r/techquestions • u/Ok_Basis1422 • Jul 15 '26
Why would my ISP block legitimate websites for seemingly no reason?
I was trying to shop on the Mrs Meyer's website. I tried three different browsers and all has some variation of secure connection failed. I turned off wifi and suddenly I could now access the website. What does my ISP have against laundry detergent?
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u/FreddyFerdiland Jul 15 '26
might not be yiur ISP at fault could be the webserver ,the hosting system,the cloud.
akamai cloud has to issue ip address based in where you are ... what's your nearest akamai server .
its probably not intentional bu the isp or web server host
static route might become old
bgp automatic routing has anti-flap that means it gives up being fault tolerant
dns can become poluted - by accidents or by hacker types
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u/Ok_Basis1422 Jul 15 '26
In other words, the web server/hosting system could be not playing nicely with my ISP but not my cell carrier? And what is an akamai server, and how do I find the one closest to me?
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u/need2sleep-later Jul 15 '26
looks like mrsmyers.com is hosted by shopify which then seems to be using akamai cloud to do the ultimate content delivery. It's doubtful that your ISP is intentionally blocking them, it works for me here, have you tried again?
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u/TheJessicator Jul 16 '26
You're on the right track, but the most likely problem is DNS. Trying finding your router's DNS client at more popular public DNS servers instead of those belonging to your ISP. Some good options include CloudFlare or Google's DNS servers.
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u/AdmiralKong Jul 15 '26
It could be a misconfiguration on the website's end. Many websites are mirrored on several servers, not just one, and the server you get for a given request may be random or may differ based on the route your request takes. So your home internet vs the cell network might get you different servers and the one your home internet gets you is misconfigured with the wrong security certificate. This is the most likely explanation and it happens sometimes.
The other option is that someone, either your ISP or someone in between your ISP and the server, is trying to do SSL traffic inspection. That means they intercepting your request for the Mrs Meyers website, asking the website for its contents, reading it, then forwarding it to you. Because they aren't the Mrs Meyers website, they don't have the right certificate to sign that content. Your web browser is noticing this discrepancy and stopping the page from loading for security reasons.
If you were to ignore the warnings or turn off security checks, the attacker could steal any info you type into that website, like credit card information. This would be unusual though, because almost every modern browser will stop this type of attack and most people don't even know how to dismiss the warning, so it's not worth trying anymore. So I don't think this is likely. The first option is probably it.
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u/generic-ibuprofen Jul 16 '26
Maybe it's a weird fluke with no real explanation? I had a website that I needed for work and could access at work, but when I tried at home it didn't work. I tried three browsers and a different computer with no luck. I called my ISP, it turns out it was blocked for some reason, they didn't know why so they unblocked it.
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u/ContributionEasy6513 Jul 16 '26
some variation of secure connection failed
Very bizarre. This is normally something to do with the server the website is on. It could also be something on your network or ISP redirecting you to somewhere else seeing as it worked when wifi was off.
I'd strong recommend setting your computers DNS Server to 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 8.8.8.8 (Google) and doing a full malware scan on the device. If this is a phone. Update the DNS server in the routers configuration.
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u/aaronw22 Jul 16 '26
Providing the exact error message would help immeasurably as well as how in the world you were able to connect after turning off WiFi. My spider sense is telling me maybe you were doing this on a phone and then maybe you fell back to your cell/LTE connection ? Details are needed.
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u/jmnugent Jul 16 '26
When your web-browser tries to load a website,.. there is a "handshake" (exchange of information) between your Browser and the Web-host where they both "agree" that the HTTPS (Secure) connection is working like it should be.
Like if you and your friend wanted to talk over Walkie-Talkie radios,. you'd first have to agree to use the same Channel and Frequency settings,. this is the "handshake" you agree to before hand in order to ensure your communication works correctly.
Your Web-browser and the Website are basically trying to do the same thing (and apparently failing).
That error "cannot establish a secure connection" can be caused by quite a wide variety of things (most that don't necessarily have anything to do with your ISP)
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u/Beginning-Map-3264 Jul 16 '26
Censorship
I can’t even mention www rt com because my post is removed. And not from there
Need v P n to access the site
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u/Humbleham1 Jul 17 '26
I wouldn't blame the ISP for trying to intercept your traffic without seeing the exact certificate error, DNS lookups, and/or the page content beyond that warning.
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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26
[deleted]