wireless Customers" on their home page
redirecting to a dead link - www.attwireless.com. Although the link
starts at the same address as before, www.attwireless.com never shows
up in the browser status bar, and now I get to an actual log-in page.

Thanks again to everyone for your help and input! :-)