Problem trying to ping a website.

[G0AOZ]

I'm not happy with the answers I'm getting from the hosting company with whom I've set up a website, but I don't have sufficient knowledge to repudiate their claims.

For the past 10 days they've claimed server problems which have showed up as intermittent access to my website. At one point they said "it pings fine with us", but I have NEVER been able to ping it at all, and neither have friends and colleagues. The answer is always the same, "request timed out". At this moment web access is fine, but no ping.

The host company is now claiming the server is down. I am suspicious that this is not the case at all, and they're trying to fob me off. Are they really running two servers, one which accepts normal web access via a browser, and another which accepts pings? I can't believe that's the case, but this is where I'm lacking in knowledge...

If pings are being blocked as a matter of course, I'd have expected them to tell me so, not to specifically send me an e-mail saying "it pings fine with us", with the implication that something must be wrong with my settings, etc.

Any thoughts please...


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[MaxPipeline]

It's possible that the server may be pinged successfully from within your hosting service network. But the fact that you cannot ping your website from the Internet may mean that the server may be behind a firewall or NAT server that blocks ICMP. So they may mean that the server is pingable from behind the firewall. This of course means nothing to you or those that are trying to reach your webpage. Sounds like you should consider another webhosting company with better support.

 

[BitFuzzy]

I concure, it is very likely your ping attempts are being blocked (this is very common)

However since you seem to be getting conflicting stories, it does make one wonder what exactly is going on..

Visit google, there are plenty of hosts available

 

[G0AOZ]

Thanks for the replies MaxPipeline and BitFuzzy. I think what you've said about ping attempts being blocked as a matter of course, is probably the answer here. I've now spoken to several people with websites, and they all say they can't ping their own sites, and yet they're all accessible ok. Why the respondents at my hosting company couldn't have given me this info in the first place is anyone's guess...

Roger - G0AOZ.