topic Re: Forbidden from my favourite site! in Broadband

Forbidden from my favourite site!

ceresian — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:13:41 GMT

Something very odd going on.

For a few days when I try to visit my favourite site https://scimitarweb.co.uk/ I've been getting a 403 Forbidden message. I can access the site by 4G on my phone, so I know it's up and running.

I've cleared my browser history and cookies and restarted the laptop and router, can't think of anything else to do but come here!

All the rest of the internet is working as usual.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:31:25 GMT

@ceresian Where is your IP located, according to this site: https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup ?

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

outcast — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:38:52 GMT

Just posting to confirm that site seems fully accessible and working, on my non-Plusnet home broadband -

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:41:49 GMT

Yep, @outcast me too, which is why I posted the question I did.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

Champnet — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:44:18 GMT

Just posting to confirm that site seems fully accessible and working, on my Plusnet home broadband

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

ceresian — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:46:53 GMT

Assume you mean Scimitarweb"s not mine, it's 172.67.132.1

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:50:13 GMT

No, @ceresian I did mean yours. Don't post the result, but do tell us where the site says you (your IP) IS.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

outcast — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:56:34 GMT

@ceresian

Browse to https://ipgeolocation.io/

Click on [My IP] on the right hand side of the search box

On the following results page, tell us WHERE it thinks you are, i.e. is it showing an English town, or somewhere abroad ?.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

outcast — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:57:29 GMT

@ceresian - are you using Plusnet "SafeGuard" parental controls on your router ?, if not then what DNS are you using ?

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:59:21 GMT

Yeah, @outcast that's what my link would tell us, too.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

ceresian — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:16:54 GMT

It says I'm in London. Never heard of Safeguard. Where can I find my DNS (and what is it?)

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:22:14 GMT

@ceresian If you open the link I provided earlier, it will automatically pick up your public IP, which is what we are after, and, if you scroll down the resulting page, it will tell you where a number of IP location services think it is (country-wise) and who it is allocated to.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

ceresian — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:16:29 GMT

Apologies jab1, I thought I'd pasted that in my last but evidently not. It's 143.159.237.116

Outcast wanted my DNS, and I've found 192.168.1.254 in my 'preferences' page

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:24:47 GMT

@ceresian This is mystery to me - all the main IP location databases have your IP located in the UK and owned by BT PLC, so, I have no idea what is going off.

@outcast - any thoughts?

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

ceresian — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:29:46 GMT

Isn't that normal for someone living in UK andusing Plusnet?

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:31:35 GMT

Exactly, so why that site has blocked you is a mystery, as I said.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

jab1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:42:04 GMT

The only other thing I can suggest, @ceresian , is to contact the site owner(s) and ask them why they have blocked you - if they can.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

outcast — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:44:40 GMT

@ceresian could try using different DNS settings in the Hub-2 ?

Try following Bob's guide here -

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Plusnet-Hub-Two-with-Cloudflare-DNS/m-p/1925841#M35519

You could try the settings shown, but if it were mine then I'd set -

DNS Servers

Auto = No

Primary DNS = 9.9.9.9

Secondary DNS = 149.112.112.112

Make sure you [Save] the changes,

then reboot the router,

then reboot your PC,

then check whether the website works.

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

Dan_the_Van — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:52:36 GMT

Wouldn't it not be easier to change which DNS the browser is using?

It is possible for Google Chrome to use different DNS settings than your PC's default. This is because Chrome has a built-in feature called Secure DNS (also known as DNS-over-HTTPS or DoH), which allows it to bypass the operating system's DNS settings and use an encrypted connection to a different DNS provider. This can improve privacy and security by preventing your ISP or other entities from seeing what websites you're visiting based on your DNS queries.

How to Change Chrome's DNS Settings

Open Chrome Settings: Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and select Settings.
Navigate to Security: In the left sidebar, click on Privacy and security, then click on Security.
Enable Secure DNS: Scroll down to the Advanced section and find Use secure DNS. Turn this option on.
Choose a Provider: You have two options here:
- With your current service provider: This will use your PC's default DNS settings but will attempt to upgrade the connection to Secure DNS if your provider supports it.
- Choose another provider: This allows you to select a different, non-default DNS provider from a list (like Cloudflare or Google Public DNS) or to enter a custom URL for a different service.

Firefox has something similar

Re: Forbidden from my favourite site!

ceresian — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 18:27:34 GMT

The site's webmaster has found my IP on a 'banned list' and reset something so I'm not forbidden any longer. I've asked for details and I'll let you know FYI. Thanks in the meantime for all the help.