I have Verizon FiOS 30Mbps service in Washington, DC. I haven't noticed any issues with websites or caching, but I really don't use websites that do the weekly ads. My wife uses such sites much heavier than I do, and she hasn't said anything to me about issues.

You might want to check your local browser's cache setting. Change it to check for "every visit to page" rather than a less frequent setting.

Another trick which often works is to add a "?" to the end of the url ("http://www.google.com?" rather than "http://www.google.com"). This often tricks proxy servers and caches into thinking you're passing a parameter and expect an updated page rather than the stale page in the cache. Repeatedly hitting F5 or Control-R to perform a refresh may work.

Sorry I can't be more help... I'll keep an eye open for it.

Mara,
I am having the same problem. I am using Verizon DSL and the problem started a few weeks ago. I can access the sites for Best Buy, Circuit City, and Target, but when I click on the weekly ad link, the pop up box opens and does not connect. Last Sunday right after noon, I could access the weekly ads but it stopped. I just talked to Verizon and the tech support had me clear the IE history and cookies, but this is happening with both my laptop that runs Vista and my desktop that runs XP. I think that Verizon's network is doing this as our problems are exactly the same.

HTK1, Thanks for confirming this... This is driving me nuts!

What city are you located? I'm in Irving (Dallas, TX). Maybe this is a problem on a certain area...

I have Verizon DSL, works fine.
My friend has Verizon FIOS, also works OK.
We both live in New Jersey, USA. Might be a regional problem, Mara.

I am currently experiencing the same issue. It started last weekend, Dec 9. To date I have been unsuccessful in finding a solution. It's been impossible to get through to a tech at Verizon. I did talk to someone last weekend and they were no help at all. This is very frustrating since I no longer take the paper and depend on the online sales ads.

Mara,
I am in Plano, TX. As I stated, I can access the weekly ads from my computer at work in Richardson and the computers at my local library.

Since first posting a reply this morning, I was able to get through to a Verizon Tech who remotely looked at what was happening. The other common thread we found was all the websites I've been unable to access when through shop local. If you notice the website trying to open it reads www.bestbuy.shoplocal.com. At least that's what I am seeing. We did not find a solution, but sounds like possibly it may have something to do with it being powered by shop local.

Does anyone else see this? I'd really like to find a solution since I depend on finding sales through the online ads. You can access the ads at shoplocal.com, but the ads are too small.

Well.. I'm not sure I'm seeing a pattern here. Did the Verizon tech log into your computer remotely as well? He did for me and was able to see the problem, but did not know what could have caused it. So far I have not hear anything from them.

And, I just tried now Bestbuy and Circuitcity and both worked!!!

If you try these right now, can you confirm them working?

UPDATE: Seem like the aforementioned sites plus CVS works, Sears and Staples do not...

UPDATE2: Just couple minutes since giving the update... nothing is working again!

UPDATE3: noneya, after looking more closely the links of the ads, you are propably right that it has something to do with "shoplocal.com". Most of the ad sites seem to use that in their URL address...

It appears that the weekly ads links are working now. I have been able to access the weekly ads for Circuit City and Best Buy.

Just confirming that these are working for me as well. Hopefully the issue is solved for good.