Intermittent connection problem

I'm the webmaster for Cleveland Orienteering Klub (CLOK), and for the last few weeks I've been experiencing intermittent problems establishing an FTP connection to the server at phobos.easily.co.uk.

On some days I can connect okay, but on other days (including today!) I get a message like this:-

[19:47:24] SmartFTP v3.0.1022.6
[19:47:24] Resolving host name "phobos.easily.co.uk"
[19:47:24] Connecting to 212.53.64.104 Port: 21
[19:47:45] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond.
[19:47:45] Client closed the connection.
[19:47:45] Connect failed. Waiting to retry (30s)...
[19:47:45] Active Help: https://www.smartftp.com/support/kb/58

I've been in touch with the Easily customer support people, who investigated the problem and couldn't find anything wrong at the server. The person who I was talking to said that he could get an FTP connection to the CLOK area on the server without any trouble.

My best guess is that something --- maybe some sort of spam filtering? --- is occasionally blocking traffic between my computer and the Phobos server. Is this possible / likely and, if so, how can I investigate the problem and get it fixed?

I'd appreciate some help!

Alastair

I forgot to mention that I've tried pinging phobos.easily.co.uk, and I get a prompt response.

Alastair

There is no FTP server running on this host:
C:\Users\mb>ftp phobos.easily.co.uk
> ftp: connect :Connection timed out
ftp>

Please contact your web hosting provider for assistance.

There is no FTP server running on this host:

Well, that would certainly explain why I can't connect!

Could you please let me know your basis for saying that there is no FTP server running on phobos.easily.co.uk? Last time I contacted the Easily customer support people they said that they were able to connect okay ........ at a time when I definitely couldn't connect ......... and I'd like to be able to support the assertion that there isn't an FTP server running at phobos.easily.co.uk.

Thanks,

Alastair

If the technical support of your web host denies that there is a problem I would switch your web hosting provider instead of wasting your time arguing with them.

Hmmm. A fair point.

However, it's quite a big job moving a large web site from one host to another, so I think it may be worth spending a little time trying to get them to see the light.

The "current status" report on their web site does say that "some people outside the UK may be experiencing difficulties connecting to their hosting server via FTP". Since the Internet doesn't tend to pay much attention to national boundaries it's possible that the suggestion that the problem is restricted to people outside the UK might be a wee bit inaccurate.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts on this issue.

Alastair

I can connect to the web server just fine: http://phobos.easily.co.uk/

So it doesn't look like a routing problem.