Users with Sky broadband appear to be having trouble loading some websites.
The issues appear to be a result of errors in the domain name system, or DNS, which is something like a phone book for the internet. Users of Sky internet appear to be having their requests sent the wrong way, which is stopping them working – and affecting everything from many of the country’s biggest banking apps to eBay.
The problems might appear like any other outage, with websites failing to load or showing error messages. A number of users have complained about the problems on Twitter, where Sky said it was investigating the problems.
“We are aware of this issue and our teams are currently investigating,” it said to one user who complained about a “major outage”.
Some DNS issues can be fixed by using a different service, such as the one provided by Google. But the nature of the outage seems to mean that fix – which will work often at times when a broadband provider is not showing sites correctly – is unlikely to work.
If you do wish to try changing it, then instructions for doing so can be found on Google’s website, which includes the details as well as how to change the settings on PC, Mac, and iOS and Android devices. While the problem appears to be in a different part of the process – and changing it is unlikely to work in this case – switching to Google is unlikely to cause any problems if done properly.
Some users report having had success while connecting thorugh a virtual private network, or VPN. Setting one up can be somewhat fiddly, but relatively easy, and you can find our rundown of the best services as well as a guide to using them here.
If that doesn’t work, and it may not, then there is a potentially simpler solution: switch away from Sky internet. If you are trying to access the internet on your phone, and can use its data connection rather than the Sky WiFi one, it should be able to get online as usual.
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