What do they have that I don't have?

September 26, 2006 10:31 AM

Why can I access Gmail with no problems on campus, but not at all at home? What can I do about it? (Problem arose today)

From reading some other messages, I realize that I'm not the only person with this problem. I thought it would be useful to ask about workarounds.

posted by Mapes to computers & internet (12 comments total)

What kind of errors are you getting?
posted by moxyberry at 10:38 AM on September 26, 2006

I have the same problem. I can access Gmail fine on dial-up at home, but my speedy connection at work won't load it at all half the time. I wish I knew how to fix it.

In the meantime, when I just need to see if I have a new message (and don't necessarily need to read it or reply), I sign into the Google homepage and look at the Gmail widget. Maybe that helps a bit?
posted by phatkitten at 10:39 AM on September 26, 2006

I would assume this is a temporary problem that they are working on. I can't log in to gmail or do any google searches, but most of my friends I've contacted are able to access all gmail functionality.
posted by spicynuts at 10:45 AM on September 26, 2006

known issue today with comcast ... down about 8 hours
posted by mozhet at 10:48 AM on September 26, 2006

Uncanny timing! Never had a problem w/ gmail at work -- but noticed today that the system admins have disabled the chat feature (although we can still access AIM if logged in through Lotus Notes Sametime). What's up with that? Wonder if the issue is with employee productivity or internet bandwidth. Little of both?

Now that gchat is gone, gmail itself is screwy. Can type email and read emails, but the server times out when I try to delete or send anything. I switched the gmail view to "standard without chat" but it didn't improve things.

Now it's not connecting to gmail at all (500 server error). Wonder if the man shut down our access to gmail entirely? How could they!
posted by milkdropcoronet at 10:49 AM on September 26, 2006

What kind of errors are you getting?

I get "The page cannot be displayed" in Internet Explorer 6 at https://www.google.com/accounts/LoginAuth, and I get a timeout when I try to log in at google.com in Firefox 1.0.7. There's only a problem with Gmail, and only at home.
Since other people are having similar problems, I was wondering whether my school (MIT) gets a "super-duper" connection to Google that is protected from crashing.
posted by Mapes at 10:50 AM on September 26, 2006

I'm having the same problem via Comcast, cannot connect to Google servers. It'll fix.
posted by cribcage at 11:25 AM on September 26, 2006

I'm having the same problem via Comcast, cannot connect to Google servers. It'll fix.

Ditto.
posted by ericb at 11:52 AM on September 26, 2006

Google Investigating Access Difficulties.
posted by ericb at 1:22 PM on September 26, 2006

"Users of Comcast's Internet services in Massachusetts are unable to access Google sites, Google Watch has learned."
posted by ericb at 1:46 PM on September 26, 2006

"Update: Bostonist notes that access to YouTube may be affected also.

Update: Metroblogging Boston says you can substitute Google's IP address for the domain name to get everything working in the interim."

Update: Just moments ago I was finally able to get the Google homepage. Seems to be fixed.
posted by ericb at 1:51 PM on September 26, 2006

Looks like we're back in business. Thanks for the info and tips!
posted by Mapes at 4:18 PM on September 26, 2006