2

My attempts to get onto www.radioshack.com come up with a 'Network Connectivity' error in the browser (both SeaMonkey, and Chrome). tracert got as far as my National Internet Backbone (218.248.246.130); then timed out.

Friends elsewhere in the country are able to confirm the radioshack website is up and running. Posting the URL in FB showed the correct preview; so it's probably the route followed by packets originating from my computer to the ISP.

Since my friends use a different ISP, I'm guessing their gateway is different too.

Is there a way to tell my modem/packets to go to a gateway other than that of my ISP?

Everyone
  • 1,824
  • 7
  • 30
  • 47
  • by the way I succeeded in pinging 218.248.246.130 so if you can't ping it then maybe the issue is a bit earlier than that, though your question stands. – barlop Nov 17 '11 at 13:52
  • @barlop: 218.248.246.130 is the last available hop in the route; the trouble is radioshack.com which remains elusive over my connection – Everyone Nov 17 '11 at 18:14

3 Answers3

2

No, because your ISP's gateway is pretty much a next stop. I don't know why it has to be, but it is.

To get to the other sites, you could try a web proxy website, if you can get to one of those sites then they may be able to get to the site you want, just taking another route. Bear in mind that it's not safe to enter passwords if going through a web proxy website though.

barlop
  • 23,380
  • 43
  • 145
  • 225
  • Another option would be to use a VPN provider which will make a tunnel out of the local connection to another computer and then into the Internet. This is usually solution if the ISP blocks a large number of sites because VPN usually has to be payed for. – AndrejaKo Nov 17 '11 at 18:48
2

A gateway is the gateway OUT of your network. When a request can't be resolved in the current network, it uses the gateway address to access the next network, hoping it can resolve the request.

This happens network-by-network until it gets to a network that can resolve the request.

So basically, there's no way to use the gateway of another network to get out of your network. :)

As barlop points out in his answer, a proxy server could help you as it creates a (re)request from another network, hopefully with a different, working route to the target.

Perhaps check out: What's the difference between "default gateway" and "preferred DNS server"?

Community
  • 1
Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
  • 111,883
  • 19
  • 201
  • 268
  • There's still a side question of why.If your ISP's network was a physical network, adjacent,then indeed there'd be no other way you could change the next Router your gateway sent the packet out to. But there must be something logical set up, that you can't change.. Perhaps the ISP tells the Home Router what the ISP's gateway is.. But if so, maybe a Home Router could be hacked to send it elsewhere, and then something else stops it. Though i've no idea what stops it. And you talk of network to next network.Well what about going straight to a network other than his ISPs.What stops n prevents it? – barlop Nov 17 '11 at 16:16
  • Why not is because the gateway you use is part of the network you are attached to. You can't use the gateway of a network you're not connected to to get out of the network you are connected to. :) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Nov 17 '11 at 18:29
  • well, they're all physically connected, my computer is connected to your computer, just not directly. There are the concepts of circuit switching and packet switching, and with circuit switching, you get virtual circuits, so it's as if 2 computers are directly connected on a physical line, because data sent between them always go on the same route. Perhaps the connection between one's computer and ISP's gateway is like that, though it needn't be. But either way, it's logical not physical. – barlop Nov 18 '11 at 01:36
  • And so then somebody with a cup of coffee in a telco can redirect things.. and they do, though usually for a fee! Perhaps if they did without a fee, some ISP's gateways would notice that traffic is not theirs, and some wouldn't.. maybe if you know the right guy, it'd just take one guy to send your traffic to another ISP's gateway! I don't know. But ultimately it can be done and is done when one changes ISP. – barlop Nov 18 '11 at 01:40
  • maybe it's possible but I doubt the telco has a bunch of gateways from different ISPs, sitting at the wall of their building, and when you change ISP they plug you into a different box ;-) though even in that situation, you'd still be connected to all of them, just indirectly, and your ISP's would physically be the first and thus somewhat unavoidable. Anyhow, I think it's not like that and that the connection is logical. – barlop Nov 18 '11 at 01:42
1

ADSL connection to ISP

Your "default gateway" is the "ADSL Router Modem" in the disgram above.

If you only have a ADSL modem, the default gateway would be a router at the point of entry into the ISP network.

In this part of the world, ISPs give away ADSL-routers (ie switch+wap+router+firewall+modem in one small box) for free, I haven't seen a plain USB-ADSL-modem for years. Your Mileage May Vary.

Basically, The IP pathway over ADSL provided via your phone line (or cable) arrives at a router in the ISP premises before it gets anywhere near the rest of the intertubes.

enter image description here

RedGrittyBrick
  • 81,981
  • 20
  • 135
  • 205
  • is it an arrangement the ISP makes with telephone company to route it straight to their router? and that it's the telephone company that sets that part up? – barlop Nov 17 '11 at 16:20
  • @barlop: The exact answer probably varies from place to place, country to country. The underlying technologies vary too. Where I live, I believe the major telcos create ATM connections that carry the non-voice traffic to the ISP. The ISP set up this arrangement with the telco when you sign up for DSL with the ISP. If you don't want to use the ISP's infrastructure you have to cancel/terminate your ADSL contract with the ISP and make arrangements with a different ISP. The ISPs handle the liaison with the carrier (telco). Your Mileage May Vary. – RedGrittyBrick Nov 17 '11 at 16:33