Why is plusnet blocking hostopia.com?

[#1]

I accepted my avatar vanishing and just thought the hosting package had been deleted.. until tonight when i FTP'd into it with no hassle.

So I went to visit the hostopia website. Can't connect.

So I went to downforeveryoneorjustme.com and that said hostopia.com is up.

So I then went to a well known proxy website... and viewed the hostopia.com website within seconds.

So plusnet, please would you care to explain to me why I am being blocked not only from viewing hostopia / contacting them but also had my avatar removed from service? - Am I subject to some top secret government monitoring or something? Seems a bit OTT to be blocking my access to a webhost that hosts my avatars and a php script to randomise them for no apparent reason so you must be doing it for some reason and you stayed completely quiet in my previous topic about my avatar.

Whats going on?.

[#2]

I have no problem getting to their website including the Contact page

[#3]

Which indicates that it is (as previously stated) being intentionally blocked on my connection.

Here is a screenshot:

As soon as i use a proxy i can access their site instantly.

Plusnet, why has my avatar been disabled and why are you trying to block me contacting hostopia?

[#4]

This is what I get from a tracert and something is going wrong after leaving Plusnet

Tracing route to www.hostopia.com [209.235.147.112]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  home.gateway.home.gateway [192.168.1.254]
  2    14 ms    13 ms    16 ms  lo0-central10.pcl-ag07.plus.net [195.166.128.188]
  3    14 ms    13 ms    13 ms  link-b-central10.pcl-gw02.plus.net [212.159.2.186]
  4    14 ms    14 ms    13 ms  xe-9-0-0.pcl-cr02.plus.net [212.159.0.218]
  5    14 ms    14 ms    14 ms  195.99.126.98
  6    15 ms    15 ms    15 ms  core4-te0-9-0-20.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.249.139]
  7    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  peer5-BE6.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [213.121.193.175]
  8    16 ms    14 ms    15 ms  t2c4-et-8-3-0-0.uk-lon1.eu.bt.net [166.49.211.250]
  9    17 ms    15 ms    16 ms  be3035.ccr21.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.14.169]
 10    16 ms    16 ms    15 ms  be2871.ccr42.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.58.185]
 11    97 ms    97 ms    98 ms  be2490.ccr42.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.42.85]
 12    97 ms    97 ms    97 ms  be2807.ccr42.dca01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.40.110]
 13   107 ms   108 ms   107 ms  be2113.ccr42.atl01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24.222]
 14   122 ms   122 ms   122 ms  be2123.ccr22.mia01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24.198]
 15   122 ms   121 ms   122 ms  be2055.ccr21.mia03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24.234]
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *

What do you get

[#5]

---

---

Tracing route to www.hostopia.com [209.235.147.112]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms lo0-central10.ptn-ag01.plus.net [195.166.128.190
]
3 10 ms 9 ms 10 ms link-b-central10.ptn-gw02.plus.net [212.159.2.13
0]
4 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms xe-5-2-0.ptw-cr02.plus.net [212.159.0.106]
5 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 195.99.126.182
6 14 ms 11 ms 11 ms 194.72.31.164
7 12 ms 11 ms 11 ms peer5-te0-0-0-17.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.15
9.254.251]
8 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms t2c4-et-3-3-0-0.uk-lon1.eu.bt.net [166.49.211.24
6]
9 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms be3035.ccr21.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.1
4.169]
10 12 ms 12 ms 13 ms be2871.ccr42.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.58
.185]
11 93 ms 89 ms 89 ms be2490.ccr42.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.42
.85]
12 94 ms 93 ms 94 ms be2807.ccr42.dca01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.40
.110]
13 105 ms 104 ms 104 ms be2113.ccr42.atl01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24
.222]
14 119 ms 119 ms 119 ms be2123.ccr22.mia01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24
.198]
15 119 ms 120 ms 119 ms be2055.ccr21.mia03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24
.234]
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

Thing is though, that doesn't mean anything with regards to the http protocol. You can access their site, I can't. My avatar hosting has been locked up and now i am unable to get to the hostopia site via PN to make contact with them.

[#6]

Interesting turn of events here now...

Just connected the desktop PC to my mobile phone instead of the plusnet connection. Not only can I view the hostopia website, my avatar works too.

So plusnet, what on earth is going on? When I try to view my avatar directly from our plusnet connection hostopia actively refuse to serve the content and serve up an error message with a reference number:

The requested URL was rejected. If you think this is an error, please contact the webmaster. 

Your support ID is: 7324298873439242922

Their website is also not responsive which is presumably a plusnet blockage.

On my mobile, both work fine... so the game is up and I would like to know why this is being done.

[#7]

Crikey, put the tinfoil hat away!

Is your avatar hosted on your Plusnet CGI space?

That error is being generated by a software firewall at Hostopia's side.

[#8]

---

@bobpullen wrote:

Crikey, put the tinfoil hat away!

---

Well this is of plusnet and hostopias doing.

---

@bobpullen wrote:

Is your avatar hosted on your Plusnet CGI space?

---

Yes.. I thought that was clear?

---

@bobpullen wrote:

That error is being generated by a software firewall at Hostopia's side.

---

That is why I am posting here..At the same time YOU are also completely blocking their website (and contact details) via http. OldJim can see their site, I cannot. I'm being blocked.

[#9]

We are not blocking anything, Hostopia are. I'd suggest raising a ticket explaining the problem and containing the relevant URLs etc. so we can raise a support ticket with them.

Edit: If you have a dynamic IP you can try disconnecting/reconnecting. If Hostopia are blocking your IP then that might 'fix' the issue.

[#10]

---

@bobpullen wrote:

Edit: If you have a dynamic IP you can try disconnecting/reconnecting. If Hostopia are blocking your IP then that might 'fix' the issue.

---

Well the avatar has been banished to the wilderness for many weeks now and the router has been rebooted in that time at least once so I would be very surprised if its an IP block. I would suspect your chums have blocked an entire ip range of their business chums plusnet.. and if you ask me thats just disrespectful.

It also does not explain why their website is timing out. That to me looks like a plusnet issue.

[#11 · Accepted solution]

Well the error you posted is definitely their firewall. I've encountered it in other scenarios in the past.

I can access their site over HTTP. A reboot wouldn't hurt if it's not too inconvenient.

[#12]

Well having rebooted previously and it having made no difference i was skeptical.... but in fairness to you bob it did the trick.

I think you now need to have a little chat with them about blocking your IP ranges. Thats just a stupid thing for them to do - blocking their customers IP ranges and rather disrespectful of them.