Tech help general

[Wiffle]

Yeah you're right. Routers don't make much of a difference outside the local area network.

[Syobon]

Reset your router.
Flush DNS cache with "ipconfig /flushdns" (it's pretty much impossible that this will help but hey you never know).
Change your DNS server to for example 8.8.8.8 (same likelihood of helping as above, connecting to a server through a game shouldn't involve DNS, but hey it doesn't hurt to try).
Restore router to factory settings.

Post a tracert to the server's IP.

[Brekkjern]

Yeah. It looks like you have a proper connection going there. Can you connect to other servers?

[Chloemew]

Reset your router.
Flush DNS cache with "ipconfig /flushdns" (it's pretty much impossible that this will help but hey you never know).
Change your DNS server to for example 8.8.8.8 (same likelihood of helping as above, connecting to a server through a game shouldn't involve DNS, but hey it doesn't hurt to try).
Restore router to factory settings.

Post a tracert to the server's IP.

Tried the DNS stuff but no dice - router resetting stuff I'll have to try tomorrow if I have time, since it's almost 11 pm right now so I need to be heading to bed soon (I'll also need to get my stepmum's permission for the factory reset, though I can't imagine she'd have mucked about with any settings much). What's a tracert?

Yeah. It looks like you have a proper connection going there. Can you connect to other servers?

Yeah, other servers are fine. It's pretty much this one specific server that my stepmum's internet is having issues with. One day it was working fine like it usually did - there was a hacker on the server, so I went on to get rid of them, played for a bit and then left. Checked my favourite servers list a few hours later and all of a sudden it's coming up saying the server's not responding.

[Brekkjern]

Yeah. It looks like you have a proper connection going there. Can you connect to other servers?

Yeah, other servers are fine. It's pretty much this one specific server that my stepmum's internet is having issues with. One day it was working fine like it usually did - there was a hacker on the server, so I went on to get rid of them, played for a bit and then left. Checked my favourite servers list a few hours later and all of a sudden it's coming up saying the server's not responding.

Honestly, it sounds like the server has IP banned you for some reason. It might not be the TF2 server software that has done it, but the underlying operating system on the server. I'd get in contact with the owners and see if they can fix it.

[Chloemew]

Tried resetting the router, still no dice. I'm actually friends with someone who was made a server owner and given access to all that stuff, but he wasn't sure what to do as far as seeing if my IP's been banned is concerned. If that was the case though, wouldn't it tell me I'm banned whenever I try to connect? Whenever I try putting the ip in the console in-game to connect that way, it stays on the loading screen for a few minutes and then says "connection failed after 4 retries".

[Brekkjern]

Tried resetting the router, still no dice. I'm actually friends with someone who was made a server owner and given access to all that stuff, but he wasn't sure what to do as far as seeing if my IP's been banned is concerned. If that was the case though, wouldn't it tell me I'm banned whenever I try to connect? Whenever I try putting the ip in the console in-game to connect that way, it stays on the loading screen for a few minutes and then says "connection failed after 4 retries".

It would tell you if you had been banned through the TF2 server software, but not if the operating system the server is running has put up a firewall rule against it. I'm unsure about what to advice you to do here as we are lacking some sort of information.

[Syobon]

You could try connecting through a VPN, if that works it pretty much confirms you are banned or otherwise restricted from accessing.

[Chloemew]

Did some mucking about with my dad and we found that changing the router to modem mode and hooking my laptop up to it changed our IP address, which then meant that the server showed up properly in the server list like it used to. We couldn't keep it on that mode though since everyone else needs to use the wifi, and we found that after disabling modem mode, we got the previous IP back and the server stopped responding again. We're a little stumped what to do now though, since our router's a Virgin Media Superhub 2 and getting the IP to change with it is apparently hard to do. Thanks for the suggestions, at any rate - I wouldn't have found out what was causing the problem without you guys. :>

[Syobon]

Seems to confirm that you're IP banned then, I'd try contacting the server admins.

[Shining Charizard]

Okay, troglodyte incoming:

I have never owned a smart phone. My current phone, however, has finally kicked the bucket. Since they basically only sell smartphones nowadays...

Can anyone give me recommendations on a new phone? Stuff I should look for, stuff I should avoid, whether brand-related or just general advice?

[YCobb]

There are three major brands, obviously. Apple, Google, and Windows.

iPhones are my personal favorite. They're designed to let you do anything you need to do. They have the best app support - Android has slightly more apps, but the standardization across Apple's ecosystem means that nearly everything runs best on iPhone. iPhones are very standard - they're all manufactured by Apple and iOS is built specifically for them so you know it works well with the hardware. If iPhones have a primary disadvantage, it's that you can't (easily) get down to the nitty-gritty and customize your experience like on Android.

Androids are essentially neck-and-neck with iPhones because, for the most part, they work well and have similarly broad app selection. They're also much more open than iPhone. You can install apps from any source, (rather than just from the iOS app store), you can install numerous apps which (purport to) improve various aspects of the device's core functionality, and you can assume more direct control over what the phone is doing at any given time. One major downside of Android phones is that there's no single specification for the hardware, so many apps can work poorly with individual phones. Android is also less secure than iOS and Windows Phone, so it's possible to get a virus or to accidentally install malicious code.

Windows Phone is the most different from the other two, but for some users that makes it the best choice. The entire operating system is much more limited than iOS and Android are. While iPhones and Androids feel to some degree like small computers that fit in your pocket, I've found Windows Phone feels like an old flip phone that happens to run apps. If you want a simple and straightforward experience more suited to browsing the web and using telephone features, Windows Phone is excellent. The downsides are that it's very limited compared to iOS and Android. Windows Phones are also manufactured by numerous companies so the OS won't always be perfectly compatible, but I've found this to have much less of an impact on Windows Phone than on Android.

tl;dr iPhone is like a Mac or a PC in your pocket, Android is like a Linux computer in your pocket, and Windows Phone is like a very fancy PDA in your pocket. You'll probably want to figure out which of these general experiences you want before looking at individual phones.

If you have a few specific phones you're looking at, I can give you a better rundown of each.

[Syobon]

It might be worthwhile waiting for Windows 10 phones to come out, apparently they'll be compatible with all apps. Though idk what the releasedate for those specifically is.

[YCobb]

Oh, that is true, I should have mentioned it. Windows Phone 10 is supposed to run all Android apps semi-natively, while iPhone apps can be easily ported.

Windows 10 for computers is due at the end of July, and I believe it's confirmed that the mobile OS is coming out a bit later? And I believe most recent Windows Phone devices will be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 10, but that's just conjecture as far as I know.

[Shining Charizard]

I plan to just talk and text actually. If I could buy an old flip phone or whatever I totally would. But I haven't seen one for sale in years. Alas...

From what you described, it sounds like a Windows phone would be best for me, mostly phone stuff with web options if I need it. I don't know if I'll be able to wait too long for Windows 10, though, since my phone is bodaciously unusable right now and I need it for work.

...Do phones still let you set different ringtones for different people? I remember that being a thing years ago and being sad that I couldn't do that on my old phone.