Tiscali/Abbey connection

mrs_angry

I'm having same problem since yesterday morning, just thought the site was busy, until i came across this thread.

have emailed tiscali as i think its them, as i can access all other secure sites OK and asked that they put up a notice for us at least letting us know there is a problem,

have also emailed the abbey to let them know i cant access my account, so lets wait and see who replies fist;)

bet you its tiscalis fault, always is;)

weegie.geek

tonyhague wrote: »

I love that quote, I was tempted to paraphrase it, but I guessed the mods would kick me..#
I'd rather.....

I couldn't believe I found myself typing that either.

It says a lot about just how bad Tiscali are.

They at one point had a really bad habit of buying lots of other ISPs, ruining every one of them. Half the ISPs I've used, annoyingly. Now nobody wants to buy Tiscali, even though they've been trying to sell it for months...

davidw53

There is a solution (!) if you are prepared to use a public proxy server.

One i've found that works is registered to Stafford College, Oxon, GB.

Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> Use a proxy server checkbox -> Advanced

In the Secure box enter 195.195.152.99, then port 80 in the next box.

Press OK three times. Now log on to abbey banking from a tiscali account.

Using the proxy is a bit slower than normal browsing which is why I suggest setting it just for the secure (https) connection - there no point slowing down your normal browsing as the rest of the abbey site is not blocked anyway.

There are probably other proxies that would work if this one gets blocked (There is a heightened risk that abbey will block this address if they see too many different logins from it)

It seems there is no simple way to set to just use the proxy for only that abbey logon. With this setup, the proxy is used for all secure connections.

Hope this helps someone.

Lets hope Abbey/Tiscali sort this before we all become super proxying experts!!

letmeinnow

davidw53 wrote: »

Problem is with Tiscali only.

It is not a DNS problem - myonlineaccounts2.abbeynational.co.uk and myonlineaccounts3.abbeynational.co.uk both resolve correctly.

Most likey Abbey are filtering to allow login to only UK ip address, but Tiscali are not playing ball by using only defined ip ranges for UK customers, so abbey don't know what addresses to allow and don't want to give access to Tiscali's international customers.

Possibly Tiscali are filtering themselves but I can't think why they'd do this. Maybe they have some dubious content filter thats being over zealous.

Just my tuppence worth.

This is the most useful answer on here.. enough of the isp bashing they're all bad in different ways.

I think the problem lies with abbey's browser check... usually (for me) clicking on the link will open a page saying 'unsupported browser' with a continue button.
Logging in later in the same day skips this extra check (i'm guessing they are using a cookie).
'unsupported browser' translates as "we're too lazy to make our web site work for everyone'

I've just switched to OpenDNS and the fault was the same.
I've tried a MAC running safari 1.0, and the latest firefox.
And i've just tried my PC as well.
its possible tiscali are blocking the browser version information.
i can't see any way around it.

thanks for the help guys

davidw53

My previous posting is for the Internet Explorer browser.

It works in Firefox too.

Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Connection settings button -> Select Manual proxy configuration

In the SSL Proxy box enter 195.195.152.99 then port 80 in the next box.

Press OK twice.

You're away.

davidw53

That fact that it works through a proxy but not without tends to suggest that it is abbey who are blocking based on ip address.

I mean, how would a tiscali filter allow access through the proxy but not to the underlying web site.

My best guess is that the low-level abbey or their service supplier's network blocks because the tiscali network gives it poor quality information.

Please enlighten me, anyone who has a clue.

littlegard

davidw53 wrote: »

My previous posting is for the Internet Explorer browser.

It works in Firefox too.

Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Connection settings button -> Select Manual proxy configuration

In the SSL Proxy box enter 195.195.152.99 then port 80 in the next box.

Press OK twice.

You're away.

Thanks for this info, worked first time. :cheesy: Now.. let's see how long it lasts.

chompie

is that safe... inputting your bank login details into what I'm assuming is an Unsecured open proxy server :shrug:

letmeinnow

davidw53 wrote: »

My previous posting is for the Internet Explorer browser.

It works in Firefox too.

Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Connection settings button -> Select Manual proxy configuration

In the SSL Proxy box enter 195.195.152.99 then port 80 in the next box.

Press OK twice.

You're away.

Thanks david this is now working - the page is (https <-- secure) and has the same url as when i log in though a non-tiscali isp.. so i'm guessing its safe. (i.e. - i'm not going to loose any sleep about it).

For people on apple macs who don't know where the proxy settings are...

On Firefox click on Firefox->Preferences (or press apple+comma).
then its advanced->Network-> click on the connection settings button.
choose the Manual proxy radio button
195.195.152.99 goes into the SSL box,
80 goes into the port box to its right.
click ok, close the prefs pane with its red button in the corner (or press apple+w)
quit firefox and restart it (probably not required, but why not :-) )

Safari users:
i'm old school (on pather + safari v1) so when i went into safari prefs to change the proxy settings but my mac redirected me to system prefs->network->proxies.
i can see that i can do lots of fancy things there... but i'd rather not.
so i suggest if its not obvious.... go and get firefox (even though its bloatware).

Many thanks to Davidw53 - now i don't have to travel into town or phone india to check my balance

geebus

Thanks everyone! That work-around works brilliantly! BTW - I'm on Pipex and suffering the same problem, I guess because Tiscali now own Pipex.