Tag Archives: within
Could Not Open Socket reCAPTCHA Error
After months of receiving spam through my contact forms I decided it was time to add reCAPTCHA to them in the hope of stemming the tide of garbage. This now under the control of Google I thought there wasn’t going to be an issue with this. Having just installed reCAPTCHA on my works websites I knew what to do and all went well on those sites. On the Friday I did 3 forms on my own sites and all worked as expected, on the Saturday I did the last form I had, but that one didn’t work. All I kept getting was a ‘could not open socket’ error.
Initially I thought I must have made some error in the code but after checking the code against that which I had done the day before I could see no error. And more over the 3 forms I did the day before that worked, now no longer worked and displayed the same error message, what the hell?? Most frustrating was the fact that this was all the message said and gave no clue as to what was causing it. I made a number of attempts to find which section of code that was at fault by adding echo’s throughout the php code but none of them showed, only that damned error message. I thought there must be something wrong with the server.
Someone must have had this issue before so I turned my attention to Google for an answer. As I started to type ‘could not open socket’ the autocomplete came up with ‘could not open socket recaptcha’, ah ha! But I couldn’t think why it could have worked yesterday and not today? After reading many unhelpful posts’ I found this: http://code.google.com/p/recaptcha/issues/detail?id=26 which although didn’t have the exact answer it did help me to realise the answers to my own issues.
After reading through this thread I came to the conclusion that my problem was 2 fold and explained why it had worked yesterday and not today. The main problem was my web host, in their attempt to be helpful they introduced (a long time back) blocking of outgoing connections to remote IPs from within my sites. This is one to be aware of if you are auto blogging using wp-o-matic, any feed you add will most likely be blocked by this until you add the IP to the allowed list from within your control panel.
I assume there is a good reason for them doing this but it can imagine it has caused nightmares for the inexperienced. Obviously it had worked yesterday because it was new, once the server knew the connection was being made it blocked it. It was probably the number of tests I did that made the connection get noticed and was possibly a good job it was noticed so quickly or I might not have noticed it for some time.
So which IP was I to add to the allowed list? The line of code in recaptchalib.php identified as the problem in the above thread was:
define(“RECAPTCHA_VERIFY_SERVER”, www.google.com);
So what I needed was the IP of google.com.
What Is An Internal Telephone System?
The telecommunications industry can be very confusing, terms such as ISDN, VoIP, SIP, PBX PSTN etc. There are many abbreviations of the same term. Within this article we detail what an internal business telephone system is & how it can benefit your business.
What Is An Internal Telephone System?
An internal phone system refers to an telephone line which communicates to the PBX. The PBX refers to a private branch exchange where the phone lines communicate directly to the system to allow telephony functionality, as well as internal & external communication. Always review your business telephone systems & keep them up to date with technology.
How Does An Internal Telephone System Function?
An internal phone system functions by incorporating a number of internals lines connected to the PBX, this allows employees within the office to make internal & external calls free of charge, this is by use of a phone extension for example dial 201 to speak to Dave, or press 9 to dial out to make an external call. When a call from outside of the office comes in it is transferred & connected to the public switch telephone network, then lines will seek to answer that call. Telephone systems are key to your businesses communications.
Benefits Of An Internal Telephone System?
One of the most significant advantages of incorporating such technologies is the high levels of efficiency, your phone systems are crucial, it is one of the most effective methods to establish coordinated communication at a low cost:
& 10003; Improve communications between employees within the office
& 10003; Cost effective & efficient
& 10003; Allow for business flexibility
& 10003; Improved customer communication
& 10003; Connect sites across the country
& 10003; Feature rich
Internal Phone Systems Suitability
The internal telephone system can be a useful asset to all businesses, they tend to jell well with medium sized enterprises or businesses who have multiple offices across the country. Enterprises whos main operation it is to provide consulting services can benefit from a internal phone system. This technology is not just suited to medium sized businesses or businesses with multiple locations, they can be installed within a business which has 2-25 extensions who might have plans to grow or remain the same. ISDN support will be switched off in 2025, your phone systems will need to be digital and ran through VoIP, SIP or Cloud.