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Port Blocking

Mangoletsi
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎02-09-2011

Port Blocking

Hello,
I've come to share my experience so far of gaming online using Plusnet.
When I joined 3 months ago, I found that I was no longer able to game online as the ports seemed to be blocked. I have been gaming online for 11 years and I know how to open my ports and forward them as I have had the same router the past 3 years and had no issues with other ISP's.
I found out that Plusnet automatically block ports using a McAfee firewall in which according to the member centre area you can turn off.
1. I turned it off in the member centre, but ports still blocked.
2. I removed the whole McAffee product in my member centre, but ports still blocked.
Support, didnt really know why it was still blocked and said it was my fault at my end and said to use DMZ aswell which I tried and found plusnet were still blocking my ports.
3 months later, I had already given up when a friend told me he can now see me online. After many tests over the past few days, I can now say it's 100% Plusnet's fault. There is something wrong with there firewall software control. The IP address is allocated dynamically which means every time you disconnect and reconnect, you receive a different IP address. Here are my results from multiple tests I've done.

When I've been connected to an IP range beginning with 2X.XXX.XXX.XXX, the downspeed is full speed, but the inbound ports are blocked.
When I've been connected to an IP range beginning with 4X.XXX.XXX.XXX, the downspeed is 0.6Mb slower, ping times are 16 milli seconds slower, but the inbound ports are open so you can game online.

So all you can do is disconnect and reconnect until you are assigned an IP address beginning with a 4X.XXX.XXX.XXX
Hope this helps others.
8 REPLIES 8
mwerle
Grafter
Posts: 87
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎14-01-2009

Re: Port Blocking

Or you could just ask for a static IP...?
Cheers,
- Micha.
Mangoletsi
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎02-09-2011

Re: Port Blocking

Yes, good point with the static IP, but what happens if the static IP address starts with 2X.XXX.XXX.XXX, plus I dont really want to pay £5 extra a month.
Wink
mwerle
Grafter
Posts: 87
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎14-01-2009

Re: Port Blocking

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you only have to pay the £5 for switching to static, not every month.  Also, the static IPs are likely in another block from the dynamic ones - in my case I have 81.174.x.x, although I've had this for a very long time now.  Also AFAIK I have no ports blocked - certainly none which I've used in the past and I do a fair bit of network-related testing as well as some online gaming.  I'd be happy to test any specific ports for you though.

Cheers,
- Micha.
Mangoletsi
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎02-09-2011

Re: Port Blocking

Nope, no one will correct you, as your right lol!  Grin
I missed the bit where it says setup fee as the other bit about the pro service is monthly.
The default ports I find which are blocked for me when my IP range is 2X.XXX.XXX.XXX are
34297 tcp + udp
34397 tcp + udp
34447 tcp + udp
37002 tcp + udp
37001 tcp + udp
But I can edit the ports independantly to use any port I wanted, but unfortuneately all inbound traffic was being blocked.
Thanks
Wink
mwerle
Grafter
Posts: 87
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎14-01-2009

Re: Port Blocking

All open, as expected.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Port Blocking

Hi there,
When were you getting the 2X.XXX.XXX.XXX IP range? I can't see any record on our RADIUS server of that going back for a week or so.
The IP you're assigned shouldn't make any different at all to the ports being open/closed though.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
Mangoletsi
Grafter
Posts: 27
Registered: ‎02-09-2011

Re: Port Blocking

I've been with plus'nt for about 3 months,
My last ip I remember checking what was blocked was 87.113.242.165, but my current ip 46.208.XX.XXX is not blocked.
And yes, in theory the IP address I'm assigned should not make a difference, and my download through put speed tests shouldn't also be affected, but for some reason on plus net, it is happening.
paulmh5
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 170
Registered: ‎11-04-2011

Re: Port Blocking

Hi
As far as the IP goes I can understand there being a slight difference in latency and throughput as you will be connecting to a different physical box which may be closer to the end destination you are trying to reach and more or less congested at the time you are performing your throughput test.
As far as port blocking goes there isn't anything I'm aware of that will block ports in our network unless it's a software firewall issue but I've not used the Protect product so I couldn't really comment on that.
Plusnet Staff - Lead Network Design/Delivery Engineer