At home I can't access these sites (using internet explorer), yet friends can. I have never been able to access these sites on my computer. Anyone any idea why? All other websites work ok!.

I use AOL and if I use the AOL browser I can access the yell.com site but not the sceneone site.

I can't ping either site either!

 

You can't always ping web sites, a sign if things are working though is a IP resolution to the www address you are trying to ping.

Is this happening when you try?
Or does it say unknown host or similar?

I'd contact your ISP and tell them the problem if you can't resolve the name from your browser.

Try typing 194.72.108.2 for yell.com in your browser address bar, does that work?