Just had an interesting online chat with Plusnet. Here's the bulk of it. Same story as they gave Lotan. I had a look at the link the agent gave and I'm none the wiser as to who BGP are or why they should be responsible. What do you think, Eddy? Am I being spun a yarn? I mean, assuming I buy the story about the IP address tag, who is actually responsible for updating it?
Andy
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Hi , can you give me a brief summary of the problem?
Sure. The context is, I was having trouble uploading some images from my camera via USB, and I got Windows to search for new devices (Control Panel-Hardware & Sound-Devices & Printers-Add a Device). Avast said it had found a new network with the name "UK Government Department for Work and Pensions". However, once I acknowledged the message, I ended up connected to the correct network.
Yeah that's correct, that is your network. It's because the tag for your IP address hasn't been updated in the database. The IP address you're currently using, used to belong to DWP but now it belongs to Plusnet.
Hmm. So how come once connected it doesn't show up as that? It shows up as Plusnet? And how come it only shows up at all if I search for a new device?
It's not your actual network name or your router name. When you're connected it will show as the Plusnet router name. When you're connected it'll be giving you the router name.
I see. And who is responsible for updating the database (or not, in this case)?
I believe the ASN database is maintained by BGP
http://bgp.he.net/So you are at their mercy in this respect then?
Yes, we have updated all the relevant data and contacted all parties to update the names for these IP addresses. It's possible that other companies like Microsoft or Avast are using out-dated database entries to identify your IP.