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Message 21 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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There might be some confusion here about IPTV, as some of these services use a VLAN to identify their data stream for differential routing - BTTV may still do this, they used to (so your TV use didn't count against your data cap), but other IPTV providers will just be plain old data over IP

*I have 7 or 8 end-to-end VPNs set up, even my router runs a VPN SERVER, but I rarely need to use a VPN service.  Many of the advertised VPN services can actually make your connection less secure!

**Never seen any indication that BT care about users' VPN - provided users are not breaching their contract or breaking the law!


I only learn by making mistakes and owning up to them - boy do I learn a lot!
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Message 22 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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A tracert to www.bbc.co.uk will produce a different result than one to bbc.co.uk and that may be different again to the IP that your TV player app is using!


I only learn by making mistakes and owning up to them - boy do I learn a lot!
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Message 23 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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Hi @countrypaul , thanks fella, this is getting more odd...

Using Best Player & IPTV app on windows, I can stream fine when using VPNShark but not when using ExpressVPN.

When I tracert the stream's url, I get "Unable to resolve target system name http://....." regardless of whether I am connected to either VPN or not.

Seems there are two separate issues maybe?

tx Mark.

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Message 24 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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Mark,

For tracert you should just use the hostname and not the whole URL.  The same for nslookup.

Did you get any results from nslookup ?

I am not at all surprised that different VPNs give different results. Once you setup a few VPN servers and different clients what seems conceptually very simple quickly descends into a lot of complex possibilities.

You are probably already realising that BT have very little to do with the problem you are seeing. 

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Message 25 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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BT have no involvement in what he is seeing. A VPN shouldn't even enter the BT network, the device used should point to the VPN network. This is how neither BT nor any other ISP can block a VPN.

Here's my tracert to bbc.co.uk,via my VPN, you tell me who my ISP is. Note: the ISP's first router (eg. BT, the cab sends the request off the BT  network)

tracert.png

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Message 26 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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Exactly, but you can tell someone it not BT until your dying day and they may still not believe you, if you can show them, or better still give them the information to see for themselves they are much more likely to understand.

For those of us that have setup different VPN servers and clients and understand how they work things can seem obvious, but for those who have been told - use this VPN then when it does not work they often point the blame in the wrong direction as they have no evidence of what is happening (or more likely not happening).

Hopefully the OP can now see that BT have no role in the VPN  and are not actively blocking it as first suggested. 

Using tracert will show that once the VPN is in place, any thing sent is not visible to BT as it has been encrypted by the VPN client and needs decrypting by the VPN server, BT only sees a packet of data going from one place (customer)to another (the VPN server host) and has no role in the encryption/decryption (the same applying to other ISPs).

Solving why one VPN works for the OP and one does not will require more digging.

Hopefully, when the next customer comes along with another similar VPN problem they can read this thread and see how to tell for themselves that the problem is not BT (or other ISP) and realise that not all VPN's are the same.

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Message 27 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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@countrypaul 

How Does A Website Know I’m Using A Proxy Or A VPN Provider? - 2023 Guide  makes for good reading and may answer your questions.

In brief, databases help websites to identify when a VPN is in use and which VPN it is, presumably some VPN providers IP addresses are better known to these databases than others (?)

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Message 28 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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@countrypaul yes, it has nothing to do with BT. 

1/ no vpn - iptv works fine

2/ surfshark - iptv works fine

3/ expressvpn - iptv not working...

There have been a lot more weird inconsistencies, like expressvpn working on my pc but not the android tv box, but for sure, it seems clear BT are not causing the problems...

Thanks for the help and patience. 

@Les-Gibson interesting, but the IPTV service would not be blocking expressvpn as they suggested using it.

Anyhoo, I may switch to surfshark instead.

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Message 29 of 29

Re: Are BT trying to block VPNs

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I use a VPN from home on a regular basis as I need it to connect to my company resources and don't have any issues.

 

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