I have been unable to connect to the Amtrak website for the past two days. I am using Firefox as my browser. Does anyone know if anything on that site has changed that would disable a connection?
Unable to access Amtrak.com for two days
- Thread starter dlagrua
- Start date
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2003
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- 8,507
No problems here - Windows 10 - Chrome and Edge.
KmH
Engineer
Yep. No problems here either. Windows 10/Chrome.
I've accessed the Amtrak website several times over the last few days.
I've accessed the Amtrak website several times over the last few days.
Devil's Advocate
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What happens when you try to access Amtrak.com? Usually there is some sort of error message and/or an advanced/details option with more information. There are probably a hundred different ways a web connection can fail.
Maglev
Conductor
Are you clicking on a bookmark? The site name has changed slightly--try entering "Amtrak.com" and see what happens. I recently had to re-bookmark Amtrak.
Ryan
Court Jester
Works fine here as well.
Here is what comes up:
Secure Connection Failed
The connection to www.amtrak.com was interrupted while the page was loading.
The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.
Putting in www.amtrak.com in the address bar doesn't work either. Strange???
May be a problem with an outdated Transport Security Layer or encryption problem on the webpages
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Clear your cache then try this https://www.amtrak.com/home.html
choochoodood
Service Attendant
I've had this happen a couple times before. I would receive a message that the site was "unavailable," although it actually was OK.
Try clearing your Internet history and cache, then re-booting your computer. That worked for me after a few tries
.
Try clearing your Internet history and cache, then re-booting your computer. That worked for me after a few tries
.
You aren't by any chance on Centurylink DSL?? That's what kind of error messages I get when my crappy DSL connection is interrupted too many times while trying to load a web page.
Devil's Advocate
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I've been able to reach Amtrak.com via Firefox on W7 and macOS through multiple ISP's with no issues. Whatever the issue might be, it doesn't appear to be possible for anyone else to duplicate it.
Ryan
Court Jester
PEBCAK.
It seems to work fine on my CenturyLink DSL connection, although mine's been pretty rock solid overall. (I live in the city and the node is across the street, which probably helps.)
Dakota 400
Engineer
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Messages
- 3,741
No problems with Windows 10.
bratkinson
Conductor
I had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM starting about 2 weeks ago with Firefox. Thinking it may be the 58.0.2 update to Firefox, I tried with Internet Explorer and got the same result. Therefore, it was NOT Firefox. I had the same results on my laptop, too. Both computers are Win 7 64 bit, as is Firefox.
So, I temporarily 'paused' my internet security software - Kasperski - and everything worked perfectly. I finally got fed up today having to pause Kasperski every time I wanted to book a trip. So I opened a 'ticket' and they responded with a series of instructions for me to follow to mark Amtrak as a 'safe' (not virus producing) site. It works fine now and I booked my trip. If you have Kasperski too, let me know and I'll paste the instructions here.
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Ryan
Court Jester
Heard the same thing from another source. Don't trust it.
bmjhagen9426
OBS Chief
Regarding DSL, the closer to the node, the better. Also, the signals degrade with distance, and DSL lines cant use repeaters. Surprised that some people still use DSL.
False, at least from a practical perspective. Loop extenders are available to telephone companies that essentially repeat or boost the DSL signal on the copper pair to enable DSL signal to travel further than it would otherwise. It's not a great solution, but sometimes it's the only solution to deliver DSL to a customer.
There's still areas that only have DSL for wired internet. LTE is often but not always available, and DSL often has much higher caps (or no caps) than LTE. DSL also can cost less than cable or fiber, especially if your bandwidth needs are minimal and/or you don't want to bundle with other services. (DSL can and is sold without dial tone service, so phone is not technically required for DSL to work.) There's also areas where the cable company has a hard data cap or charges for exceeding your data cap where the DSL company doesn't have a cap or doesn't strictly enforce it. Finally, the newest iterations of DSL can offer higher upload speeds than cable modem can, and most areas don't have fiber.
For me, it's a mix of the last two options. I can get 80Mbps down and 40Mbps up for $55/month, no contract required and price for life. That's with no other services from them, and has no hard data cap but does have a soft 1TB data cap. I've heard it's usually not rigorously enforced, so for me it's better than Comcast with poor upload speeds, contracts to get cheaper packages, and a 1TB data plan with a punitive $10 per 50GB over that limit.
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LOL, jebr's right on about DSL. Out here in the rural mountains of eastern Oregon, it's the only thing that is available to us, except for expensive satellite internet. We actually have that, too, for those times when we really need a solid connection for online commerce or video. But we're limited to 10 GB per month for $49.99, and don't really want to spend the big bucks to get a higher data cap (the 10 GB is their loss-leader, I guess, higher caps cost more per gig). The $19.99 DSL allows me to keep my weather station online 24/7, and to download as much data as the 1.5 Mbps (when it works) connection will allow me. The DSL doesn't have a data cap, it's as much as you can stand to wait for.
Anyway, I have been checking availability on amtrak.com for the last two days with no problem. Firefox 58.0.2 and Windows 7 64 bit. I use AVG for security. Of course, Centurylink itself is known to have certificate problems...
Anyway, I have been checking availability on amtrak.com for the last two days with no problem. Firefox 58.0.2 and Windows 7 64 bit. I use AVG for security. Of course, Centurylink itself is known to have certificate problems...
Devil's Advocate
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DSL isn't even close to being the slowest physical network link out there. T1 landlines came from the era and minds of 300 baud analog modems. They run at (a once blistering) 1.544Mb and are all but useless for real time applications and graphical browsing on their own. They can be grouped and bonded with other T-carrier lines to make a useful connection but for the most part they're generally limited to low bandwidth commercial applications. You'd think they'd be long gone by now but the original build out lasted a half-century and was so vast in size and scope that they were deployed almost anywhere an in-service telephone pole existed. You still can't say that about more modern technologies like DSL, DOCSIS, Fixed Wireless, and 3G/4G/5G cellular networks. So far as I'm aware only satellite transceivers and 2G cellular towers have managed to exceed the reach of the lowly T1 circuit. Today remote T-carriers are finally being replaced by fiber based Ethernet but we're still many years away from the end of the T1 era.
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bratkinson
Conductor
Actually, I'm quite happy with Kaspersky. As I don't have any classified information or even access to classified info, 'they' have no reason to spy on me. Given that 'smart TVs' spy on us, various voice-activated 'home assistant' hardware spies on us, and on and on, even if Kaspersky logged my credit card and bank info, I keep close enough watch on all of them and would quickly notice if something was amiss.
So why Kaspersky? Let me count the ways: The products from Norton are incredible CPU hogs! After being a very loyal Norton products customer from Norton Utilities 1.0 forward, since he sold out to Symantec, their software has become incredibly difficult to use and for internet security, a pig of pigs in my book! I recently upgraded a friend to a brand new Windows 10 computer. After transferring his software and data, I then installed the Comcast-supplied Norton internet security product as he had it for free on his old computer. Once installed, the machine was easily 30% slower in doing everything from boot up to running programs on the computer. No thanks, Norton. I replaced my Symantec/Norton software more than 10 years ago.
Next, I tried Trend Micros' products. It ran far faster than Norton and I was happy with it for several years. But after a while, it started to bog down my overclocked 3.2ghz Windows XP computer, so they went bye bye in favor of McAfee. When I built my overclocked quad processor Win 7 computer, McAfee installed on that and ran fine...for a couple of years. The 'straw that broke the camels' back' was an automatic renewal for twice the price I could buy a completely new version online! I was stuck with it as I had foolishly clicked some 'accept' button the previous year and it locked me into the automatic renewal. If I make a 'deal', I'll stick by it, even if I get screwed. I don't take getting gypped lightly, so they were GONE after the twice-the-price year was finished.
Finally, 3 years ago, I switched to Kaspersky and my computer ran noticeably faster than I ever had with McAfee. I upgraded my mobo with an overclocked, water-cooled 8-processor system and I barely notice any 'drag' at all from Kaspersky. I had a few licensing 'bumps' with them as I moved from 2 computers + cell phone to 3 computers and a cell phone and then back to 2 computers + cell phone a year later. But they got it straightened out and everythings' works fine ever since. So why would I go to some inferior internet security product?
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It wasn't Kaspersky . Can access www.amtrak.com with IE but not Firefox. Something in the Firefox browser is terminating the connection, Tried disabling the add ons but still no connection.
bratkinson
Conductor
Perhaps your Firefox isn't up to date. On my Win 7 64-bit version, it shows as version 58.0.2, which was released about 2 weeks ago. To check your version, click the 'three bars' at the top right of your screen, then 'help' and then 'about'. On the screen that pops up, it will show either your current version or a window 'update now' (or whatever). Do the update then try Amtrak.com again. It should work.
If that doesn't fix it, or you already have the current version, then try what Kaspersky emailed me:
In order to fixed your issue, please add the site to your trusted.
Open Kaspersky.
Click the "Settings" button on the bottom left of the window.
Click the "Protection" button at the left of the window.
Click the "Web Anti-Virus" button.
Click the "Advanced Settings" on the bottom left.
Click the "Configure Trusted URL" bottom on the bottom left.
Click the "Add" button on the bottom left.
Type in the web address you wish to exclude and hit enter.
I first entered "www.amtrak.com/*" (no quotes) and it didn't fix it. Then I noticed the failed Amtrak screen came up 'https.....' Note the addition of the 's' denoting a secure screen. So added the 's' and 'www.amtrak.com/*' and it worked. Note, also, the use of the /* following the .com. This harks back to the DOS days when the /* would denote all subsequent files and directories.
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