Website access for someone in a temprarily Down Zone

[questorfla]

Anyone know of a way I can help someone get access to our website if the area they are in is having "problems".  I think it has to do with DNS but cant prove it.
If they run "IsItDownRightNow.com" it says the website is UP and must be down just for them.
We have had this happen before along similar lines.  I have checked from coast to coast and cannot find anyone who cannot access the site or the IP.
Does IE or Firefox offer any methods of rerouting their requests through to a different area via proxy or >??  It was important enough to the people who wanted to connect  to ask but I don't know what to tell them as I have never had to deal with it,  Things like that usually fix themselves (and may eventually for them).  At the same location they were able to access no problems last week so I am leery of going to far with trying to change anything but if I could provide them with a way to "get out" to somewhere that the Internet was better served I would.  They have a perfect signal at a large Hotel and are able to get to a lot of places .  Just not here. 

[Shades]

I can only offer rather general advice. First I would ask them to add a 2nd (or third) DNS server entry in their network configuration. 208.67.222.222 is the ip of OpenDNS and that is decent (and free) DNS server service. If they cannot get to you one way, OpenDNS provides another.

If you think the above sounds too complicated for the people that want to make contact with your website, find out what the IP address of the computer/ISP that hosts your website. In case the domain name is pointing to your own webserver, 'www.whatismyip.com'; will tell you. With that information you can ask those people to type the IP address into their browser.

When they see your web page, chances are that the DNS service from their ISP could be flaky. If they still cannot see your page, then it might be time to take a look at what is happening on your side.

That is, when they are not using a proxy. If they do, there might be some hiccups there. Proxy servers come in different shapes and sizes, so you need to know exactly which one they are using and look for solutions. Without that info....have fun. And even if you have a solution, without administrative access to that server the problem remains anyway.

Very generic, I know 

[app103]

They can try this: http://www.httptunnelclient.com/html/solutions/http_tunnel/client.asp

I have used this one before. They have a free service, but it's at dialup speeds. If you need faster, you have to pay. A month of service is about $5.

They can try the software and see if they can get it configured and working first, on the free service, before considering paying for faster speeds.

This works for more than just browsers, too. Works quite well for some P2P software/networks, IRC, instant messaging software, etc. It works with any software that can be configured to use a SOCKS proxy.

Years ago, Martin used it to access my chat room, MSN, and a bunch of other stuff, when the ISP at his college dorm instituted protocol blocking (everything except http/https was blacklisted by default). And the company has not raised their prices in over 10 years. It's still the same $5/month.

If they travel a lot and run into this problem frequently, it might make sense for them to have the software installed and a portable browser configured to work with it. Then it's just a matter of running their software and starting up the portable browser whenever they have a problem. No need to have to configure it more than once, and with the free service it's always ready, on standby, and won't cost them anything to just have it ready to use.

[questorfla]

Many thanks and I LOVE the idea of a portable browser.  YES!  100% they travel a lot and this particular time they were with a GROUP who all needed access.  I could allow ONE person to link back direct (i.e.: rdp or similar) but that would not have helped as they were making a presentation and needed all of them to get in and no one at the entire Hotel could.
The Hotel of course Blamed Me!  So I was forced to prove it was them.  But this infighting did nothing to solve the problem nor prevent future occurrences so I really appreciate this.  I was also looking at PROXY which would allow one person ONCE they were able to connect to share that same connection locally.
Have you ever tried configuring a portable (read> flash drive) install of IE using this?  So they could run it ONLY in emergences as this one without worrying about any possible affects to the copy of the browser on their system?  As in plug in flashdrive and have it auto run with the tunnel client app already in it.
When done, remove flashdrive and reboot?  I need to be able to be 1000% certain that they could not accidentally do anything to their normal setup since this is a once in a blue moon occurrence caused by forces unknown at this time.  I cannot risk making any changes to their normal browser or laptop

[questorfla]

And thanks to you as well Shades.  I explained the dilemma to them as well.  One is the company owner here where I am the IT department.  SO..... I just take it as it comes.  I explained everything y9ou just went through to them.
Just FYI, I did try direct IP as I did a remote session to their system.  No Good.  So something in their Internet cant even locate my IP.

There is something not working in Philadelphia right now,  I also found that report.  And being the "overkill" type I ran Speed test checks to PA as a whole state for every server there.

Speed tests showed about a .9Mbps down and .1Mbps UP .  The same test to some remote outcrop in South Dakota showed 150+ Down and 25+ UP .  (of course I also got those results to almost anywhere BUT  Pennsylvania.

So I am in the clear for my performance but.. It is my duty to at least try.

[app103]

I need to be able to be 1000% certain that they could not accidentally do anything to their normal setup since this is a once in a blue moon occurrence caused by forces unknown at this time.  I cannot risk making any changes to their normal browser or laptop

The httptunnel software is an app that runs on your system and only provides the tunnel while it is running, and only for those apps that have been configured to use it. Everything else will work normally on your system and not use the tunnel.

I do recommend using a portable browser more for convenience than any thing else, to avoid having to configure, and reconfigure each time you want to use it or stop using it, and this can be any portable browser that can be configured to use a SOCKS proxy. I don't know anything about a portable IE, I don't use IE.

But I have checked and both portable Pale Moon and portable Firefox can be configured to use this.

One you have configured the browser to use it, it's as simple as launching the tunnel software, waiting for it to connect, then running the portable browser. When you are done, close both and go about your life.

As long as you are not making any configuration changes to your regular browser, nothing should go wrong.

As far as setting up a portable installation of the tunnel software on a flash drive, I do not know if that is possible. I was not referring to using a flash drive in my response. Perhaps the word "portable" threw you off? I only mentioned that because the browser would be self contained and any changes made to it would not affect their default browser. It doesn't need to be placed on a flash drive. It could very well sit in a folder on their hard drive, with a shortcut to it on their desktop.

I would suggest you download and try the free low speed service they offer and configure a portable browser to use it. Then you will understand how it works and the experience will probably answer most of the questions you might have about using it, and also allow you to be able to explain it better to them.