Can my web browser repeatedly load the same page?
Can my web browser repeatedly load the same page?
My situation this morning. I reside in Markham, Canada. I attempted to sign up my grandchildren for a swimming program. Markham employs an EZReg site (https://econnect.markham.ca/) for online sign-ups. However, I encountered an error message: "Sorry, EZReg is currently busy. The maximum number of concurrent users has been reached. As clients complete their registrations, connections will become available."
Initially, this seemed logical since many people were trying to register at the same time. But after two hours of retrying every few minutes, I kept receiving the same error page. I spoke to my son, who was at work, and he successfully completed his registration instantly. This led me to suspect a possible issue with my computer, as both of us were accessing the same site. As someone with technical skills, I’m keen to identify the root cause for learning purposes. I identified four potential factors:
I considered the possibility that the browser might be the issue. I have three browsers installed on my PC (Windows 11), Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox. All of them displayed the same error page.
I thought about the browser cache. Clearing the cache and trying again—mainly using Chrome—did not resolve the problem (same error page).
Even though we were both navigating the same page, I encountered a busy front-end server while my son accessed a different one. However, I believed that most setups today rely on load balancers to handle such situations.
I may have retried too many times, and my IP address was flagged as "spam" by the server, repeatedly showing the same error page.
Points 1 and 2 are connected to my browser settings, which is why I chose to discuss them in my post. If this is the likely cause, I’d appreciate advice on how to prevent it next time.
Points 3 and 4 are beyond my control. Could a request from the same IP address every few minutes result in being marked as "spam"?
What other factors might be contributing to this issue? Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
I clicked the link from a US mid-Atlantic location. Similarly:
Sorry, EZReg is currently occupied.
The limit for simultaneous users has been reached.
As clients finish their sign-ups, availability will return.
Please wait a moment before trying again. Thank you.
Click here to return to EZReg
I wouldn’t think #4 would be the reason. I’m hoping it would require several hundred attempts before the IP address triggers an alert.
And it’s true the site might have just been overloaded. Some platforms don’t manage "overflow" well. When overwhelmed, they may need restarts to recover. Load balancing can also become problematic, even if it exists.
Keep in mind that your packets—both outgoing and incoming—can follow any number of routes through different servers. The path might shift depending on changing conditions and require rerouting.
You can check the routing using "tracert" or "pathping" to see the steps being taken.
If both you and your son run these commands, the paths are likely to differ significantly until the final few hops.
Once past your router and ISP, there’s little you can do.
That’s my perspective on the situation.
The issue has persisted for eight hours since the first error appeared. The online sign-up for swimming lessons should have been completed already. There shouldn’t be many active users left. It’s highly likely I’m still connected to the faulty server that reached its limit and couldn’t recover until it restarted. My son managed to complete it. His device must be accessing a different server. My computer is connected through my router, which has an IP address assigned by my ISP. There appears to be some session-based connection between my router and the problematic server. Why am I still encountering the same bad server after this long time? If session affinity is the root cause, what should I do to resolve it?