Rivals problem (Ongoing)
- Thread starter yesrutgers01
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Whatever happened occurred during the pinstripe bowl because it was fine before and during the start and by the end of the game no good.
I still have issues since I’ve gotten back home to my FIOS wifi.
It still has that strange occurrence where it works on the FIOS wifi on Safari but not Chrome on one iPhone and that’s it. I have a second different older model iPhone and none of the browsers work there or my iPad or my Windows laptop. Tried family members devices and same thing.
I have no clue how it works only on one browser on one iPhone and nowhere else on any other device in the house.
It still has that strange occurrence where it works on the FIOS wifi on Safari but not Chrome on one iPhone and that’s it. I have a second different older model iPhone and none of the browsers work there or my iPad or my Windows laptop. Tried family members devices and same thing.
I have no clue how it works only on one browser on one iPhone and nowhere else on any other device in the house.
The error is a connection time out error which means after your browser requests the page from the server the server is not responding, or possibly the server response is being blocked. Given that I can access from the same device on a VPN, it seems that the rivals server is not responding to requests which come from a certain network. Support should be checking the web service logs. I can provide my ip if needed.
@Richard Schnyderite
@Richard Schnyderite
Problem started for me sometime on Wednesday, the day before the Pinstripe Bowl.
Good info. And it's happening on different Wi-Fi networks, and multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices, so it's not isolated to 1 Internet provider, browser, OS or device.
I recall my issue started 12/27 as well.
Oddly enough, right now I am connected via VPN (IVPN app) server in Secaucus. I’ve only tired a few different VPN servers, but using my home ISP (xfinity), I can only and always connect using VPN, but that VPN server can be anywhere.
@Richard Schnyderite
Let me summarize the critical info for the tech folks:
1. Pinging rivals.com works under all connection-types.
2. Browsing to rivals.com fails only when people are using cable modems or fiber gateways.
3. Browsing to rivals.com works over cable/fiber when people use a VPN.
4. Browsing to rivals.com works when people use cellular data (with or without VPN).
5. The problem is reported as occurring using Optimum/Altice, Xfinity, Verizon ISPs (again, only when using cable modem or fiber gateways, cellular connections work fine).
People keep mentioning Wi-Fi, but that’s irrelevant here. People are confusing the irrelevant action of disabling Wi-Fi with the relevant result which is switching them from their cable/fiber ISP connection via home router (which fails) to their cellular data plan connection (which works).
Wifi or wired ethernet, browsing to rivals.com fails for those of us experiencing the problem.
Let me summarize the critical info for the tech folks:
1. Pinging rivals.com works under all connection-types.
2. Browsing to rivals.com fails only when people are using cable modems or fiber gateways.
3. Browsing to rivals.com works over cable/fiber when people use a VPN.
4. Browsing to rivals.com works when people use cellular data (with or without VPN).
5. The problem is reported as occurring using Optimum/Altice, Xfinity, Verizon ISPs (again, only when using cable modem or fiber gateways, cellular connections work fine).
People keep mentioning Wi-Fi, but that’s irrelevant here. People are confusing the irrelevant action of disabling Wi-Fi with the relevant result which is switching them from their cable/fiber ISP connection via home router (which fails) to their cellular data plan connection (which works).
Wifi or wired ethernet, browsing to rivals.com fails for those of us experiencing the problem.
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I did the same and tested VPN from several different locations inside and outside the US. All worked fine for browsing to rivals.com.
I don't think anyone is confused but thanks for clarifying. It's also happening to someone overseas, so it's more than domestic ISPs.
I would look at two things:
1. Was any new software installed somewhere in the rivals server (or datacenter) or an edge server (or datacenter) sometime in the second half of the bowl game. That’s apparently when the problem started or became more widespread.
2. The problem could conceivably reside somewhere in the network of whomever is providing internet to the server(s) hosting rivals.com. So I’d reach out to those folks about the problem as well. Might not be on the actual rivals servers, is my point.
1. Was any new software installed somewhere in the rivals server (or datacenter) or an edge server (or datacenter) sometime in the second half of the bowl game. That’s apparently when the problem started or became more widespread.
2. The problem could conceivably reside somewhere in the network of whomever is providing internet to the server(s) hosting rivals.com. So I’d reach out to those folks about the problem as well. Might not be on the actual rivals servers, is my point.
The comment about people overseas or in Africa not being able to access the site via Wifi is irrelevant. When I used to go to the UK on business, I could never access the site via Wifi due to Yahoo non-compliance with GDPR and other Euro data privacy requirements. I only was able to access the site via 5G or VPN. What's weird here is that many are using the same services as the posters with the issue (like me), but have not experienced any issues. That is the frustrating part for the support team and Ritchie trying to help here.
No issues, connected with wireless FIOS and have a Verizon Wi-Fi Extender if that helps. I'm not very tech savvy.
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Yup. The main reason I got IVPN many years ago was because I couldn‘t access this site on our yearly romp to Croatia. I kept it ever since. It’s kind of useful in odd ways, like providing a band aid for this issue.
You may be onto something regarding the privacy controls. Is it possible that's what's causing the issue somewhere since it works over VPN; maybe some misconfiguration somewhere?
That is what I am thinking but not tech savy enough to know if that's the issue. But that is what it sounds like to me.
Also, it seems like most having the issue may have not attended the Pinstripe Bowl. Is that correct or are there others that attended the bowl now having issues. Just trying to figure out the timing/scenario. I attended the bowl game and have no issues.
Did not attend Pinstripe Bowl. Site has been working nearly flawlessly in Arizona (Century Link) and back in NJ (FIOS).
I tried a VPN and it didn't work
Verizon has been having problems keeping its own site up
Verizon has been having problems keeping its own site up
Verizon down updates — Thousands of users report outages with mobile phones and internet
https://www.the-sun.com/tech/9881117/verizon-down-updates-internet-wireless/My current theory is that the problem may reside with scanning/filtering at one of the server hops that is common to those of us experiencing the issue, but isn't present for those that aren't experiencing the problem. This theory fits perfectly with everything everybody has reported so far.
And this is why I asked people about ad-blockers or other Javascript blockers - those products use third party filter lists, same as the various servers involved in forwarding internet traffic between devices.
More detailed explanation...
Every time any of us browses to some website, under the hood, the data packets hop across multiple servers starting at one end (either our device or Rivals servers), then hopping across several intermediate servers, then finally winding up at the other end. There are almost always multiple servers operated by multiple organizations involved.
Many, if not most, operators of these servers employ automated filtering software that uses bad site lists and a bunch of other techniques to block potentially harmful connections and data packets. The effect is the connection requests or data packets arrive at a server okay, but never make it back out to the next server hop because they're filtered out or blocked.
If some content somewhere on Rivals (could be an ad or a user post or multiples of those things) has been flagged as problematic by one of the organizations that are commonly used by all server operators, and is red-flagged, that could quickly lead to Rivals landing on a bad site list and having it's traffic blocked by multiple servers out there.
Normally, when that happens, the origin server admins are notified. But that doesn't always happen. Typically, when it happens to a legitimate site, the legitimate site can find and eliminate the issues on their servers and then contact the organization(s) listing the site as problematic and get the block removed.
I'll look into what I can find out about rivals showing up on any filtering lists. But not all of them are public.
Edit: I should add that rivals.com obviously passes the more well-known site checkers (e.g. https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search?url=rivals.com&hl=en). But when problems like this arise, it's typically not due to being blacklisted by one of the "biggies" in the filtering business. It's typically due to one of the smaller organizations. There are a bunch of them and we never know which lists are employed by which servers involved in the various server hops involved between our devices and some website somewhere.
Edit 2: For those who know what I'm talking about, I ran a URLVoid check (checks against many of the filter organizations) and it cleared them all. But again, server filtering can employ non-public and lesser-known lists, as well as various other techniques for detecting malicious content. So this is still my preferred theory since it fits with all known facts.
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Glad to know I am not the only one. I have not been able to log on for 2-3 days. I'm at work today and all seems fine.
Sheeze, stop acting like you know what you're talking about!
At work right now, hardwired connection through our ISP, no issues as expected. And I haven't experienced issues at home going through the cable modem for optimum.
Just fired up Safari on my phone (I rarely use that for surfing) to test across our guest wifi, and no problems either. I assume the wifi is going into a modem connected to our ISP. (note to self, find out who our ISP is)
@Richard Schnyderite
@DJ Spanky
Some more info for the tech folks...
The first TCP connection attempted in connecting to rivals (for me and probably others affected) is to 67.195.231.20 (which is media-router-aol71.prod.media.vip.gq1.yahoo.com) over HTTPS. That connection times out (it fails exactly the same way trying to browse to rivals.com fails).
I can ping that IP address successfully. But an HTTP or HTTPS connection to it fails.
Seems like that IP address resides in a datacenter in or around Washington DC.
So... perhaps it's an edge server for yahoo and it's down. Or not. But the tech folks at yahoo should look into it.
@DJ Spanky
Some more info for the tech folks...
The first TCP connection attempted in connecting to rivals (for me and probably others affected) is to 67.195.231.20 (which is media-router-aol71.prod.media.vip.gq1.yahoo.com) over HTTPS. That connection times out (it fails exactly the same way trying to browse to rivals.com fails).
I can ping that IP address successfully. But an HTTP or HTTPS connection to it fails.
Seems like that IP address resides in a datacenter in or around Washington DC.
So... perhaps it's an edge server for yahoo and it's down. Or not. But the tech folks at yahoo should look into it.
I thought it worked over there now, iirc.
I believe the poster in Africa lives in Switzerland so would know better.
Interesting, because the tools I use trace it back to NYC. It does appear to be a Yahoo server.
Makes sense. Some folks will be routed one way, others in other ways. Some of us, those experiencing the issue, are probably all being routed through one point where the failure lies. It looks to me like the machine where that IP address is hosted, is a good first place to look.
Interestingly, when I browse (successfully) to rivals.com while on a VPN, I still see TCP connections to the same IP address I mentioned as a failure point above. So while it may be a failure point, it seems to not be failing for everyone, same as rivals.com itself.
Which again points to something like filtering upstream (from the point of view of our user devices) of the aforementioned IP hop.
People providing tracert logs could be potentially helpful in isolating the upstream failure point.
Which again points to something like filtering upstream (from the point of view of our user devices) of the aforementioned IP hop.
People providing tracert logs could be potentially helpful in isolating the upstream failure point.
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On reddit I saw a lot of Chicago people were grinding in Verizon's gears.
Because the dead spots were around holiday time, providers might have been tinkering under the hood.
I've found my ISP and websites have been sketchy the past two months
There's been a lot of that since gov order forcing "AI" into everything under the "security" excuse.
Because the dead spots were around holiday time, providers might have been tinkering under the hood.
I've found my ISP and websites have been sketchy the past two months
There's been a lot of that since gov order forcing "AI" into everything under the "security" excuse.
That's me. I was in Africa over Christmas and have since returned to Switzerland. Works completely fine here.
It definitely is a problem because I used it fine for the whole time in my stay until the day of the Pinstripe Bowl.
As to Rivals access from Europe. This used to be the case back in the day but it seems Yahoo has eased down on it and now have no issues accessing the site in most countries. However they wouldn't let me subscribe to the Premium board due to my location abroad (Yahoo only allows US based users) but that's an easy workaround.
Hope it gets fixed soon for all because it's quite the annoyance.
Good to hear Yahoo finally complied in UK & Europe. As mentioned I stopped going to UK/Switzerland right when COVID hit. Haven't had the chance to get back but hope to soon.
I tried my iPhone, desktop and iPad at home this morning - none would load RIvals. At work, the site loads just fine on the same iPhone. It has been many days since I could load the site a home (probably a week).
@Richard Schnyderite
@Richard Schnyderite
Someone on premium posted they're also having the same issue with AOL email not working, which further points to a Yahoo issue, as Rivals and AOL are part of Yahoo.
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Hmm. I did not put these two together but I can confirm to also having some issues with AOL although not to the same extent as the rivals lack of service. Using chrome as my browser rather than safari seems to help on that front.
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