I have encountered a strange problem that I absolutely cannot figure out and can't even find anyone with anything similar after a couple hours of my best googling.
Sometimes when I am logged in and browsing eBay, I will encounter a page that simply will not load. When I say will not load, I mean it doesn't even try to load. There is no resolving host, no waiting for response, I just get an immediate error page. I eventually noticed this only happens with pages that use https. Any http page loads fine. Certain functions like sign in and sign out (
https://signin.ebay.com) and Print Shipping Label (
https://postage.ebay.com) won't work while browsing products via plain http continues to work no problem. Sometimes I am actually in the situation where I CAN'T log out of eBay. When I click Log Out I just get an error page and then when I go back to an http eBay page I am still logged in.
Troubleshooting and diagnostics attempted so far:
1. Not a browser issue as the same issue appears and disappears simultaneously for Safari, Firefox and Chrome. I get errors "Safari can't open the page ..... because Safari can't establish a secure connection to the server", "The connection was reset", and "This webpage is not available" in those three browsers respectively.
2. Not a simple https issue as other https sites work perfectly (Gmail, Facebook, etc.).
3. Not a device issue as the same issue appears and disappears simultaneously with my MacBook Pro and my Android phone when they are both using my home wireless network.
4. Not my router's WiFi's problem as the problem appears whether computer is connected by Ethernet or wirelessly.
5. Not my home internet connection's problem as the problem disappears when I connect the computer directly to the cable modem, bypassing the router.
6. After switching my phone to mobile network data and shutting off its WiFi, I then shared this mobile data connection via WiFi HotSpot with my computer. When the computer connects this way the problem instantly disappears. I can literally make the problem appear and disappear several times just by switching the computer between my phone's WiFi HotSpot connection and my home router's WiFi connection. The problem appears to lie with the router.
7. I have done a full push-in-the-pin reset on the router and the problem persists.
8. I have tried adjusting the MTU to 576, 650, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1500 (the router's default) as well as automatic mode and the problem persists regardless.
9. I have tried unplugging the router and plugging it back up again. Sometimes this fixes the problem, sometimes it does not. Unplugging it for a longer period of time seems to have a better success rate.
The problem comes and goes, sometimes lasting a minute or two, sometimes lasting longer. It started within the last couple months and has come up quite consistently, usually at one point or another every time I access eBay. I am not sure, but I think this happened with one other site to me a couple months ago. Sorry, I can't remember which site it was, or if it really is just eBay.
Does anyone have a clue what could be causing this??