Cannot connect to Google or other Google products but can ping to the sites

Hi,

I discovered this issue yesterday morning when I tried to search for something on Google and displayed "Can't connect" message. Gmail and other websites have been working fine except google.com. I tried restarting my router and it worked fine for a few moments. After that, google.com worked fine but it was Google Photos that cannot connect to. I tried restarting my router one more time, this time was YouTube that was not working correctly (all of the video thumbnails were not shown). I tried to restart the router one last time, and it went back to google.com not working.

I tried ping google.com in the command line and it pinged successfully. However, I cannot connect to the site in the browser. Neither on Windows 10, nor on Mac, nor on iPhone (that's all the devices I own). I also tested on different browsers, the results were the same.

Can someone help me solve this issue, and why does it only affect Google-owned sites?

Thanks,

Robby

Accepted answers

Augie2020

I had this exact problem - if I turned off home network protection I could access google.com, but if home network protection was on I could not. So I went into home network protection and, for every category of parental control I had created (even a parental control with no blocking for me) I listed google.com as an allowable exception. After that it has been working fine (for now).

All comments

gvkenneally@outlook.com

I am having the same issue. Verizon appears to be having some sort of DNS issue. I noticed it wasn't resolving caching sites for YouTube thumbnails, but it also intermittently affected other websites where I couldn't connect. Resetting the router fixed the issue temporarily, but it would always return. Also releasing/renewing IPv6 address also fixed the problem temporarily. This is not a router/local network/local device issue.

It seemed like they just performed a reset at my place without any sort of request (router reset and STBs lost all connection). I will let you know if that fixes it.

--Edit--

After posting about the reset I had the same issue and couldn't connect back to this site.

Edg1

There might be an issue with your local Verizon DNS server. Login to your router and change the DNS to Google’s and see if that helps.

gvkenneally@outlook.com

I had a tech reset my ONT by contacting support and that seems to have fixed the issue I was seeing. I will report back if that didn't fix the problem.

gvkenneally@outlook.com

The issue is persisting even after ONT reset.

Edg1

Try the DNS change and see if that helps. They are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

gvkenneally@outlook.com

I have tried multiple DNS servers and it's the same issue. Different sites will all of a sudden fail to resolve even after router/DHCP/ONT reset. Everything else will function as normal.

After my latest chat with support I was told to replace the router, even though I have a hard time believing an intermittent issue like this is due to the router.

robbychen

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. I seem to solved the issue, at least for the Google part. After I read this article (https://chrisbenard.net/2014/02/25/how-to-fix-verizon-fios-problem-connecting-to-websites/), I manually set the MTU for the router to 1500. The default value is automatic.

Like Manipul2020 mentioned, I also could not visit this forum after that change. I had to do a manual DHCP release in order to visit here.

I just purchased this router directly from Verizon two months ago. So there shouldn't be any problem with the router.

I will report here if there are more problems.

Robby

robbychen

UPDATE: Changing MTU doesn't solve the Google issue at all. I tried different MTU value, from 100 to 1500. I still couldn't visit Google and Google-owned sites.

I got frustrated and reset the router to factory default. It worked for one night. But now, I can't visit google.com and gmail.com. I can't even ping to these sites:

ping gmail.com
Ping request could not find host gmail.com. Please check the name and try again.

ping google.com
Ping request could not find host google.com. Please check the name and try again.

ping bing.com

Pinging bing.com [204.79.197.200] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.79.197.200: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=117
Reply from 204.79.197.200: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=117
Reply from 204.79.197.200: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=117
Reply from 204.79.197.200: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=117

Ping statistics for 204.79.197.200:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 15ms, Average = 11ms

As the above code shows, I can ping to other sites such as bing.com and not these two sites.

Interestingly, only google.com and gmail.com are affected, YouTube and Google Photos are not. As for YouTube, the thumbnails are working correctly, albeit a little slow to show up.

Although right now I can access Gmail through IMAP, it still is a problem as I'm using Google Alerts and Google Alerts need to go through google.com to redirect to the actual site.

I hope this issue will be fixed soon. For the time being, I can use my mobile connection to visit the mentioned sites.

gvkenneally@outlook.com

It's almost certainly affecting other addresses as well, but you just not trying them. Your issue sounds exactly like mine and it seemed to have happened at the exact same time.

Are you in MA by any chance?

robbychen

No, I'm in MD.

Yes, I'm sure that it's affecting other sites, including this forum 😞

By the way, an easier and faster way to solve this issue, at least temporarily, is to do a DHCP release instead of waiting to reboot the router. I also leave the router admin page containing the release button open in another window (not another tab) for easier access/operation.

Mulholland

Same problem here in virginia. Nothing google works consistently. Very intermittent for several days now. YouTube, gmail, google.com, google home/minis, and verizon.com as well. Please help us fix this!

gvkenneally@outlook.com

I just spent an hour on the phone with Verizon after several support chats and days of checking things on my local network. The only thing they're willing to do now is send out a tech to satisfy their internal processes and essentially waste my time to pinpoint an issue much higher up in the network. Really unacceptable.

I have a request in to speak to someone higher up and who presumably works on the network team and not the customer support team to get to the bottom of it. It's crazy that Verizon thinks it's acceptable for customers to jump through hoops so that an issue with their network, which is affecting people up and down the east coast, can be pinpointed. It's also equally astounding that a legitimate network issue takes this much effort to address and that no Verizon representatives on the forums have acknowledged this.

gvkenneally@outlook.com

Please keep this thread up to date on what you're all seeing.

This issue has persisted for me and is now affecting the STBs in the home by not providing internet for things like the channel guide info. Are you all still have the same problems?

robbychen

Yes, still is. I think the issue is with Verizon DNS Server. Because whatever I go to a AJAX-heavy site, such as logging into my healthcare account, it displays DNS-related error and would not connect to the site until I do a DHCP release or rebooting the router. And as mentioned before, changing the DNS server in the router's admin doesn't solve anything.

I noticed on this forum as well. As I write this, it is displaying "Sorry, unable to complete the action you requested." error message. It means that I have disconnected to this site, again 😞

JC_HOMEGUEST

Agreed, this is annoying and since it seems to affect only google services...I am unable to reliably connect to my work, personal and/or school gmail accounts.

NOTE:- switching the DNS server to Google's or Cloudfare's doesn't fare well either

Always, seems to be one problem or the other with Verizon Fios; hopefully this doesn't leak into VZW now that it's been fully acquired from Vodafone...just like Microsoft ruins everything it gets its hands on (i.e skype)!

biotechCowboy

I am having the same problem in Maryland.

I cannot connect to google.com using my browser.. but, I can reach all other sites that I try.

I can VPN into my work network; then I can reach google.com using the same browser.computer ... going out over the same router ... to my work network where the google.com is correctly routed.

I reset my Verizon router. This solved the problem. Now, I CAN connect to google.com using my browser.

Next time that this happens, I will try to ping google.com before resetting the router.

Hope this helps. It seems to be something in my router that was solved by turning it on and off (resetting).

gvkenneally@outlook.com

Are you all using Home Network Protection? If so, try and disable it and see if that fixes the issue. After yet another discussion with a support rep we tried it and it's working for now. I will report back on whether or not it stays that way.

If you need help disabling Home Network Protection just let me know.

cldeal1

Thanks! This worked for me also.

Jazer88

I'm having a very weird and infuriating problem at home. While on my home network, no one -- on any device -- can access Google apps or www.google.com. This happened all of the sudden. At times, we aren't able to access certain other services, too -- like Apple's weather app and Amazon Prime Video. The internet otherwise works as it should and has great upload and download speeds.

I reset the router to factory settings just in case and then plugged the ethernet cord directly into my computer. I confirmed that I could not access google even then. What's more, i confirmed that if I use a VPN or proxy, I can access Google. It would be an acceptable solution to use a VPN moving forward, but I can't use a VPN on my Roku or Nest.

Does anyone have any ideas about what to do here?!

dslr595148

See thread Cannot connect to Google or other Google products but can ping to the sites

Mike1311

Every so often I cannot access any google site. I just get a "site is unreachable" page instead. This happens on all our devices, iMac, MacBook, iphones, etc, and in all browsers (tried chrome, firefox, brave, opera). If I try to access google using a cellular connection, everything works as it should. So the problem seems to be with fios, not mac, as far as I can tell. If I reset the fios router, the problem goes away for a spell. The same thing happened a few months ago, Verizon swapped my router and the problem disappeared.

CRobGauth

Instead of rebooting router, log in to it and try to renew wan ip.

Or do a release and get new IP.

Sometimes a certain network can have an issue.

smith6612

Next time this happens, open Terminal on your Mac and try pinging Google.com from it. The process is pretty simple. Go to Finder -> Applications -> Utilities and open Terminal. In Terminal, type "ping www.google.com" and see if you are getting any replies back. Press Control + C to stop the command to get your final ping result.

a2108bc

Please let Verizon support desk know this and get them to fix it, or at least tell customers the work around and that it is a known problem

scott216

I have the Fios quantum gateway and it's acting very odd. When I try to go to some websites like Google.com or wikipedia.com, my computer shows no internet connection, but other websites work just fine. This happens on several computers, both Mac and Windows. If I reboot the gateway by unplugging it, then everything is fine for about 30 minutes, but then the problem returns. This seems really strange to me. Any thoughts as to what's going on?

scott216

What is Home Network Protection? Is this something you disable by logging into the router or is it part of the FIOS app?

IamHusker

The only way I could do it was using the MyFios App from my iPhone.

From inside the app:

Tap 'Internet' > 'Devices and Parental Controls' > 'HomeNetworkProtection'

Toggle to the off position.

caturner1

I use the Home Network Protection to regulate my children's activities....so disabling it as a work around is unacceptable. As mush money as these people are charging, the they should be held accountable to having their engineers resolve the problem and not offer a band-aid.

Fix it!

Currently using a VPN via my Norton Life lock to access G-Mail, Google suite of sites...

sdotsamuel

Solved would indicate this has been fixed and it has not.

The workaround does work, but now I have to physically monitor my child's internet activities.

dslr595148

#1 Here is my two cents.

@sdotsamuel wrote:
but now I have to physically monitor my child's internet activities.

From DSLR (dslreports.com) -> Forums -> Broadband and Networking -> Networking -> Router that logs all traffic? The post by pawpaw (user #1002229) on 2020-Jul-13 at 10:23 am.

Direct link to their post https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32811730- in that thread.

Be a good parent, talk to your kids, have high expectations, be an example, and then trust them. Don't be Big Brother.

and not only I am in agreement with that, so is Anav (#431519)

This~~
Is the right answer, be engaged with your kids and get them involved in activities. Monitoring kids is not parenting, educating them is....

#2 And here is another two cents from me.

Depending on their resource(s) they can bypass that router completely.

Examples include but limited to:

With my smart cell phone I do not have to use the Wi-Fi access that I am provided by my parents or even work for that matter.

Maybe using a VPN if I was behind such a router with those controls, I could bypass those controls.

While not true during this issue of Covid-19, if I get someone else's Internet Access (think like Friend or Public Library) I could bypass those controls.

[EDIT #1] As suspected. From this very thread, post # 40

My only workaround was to use a client side VPN. No issues using this VPN other than I needed to install it on all the clients in the house since the G1100 does not allow a VPN to be installed on the router.

[EDIT #2] REF https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/essentials/home-network-protection

to where they ask and provide the answer to the question of What does Home Network Protection protect against?

Augie2020

NJFIOSHELPME

Exact same issue, what if anything were you able to do to fix?

DAVVA

Same issue as of October 2020.

I don't understand how people here can say the workaround is a solution. It is not. I use parental controls to control internet access hours for a child with no control.

Like others, I returned by G1100 router to Verizon when I "upgraded" my speed and added TV. I bought another G1100 router and shortly thereafter started having the problems. Applying the "workaround" will cost my real money for alternative solutions for something that I am already paying Verizon for.

Additionally, one of the first things I did was set an exception for "google.com" in parental controls. The exception does nothing for me. Still have the problems.

Get on this Verizon.

Cang_Household

Generally, if you want Parental Control or Access Control rules, you should go to the router and directly set them up there.

Using an APP to do that creates a middle medium between the operator (you) and the router. For the sake of stability and simplicity, any "couriers" are not advisable.

mjrdk

Hello, I am having the same issue here but we have no parental controls or home protection set up, only the basic firewall. We have released the IP for a new one and reset the router. It is always hit or miss as to whether or not Google sites load, and this has been a chronic issue. However, other websites load fine, and typically I have to turn WiFi off and use data to establish a connection to YouTube for example.

The router is the Actiontec MI424WR. We have had Fios for almost 15 years with no issues, but it certainly appears to be a dns resolution issue that is not fixed when I set the dns servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

RandomName332

I am experiencing this issue as well but don't have Home Network Protection activated on my account.

I can renew my DHCP lease and after that it'll improve my speeds to these sites for about an hour and a half to two hours and then I'll go back to experiencing AWFUL speeds. If I connect to a client VPN I am able to access these sites again.

A few other people mentioned it, so this may be relevant, but I am from Virginia as well.

ohfios

Any resolution for this. This did not work for me

ohfios

I still have this issue and can’t seem to resolve it. Verizon support did nothing. They go through same troubleshooting steps but no use.

Cang_Household

Can you flush your DNS entries through the command line and try again?

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