DNS problems at Greece's Leading ISP | OTEnet.gr

Brits in Crete faces Internet ISP/DNS challenges again with a failure of OTEnet.gr to keep its technical standards in check. OTEnet is the main ISP in Greece. Whether intentional or by error, the company is blocking access to our BritsinCrete Forum that is hosted on dsvr/Legend web host servers in the UK.

The BritsinCrete community can surf the Internet to access the Forum from anywhere in the world, except from an OTE connection.

As a webmaster how do I explain that yet again we have Internet problems that are completely out of our control. The truth is simple; if you are connecting to Brits in Crete Forum via OTENet adsl broadband or dial up, you are being blocked.

What I find curious, is that Brits in Crete is suffering due to failure of quality control at OTEnet, or bad connections that only OTEnet can find a solution to.

In short, I can surf the Internet via an OTEnet connection to any website, anywhere except to the servers of one of Britain's bigggest IT group of companies, publicly-listed THUS plc that includes demon and dsvr/Legend.

I contacted THUS public relations company, technical support at demon/dsvr and yet none knew of access problems to their whole group from an OTEnet Internet connection.

I do not wish to convey any wrong impression here regarding front line staff at OTEnet.gr - the OTE fault reporting telephone hotline 1242, works. The front line staff were helpful. They recognised that the problem could only be solved by OTEnet.gr customer service on telephone 801-11-35-555.

The hiccup comes whereby e-mails citing Internet connection problems, sent to noc@otenet.gr will only be acknowledged in a 24 or 48 hour time frame, depending on which customer service staff are saying it. Initial response - is a routine standard reply about 12 hours later states that the e-mail has been received. OTEnet by its lack of further communication appears not to operate the "technical ticket" system of logging and tracking service complaints with customers, adopted elsewhere on websites.

The bottom line is the frightening fact this problem would have gone undetected if BritsinCrete Forum moderators Lea and Lou had not picked it up. If, I as webmaster had been outside Greece, it would have created communication problems to explain to OTEnet that it was only they that could rectify the problem.

An OTE problem that started at approximately 1900 hrs on Tuesday July 15 is still not sorted at the time of preparing this blog on Friday late afternoon. I am doing my best to resolve this issue soonest, and keep BiC Forum members informed.

All I can do is yet again extend my apologies to members, this time in Greece faced by this temporary problem (I hope) unable to get their BritsinCrete Forum daily "fix" as I know many drop by to see the latest postings.