Internet connection

I have Ubuntu 11.10 installed on my Acer and it connects to my wireless network no problem. The actual connection is fine and strong, but it won't let me browse the internet at all. I just get error messages saying "This web page is not available" and goes on to say the DNS look-up failed [whatever that means]. Sometimes I am lucky and it connects immediately. However most of the time I simply can't browse the internet at all and to say it is frustrating is an understatement.

Can anyone help please?

 

Before you blame Ubuntu, try to connect your laptop to the internet using other devices. If they don't connect, the problem is not Ubuntu. Some laptops have WiFi switch keys which one can toggle to enable and disable and you should test there too. Check whether the ethernet cable is connected to the laptop's ethernet port and ethernet router. A loose connection can make all the difference.

 

Our home desktop has an internet connection for a long time already and only this year it has been experiencing the same problem - web page not available due to DNS server not accessible - or something like that. My husband said that it is a problem related to the gateway of the internet. It's hard for me to explain what a gateway is but it is a main server that connects us to the international servers and one is the DNS or Domain Name Server that handles the website addresses. So if it is down then we get that error. In other words, that error is not a problem caused by your OS.