This topic

Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:09:53 GMT

Hi, I was in the middle of making a website (www.MattyEdgell.com) and suddenly it didn't load. So i check the hosting and they say its fine, they send me a screenshot of being able to see it, all services running 100% etc. So i head to BT and getting help from their technical support staff - it's like pulling teeth, I'm sure the sapling in my garden knows more than them! been talking to them 5/6 times and to be honest I'm exhausted. So here I am...

Anyway, here's the lowdown of what i've done so far...

1. I tried 5 different laptops, 4 windows, one Apple Mac - none would show the site on my BT wifi.
2. When i turned wifi off and tethered to my phones 5G network, the website loaded - must be a BT issue.
3. I unplug my router for 20 mins as advised by their 'support' staff. Still won't load the site.
4. I clear my caches, use a private browser, try all the other laptops again, as advised by the 'support' staff. Still won't load the site.
5. I use a pin and hit the 'reset router' button on the back of the router. Still won't load the site.
6. I go back to my hosting as the BT 'support' staff are blaming them - even though i can see it on 5G. They check, do loads of pings and tracers etc. all fine. it isn't the website.
7. I've lost 3 days now and my clients think i'm still working on it and clearly am not. So urgently need this fixing! I did a load of googling and saw people talking about my IP potentially being on a blacklist.
8. So i checked my IP and sure enough it was on a blacklist for 'Barracuda' and 'Spamhaus' - never heard of these and don't know why or how they got there. or even if it's relevant?
9. Went back to BT and the 'support' staff tried to flog me business services so then i could change my IP rather than actually address the problem. So i stopped talking to those jokers. What a waste of money they are.
10. I've contacted Barracuda and explained the issue and they say they've removed my IP.
11. I can't seem to find an easy way to contact Spamhaus but on their website they say "This IP is listed on the Policy Blocklist (PBL) The inclusion of your IP address on the Policy Blocklist (PBL) is standard for the vast majority of internet users and is not the result of your actions." it goes onto list some points, one of which says "Listings on this blocklist are controlled by either your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or Spamhaus". BT insist they can't do anything but upgrade me to business to change my IP.

Can anyone shed any light? this is really doing me over and the 2 places i thought were causing it or would be able to help resolve aren't helping.

Next stop i will switch internet providers because this project is fairly large and i need it.

Thanks

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:17:21 GMT

The website isn't running on your machine, it is running on your host's server so your IP address is irrelevant.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:18:45 GMT

How come only my IP is being blocked from accessing it? everyone else can access it, i can if i use 5G, but not my BT wifi.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:22:36 GMT

Its not just your IP, I can't access it via BT but can via 4G.

Seems a DNS problem with your host, or BT are blocking it.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:24:21 GMT

Oh interesting! can you share a screenshot of what you see with BT please?

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:27:50 GMT

As I said, I CAN'T access it via BT. Via 4G it just shows a holding page of some bloke in an apron.

You can try contacting BT at saferbrowsing@bt.com to check if they have blocked it.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

gg30340 — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:28:20 GMT

I am presently out of the UK and I can access your site. It is showing a page stating the site is under construction.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:35:28 GMT

Yes i know, i wanted to see what the error was.
Apron dude is correct when it's working right.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:37:11 GMT

yes, it seems everyone can access it unless they are using BT - so either BT blocking the site, or the site blocking BT.. but neither seem to be able to see or help whether it's them? so not sure where to go.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:47:54 GMT

Try emailing the address I posted.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:49:09 GMT

will give it a go, currently in a live chat with the hosting providers again. Hopefully find out who's blocking who..

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 15:49:48 GMT

@sheltonjb wrote:
Yes i know, i wanted to see what the error was.
Apron dude is correct when it's working right.

Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site.

We can’t connect to the server at www.mattyedgell.com.

If you entered the right address, you can:

Try again later
Check your network connection
Check that Firefox has permission to access the web (you might be connected but behind a firewall)

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

countrypaul — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:28:04 GMT

Looks like a DNS problem alright:

C:\Users\notwa>nslookup www.mattyedgell.com 8.8.8.8
Server: dns.google
Address: 8.8.8.8

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.mattyedgell.com
Address: 69.163.142.58

C:\Users\notwa>nslookup www.mattyedgell.com
Server: bthub
Address: 192.168.1.254

*** bthub can't find www.mattyedgell.com: Non-existent domain

C:\Users\notwa>

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:30:57 GMT

thanks for looking Paul.

I'm not massively technical, but can get about a bit.

If it's a DNS issue, then surely the site wouldn't load at all, no matter what network you're on?

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

countrypaul — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:46:14 GMT

It rather depends on when the various DNS servers update, so it is not unusual to see problems like this with very new entries, iirc it can be up to 48hrs before the DNS servers are up to date - unfortunately I can't remember which DNS servers that refers to

Update: Try a google search for "how long for a dns change to propagate"

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

countrypaul — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 16:51:15 GMT

I've tried Google, Cloudfare and OpenDNS servers and all return the ip address. It seems BT are a little behind, when did your DNS entry update take place?

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 17:00:17 GMT

Interesting, as I usually use Cloudfare DNS but that doesn't work so tried Google and that didn't work either.

Did you actually try to access the site using those DNS settings or just perform the lookup?

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

sheltonjb — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 17:03:11 GMT

Initially I set the website up about 2 weeks ago, and I’ve been building it behind the holding page since. Then 3 days ago it just wouldn’t load. And since then I’ve gone down this rabbit hole. Not being massively technical I’m not too sure where to turn next. BT just don’t think it’s them and so won’t help although from the people I spoke to they seem to just be reading off a script or something. Anything that’s off that you’ve got no hope.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

licquorice — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 17:19:19 GMT

I initially thought it could be a DNS problem, but I'm leaning more to it being blocked by BT.

Unfortunately, your only hope is the email address I posted but don't hold your breath for a reply.

Re: Help! BT blocking a website i was building!

countrypaul — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 18:24:01 GMT

@licquorice I only did the DNS lookup as I assumed that the op was using a BT router and had no control over which DNS server was being used.

I just tried from Firefox by setting Firefox to use Cloudfare (Settings, Privacy & Security, Enable DNS over HTTPS and select Max Protection then Cloudfare) and I do get the dodgy looking character.

I therefore don't think BT is blocking access to the site, but think their DNS is out of sync.