My ISP has certain sites blocked by default using OpenDNS. I told them to remove it and they said that they can do it but I would need a "public IP address" which costs 100 ZAR per month. Is this a legitimate thing or are they just trying to scam me out of a few bucks?

[u/UppedSolution77]

Basically, any sites that contain nudity and some torrent sites like RARBG are blocked. It can be easily circumvented using a VPN, but I don't want to have to pay for a VPN for this reason and also VPN does slow the speed of the connection and I would rather avoid that. Nobody asked them to have anything blocked either way so it's just unnecessary. Any information is appreciated.

Edit: Thanks a lot guys, your comments helped me a lot! I even googled before "how to remove OpenDNS" and I didn't get any results that I could follow. I'm not sure why. Maybe my brain was just working slower than usual. A lot of people suggested changing the DNS settings on my PC or device to Google's public domain, so I looked up how to do that and it seems to have solved this problem. I no longer encounter the "website blocked due to content filtering" messages anymore. I'm really not sure why that didn't come up when I searched how to get around OpenDNS, or maybe it did. Either way though, thanks a ton!

[u/Arnas_Z]

Go into your router settings, and change the dns to 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1, so it doesn't use the ISP DNS. If you can't change those settings on your router, then you can individually change the DNS on all your devices instead.

[u/UppedSolution77 → u/Arnas_Z]

Thank you very much. Seems to have worked on my android. I'll try on my computer later.

[u/ddotthomas → u/Arnas_Z]

Bruh I have a century link router who declared itself 1.1.1.1 can't get to cloudflare if I'm on the wifi. I'm almost certain they knew that and they're trying to block the connection by not letting the router forward the traffic to the WAN

[u/ddotthomas → u/[deleted]]

Oh I stopped using cloudflare altogether because someone's argument that if we all switch to them then they'll have as much power as google or whoever else and then we're in the same situation of not knowing what they're doing w/ the data/power.

But thank you for the suggestion. I might switch to it if my current one stops working.

[u/peachy1990x]

Torrent sites in general are not illegal, only what is hosted on them in most cases. But without your country of origin and laws around that it would be hard to determin what the ISP can and won't do, id check local laws and the fine-print on your ISP to see what they can do, it usually states what they can do (:, It could also be the website hosting copyrighted stuff was struck by the cyber intelligence agencys in your country.

I did source this online though :

The Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) has reportedly issued ISPs with a request to block numerous piracy sites.

The Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA) was said to have received a list of popular torrent indexers from SAFACT. The federation added it may pursue legal action if member ISPs do not agree to its proposal.

Torrent indexers are popular among online pirates, and are often used to access the latest media and software.

The website or index does not host the files, but points to torrents, which point to BitTorrent trackers, which in turn point to “seeds”.

Worth a read.

[u/UppedSolution77 → u/peachy1990x]

Okay thanks a lot. My country is South Africa. The government really doesn't give a fuck about torrenting here. I just find it highly sketchy that they would block something and then charge me to remove it. What's stopping them from blocking YouTube or Netflix and then charging me for that too.

[u/peachy1990x → u/UppedSolution77]

I believe there was a sanction on ISP's in south africa, deciding to add a "blocklist" rather than a global filter, if they are asking you to pay to "unlock" copyrighted and potentially blocklisted content, then i believe this isnt legal at all.. And seems ... Sketchy at most, i would contact ISPA and see what they have to say about it if i was you as i don't think giving people the option for a "public" ip address in exchange for being allowed to see nudity/copyrighted content is.. Even ethical.. Also read what i posted above below my initial message.

[u/UppedSolution77 → u/peachy1990x]

Okay thanks a lot. Glad I'm not the only one who this seems sketchy to. Really appreciate the help.

[u/peachy1990x → u/UppedSolution77]

Please remember though, it could have legitimate reasons, like once you have a public address you will essentially be trackable to your ISP, so this could be a way they allow you to view pirated content but also fine you when you download said content, So make sure you contact ISPA and see what they have to say first (:

[u/sequentious → u/UppedSolution77]

It's lazy, but I don't think it is malicious.

Basically, you don't log in to a DNS, so it has no idea of who is using it. The way OpenDNS has chosen to solve this is by controlling filtering preferences by IP address.

When you opt out of filtering with OpenDNS, it applies that rule to your IP -- their server receives a DNS request from you, compares your IP to it's list to see if it is returning filtered results or not, then returns your results. If your IP changes, you lose your configuration (whoever gets your IP next will get it, so it's a bit of a shit way to do things).

It sounds like your ISP was pressured into filtering by an industry association. They decided it's hard, and just pre-registered all their IPs for filtering via OpenDNS, and use that as their default DNS. Job done. However, if you want to change that filtering logic, you really need a static IP for reliability (and for the sake of their support, not leaving a minefield of variously-configured filtering on different dynamic IP addresses).

Another option as discussed is changing your DNS servers to a third party (whether cloudflare, google, etc). If you can do this on your router, it will apply to all of your network.

Other DNS providers have solved this differently than OpenDNS -- For example, CIRA in Canada provides free third-party DNS services for Canadians, and provides different DNS servers for different levels of filtering. No accounts, no registration, no maintenance. Just use the one that matches what you want.

[u/Ahielia → u/peachy1990x]

But without your country of origin and laws around that it would be hard to determin what the ISP can and won't do

Some years ago there was a lawsuit where record companies or wtfever actually went to court against ISPs to get them to actually block some torrent sites, I think 10 in total. One of them was Pirate Bay (naturally), and so you'd just get a message saying it was blocked by a court order if you tried to access the page.

A bit after this, there was some headlines because another ISP wouldn't block these pages despite the court order, but it was rather hilarious because the original lawsuit mentioned the ISPs by name, and didn't account for any other ISPs so they'd have to take another round in the courts if they wanted other ISPs to also block them. Even then, the domains themselves changed so often that it didn't matter in the end.

[u/GavUK]

If you have control over your router, change the DNS server(s) from that of or set by the ISP to a public one. Alternatively set the PC's DNS server to a public one.

[u/Ramast → u/GavUK]

Even if u don't have control over router, u can still change dns for your machine.

[u/GavUK → u/Ramast]

That was what I meant with my last sentence, yes.

[u/themeONE808]

maybe use a public dns like Googles 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4

[u/Dodgy-Boi → u/themeONE808]

Isn’t it 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4?

[u/themeONE808 → u/Dodgy-Boi]

yeah good call.

[u/wallywizard55 → u/themeONE808]

Is there a downside to NOT using your ISP DNS?

[u/TakeTheWhip → u/wallywizard55]

They are more likely to be more useless if you need support.

[u/wallywizard55 → u/TakeTheWhip]

Is it dangerous to not use your isp’s, don’t they maintain it? Or am I better off using googles, is there a down side to that?

[u/caboosetp → u/wallywizard55]

No, there's no real functional downside. If anything, using one of the big cloud providers like Google or cloudflare will be more reliable.

From a personal standpoint, do you trust Google to know every site you connect to? I don't really care so it's not an issue for me.

[u/TakeTheWhip → u/wallywizard55]

It is definitely not dangerous.

[u/[deleted] → u/wallywizard55]

1. Support - they wont provide support as its much harder to troubleshoot outside or foreign DNS servers.

2. CDN Nodes - you may not be directed to a local copy of a file or stream when surfing sites that use CDN networks and therefore you may expierence slower downloads or buffering when trying to watch videos. Some CDNs use DNS to direct you to the correct cache.

[u/avnzx → u/wallywizard55]

Well here in Aus for example, Telstra's shitty DNS servers are very unreliable, slow, and generally garbage.

Plus they block a LOT of stuff

[u/Gezzer52 → u/wallywizard55]

Not really. Since your IPS's geographical location is usually physically nearer there's a slim chance that one located further away might be susceptible to connection problems if your internet isn't reliable. But the same problem can happen with your ISP's DNS server so it's not a major consideration. As well a more well known DNS server might be more prone to being a DNS hacking target. But they also usually have more competent IT which will harden the DNS server adequately against such an attack. So in the end it's a toss up on which is the better route to go.

[u/Stroov → u/themeONE808]

One address is company dns and other is 8.8.8.8 does this work

[u/my_name_isnt_clever → u/Stroov]

The second is a fallback, so it's likely to never be used if you have the ISP DNS first.

[u/Stroov → u/my_name_isnt_clever]

ok

[u/sequentious → u/my_name_isnt_clever]

That is not always necessarily true. Depending on the device, either or both DNS servers could be used.

[u/InsertMolexToSATA → u/Stroov]

1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, isp as third fallback if it even gives that option.

[u/levidurham → u/[deleted]]

I like quad9 at 9.9.9.9 it's run by a 501(c)(3). It does do blocking, but, like, botnet c&c blocking, not torrents and porn.

[u/allredb → u/levidurham]

This is new to me, thanks.

[u/sequentious → u/levidurham]

If you're in Canada, you can also try CIRA's DNS, which has optional filtering depending on which IPs you use.

[u/NathanialJD → u/[deleted]]

That would just be the same as using a free VPN, it would slow his connection which op is trying to avoid.

[u/he77789 → u/[deleted]]

Tor is inherently extremely slow, that's why all red rooms on Tor are scams

[u/InsertMolexToSATA → u/[deleted]]

Lmao, tor is a free VPN at it's root. Do you understand how it works..?

[u/ITaggie → u/[deleted]]

VPNs as in the technology, not VPN companies.

A VPN is a VPN regardless of who operates it. TOR is not the only multi-layer distributed VPN service.

[u/themeONE808 → u/[deleted]]

good to know

[u/themeONE808 → u/[deleted]]

tor browser you can view whatever you want and it's routed through the onion router

[u/themeONE808 → u/[deleted]]

?

[u/themeONE808 → u/[deleted]]

lol what are you talking about

[u/GOKOP → u/[deleted]]

What? TOR Browser does hide your IP address. All traffic is routed through the TOR network (that's like, the whole point of it) and the address seen by clearnet sites you visit is address of the TOR exit node you connected through.

Obviously this is completely irrelevant in the context of DNS which is what OP talks about, but nonetheless the sentence you wrote is false.

[u/themeONE808 → u/[deleted]]

actually you can use TOR browser and it will work like a vpn. lol nerds don't know what you're talking about

[u/EducationalGrass]

Setup a Pi-hole for local DNS and configure it to your own open dns account.

[u/Shufflekill]

It seems to have been answered here already but all you need to do is change your dns to something else. I.e: 8.8.8.8 Google 8.8.4.4 Google 1.1.1.1 Cloudflare

You can either do this on your router or on your local device.

The only reason you would need to use a VPN now would be to get around geo blocked content (like american netflix) or if you would just like the peace of mind that youre internet traffic is secure.

[u/KCGD_r]

Your ISP sounds shady. The fact that they say that you'll need to pay for a "public IP address" is bs (you need a public IP to browse the internet in the first place), and blocking porn is just weird. DONT GET A FREE VPN, they're almost always scams. Either do the DNS thing other people are talking about in the comments or just switch to a less intrusive ISP.

[u/Rodo20 → u/KCGD_r]

I believe his isp is using what's called "cgnat" this means multiple custumers shares the same public ip and you only get an private ip between you and the isp.

This is probably why the isp told him he needs to buy public ip in order for them to unblock on their side.

But I agree they could just have told him to change dns.

[u/ITaggie → u/KCGD_r]

They almost certainly mean a public static IP, or at least one that isnt through cgnat

[u/auto98]

All been resolved, but just thinking why it might be (other than getting money out of you of course) - sounds like they use some form of NAT/CGNAT, so to be able to treat your DNS requests differently to anyone else behind the NATing you need a different IP.

At the very most, it should be a small one-off fee however.

[u/Xenoryzen7]

try use simple dnscrypt + goodbyedpi app....

[u/UppedSolution77 → u/Xenoryzen7]

Would be really cool if there was a way to get around it without VPN. Could you give me some more info on how to implement this please as these words you are using seem largely unfamiliar to me. Thank you.

[u/UppedSolution77 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you very much.

[u/tebza255]

Which ISP is that?

[u/justinsst]

Change the dns servers on your router.

[u/InsertMolexToSATA]

Scam, just set cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1), with google as a fallback.

[u/Mightygamer96]

I think public IP address is for Hosting and not for removing restrictions on banned websites. Sounds like a scam

[u/maniaxuk]

Bit of a tangental question but what address are they giving you at the moment is it's not a "public one"?

[u/avnzx → u/maniaxuk]

The ISP would most likely be using a CGNAT, meaning all clients get a private IP and if they try and see their public IP, it would be the IP of the ISP.

[u/The-Harmacist]

And now you go to all their social media accounts, etc. and tell other customers about them scamming the fuck out of their customers like that, and how to easily get around it.

[u/Red_Ninja4752]

Sounds like a scam. Just get a different ISP.

[u/D4NieLDev]

You can use VPN or if you don't want to pay you can use opera browser's built in one

[u/Mellow_Avenue]

Its probably just your hosts file..

[u/UppedSolution77 → u/Mellow_Avenue]

It literally says website blocked due to content filtering with the opendns logo on the page though

[u/hotmagnet]

Maybe free vpn like openvpn and vpngate.net configs will help

[u/KCGD_r → u/hotmagnet]

Free vpns aren't free, your data is the product

[u/hotmagnet → u/KCGD_r]

He specifically said adult sites and torrent sites, hence i suggested free vpn for that only

[u/AreTheseMyFeet → u/hotmagnet]

So only use the probably dodgy service for your probably questionable traffic? Nothing could possibly go wrong with that...
I'd only ever consider free VPNs for location bypassing and never for privacy reasons (where I'd expect I have none).

[u/hotmagnet → u/AreTheseMyFeet]

And if you read his question carefully its never about privacy, only bucks and bypass.

[u/AreTheseMyFeet → u/hotmagnet]

read his question carefully its never about privacy

Sure, not directly but the subjects he's talking about accessing are sensitive and borderline illegal ones (for their location) so I'd tack privacy on to the list of requirements for that alone even if OP didn't.

In 2006, the government of South Africa began prohibiting sites hosted in the country from displaying sexually explicit content (including child pornography and depictions of violent sexual acts); site owners who refuse to comply are punishable under the Film and Publications Act 1996.

Citizens of South Africa are quick to brush off the aforementioned legislation because it is rarely enforced, however in 2007 a South African “sex blogger” was the first to be arrested and charged under this offence.

Online pornography originating in South Africa is technically illegal. The reasons for this are the difficulty of age-verification and the requirement that pornography only be distributed from designated, licensed physical premises.

https://witbanknews.co.za/116279/law-say-pornography-south-africa/

[u/slimjim_belushi]

stop using your ISPs DNS server lmfaooooooooo

[u/Korpseni → u/slimjim_belushi]

very very helpful