Failed remote network problem

[Anonymous]

DalikVee There are instances where people report all downloads fail, however that could be Hard Drive, Box issues or anything, there is too little to go on to diagnose those faults.

However, when a SKY Q box can download but has occasional failures, It seems reasonable from available evidence that the Limelight servers allow connections whilst the Akamai are blocking/restricting, not allowing, not working - however you want to describe it.

We do not know for certain if a Whitelist exists, which would (or should) include all UK ISPS.

Sky say they dont have Whitelists, in which case it would lead me to believe Akamai has Blacklists.

In other words, Akamai do not "Allow" UK ISP IP addresses to connect, instead, they "Block" the rest of the world, based on their region.

This means there is a Blacklist, and that Blacklist needs our IPs removed.

Either way, a techy should surely understand this, and when you ask to have your ISP Whitelisted, they should translate that if required to mean, remove from blacklist.

Given that Limelight doesnt seem to have the issue, then any Geo location issue (blocking non UK) can only be referring to Akamai, so when SKY say, Geo Location, they mean, on the Akamai platform.

Thats my opinion of what I am reading anyway

[DalikVee]

This seems to be my consensus too, given my limited but somewhat decent understanding of networking. Indeed I've seen and dealt with this scenario several times before with my previous ISP, whose IP range was blacklisted by so many services including YouTube and of course (presumably) Akamai. I have since switched to a different, much more reputable ISP and none of these issues persist except this one. Akamai certainly seem to be the ones at fault here.

[Chodley]

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@Anonymous wrote:

DalikVee There are instances where people report all downloads fail, however that could be Hard Drive, Box issues or anything, there is too little to go on to diagnose those faults.

However, when a SKY Q box can download but has occasional failures, It seems reasonable from available evidence that the Limelight servers allow connections whilst the Akamai are blocking/restricting, not allowing, not working - however you want to describe it.

We do not know for certain if a Whitelist exists, which would (or should) include all UK ISPS.

Sky say they dont have Whitelists, in which case it would lead me to believe Akamai has Blacklists.

In other words, Akamai do not "Allow" UK ISP IP addresses to connect, instead, they "Block" the rest of the world, based on their region.

This means there is a Blacklist, and that Blacklist needs our IPs removed.

Either way, a techy should surely understand this, and when you ask to have your ISP Whitelisted, they should translate that if required to mean, remove from blacklist.

Given that Limelight doesnt seem to have the issue, then any Geo location issue (blocking non UK) can only be referring to Akamai, so when SKY say, Geo Location, they mean, on the Akamai platform.

Thats my opinion of what I am reading anyway

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There is a different issue where Sky's servers also completely stop things working because of an out of date geo:IP lookup 3rd party service - the symptoms are different. And the Sky team on here do now how to get that one resolved.

[Craigv9]

Let's see what today brings.

I've sent Comms to:

Community managers

Super users

The chat person

The Sky business social.media team

I'm also gonna ring customer services (god help me)

I'm gonna seek an update to the complaint as well

Today needs to be a co-ordinated day of action from Sky. The END of this problem. The solution. Anything less will be an abject failure

As of last night the solution is crystal clear and obvious. Ofcom will want to know how Sky responded...as will the customers here...

Let's have some Comms, Sky

Let's have an update, today please

[AJT23]

Has anyone tried the Akamai blacklist checker to see whether that provides any info?

https://www.akamai.com/us/en/clientrep-lookup/

[Craigv9]

Give what we now know and the fact that the information passed to us by Sky hasn't been wholly accurate, and given the numbers of people affected and the fact that this situation remains unresolved after such a long period of time, I have this morning reached out to Computer Weekly and am awaiting contact from one of their journalists

I will keep people informed. If superusers of community managers here have the name of a press and PR contact, I will happily hook them up with Computer Weekly so that the have a right to reply

(removed)

Moderator note: Removed campaigning.

[Craigv9]

Last night I sent a VERY DETAILED response to my escalated chat person

I'm sure I can't quote the reply that I just received for privacy reasons, (though they have previously said I can have a full transcript for Ofcom)

Anyway, I can paraphrase and summarise.

Summary:

Your router and your config is your problem. Not Sky's. They have however, passed on my thoughts

Outcome:

In my humble opinion, Sky aren't gonna fix this. They won't even acknowledge it's an issue. Despite the overwhelming evidence. 

Is Sky's tag line still 'believe in better'?

Literally unbelievable...

[Craigv9]

Sadly that only checks the IP address your using, not your ISPs and there's no way to search on any other address other than your own

Why would we check anyway, we've proved this is the issue with the practical demonstration last night...

In any case, it's moot. Sky chat has said it's not their problem. It's not gonna get sorted, imho

[Craigv9]

Sky chat can't fathom why I'm unhappy, but linked me to an alternative resolution page for specific on demand complaints...I'm sure you can guess....yup....PAGE NOT FOUND...

[DalikVee]

Indeed their tagline still is "Believe in Better" as the first thing I was greeted by after trying 40 times to download a programme last night was an advert talking about how great Sky is. If they aren't willing to resolve this, we should be able to leave without termination charges as surely Sky's end of the bargain is to at least provide the entire service we signed up for? The fact that we need to either invest in our own equipment to resolve an issue that isn't ours, or involve regulators is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I went to that IP check URL and my ISP public IP is showing as OK. Also I noted this on same page

Akamai does not block users from accessing our customers' websites. However, our customers can use tools and policies which may in turn block you (the end user). Our customers use these rules to protect them and you from malicious actors on the internet. Some common reasons could include:

• Explicit IP blocking / blacklisting
• Location-based backlisting
• Rule-based blocking (i.e. web application firewall protections)
• Reputation-base blocking
• HTTP request rate controls (e.g. DoS protections)

So there it is in black and white, Akamai do NOT block us, SKY DO! They are the "customer" to Akamai, and it is clear one of those blocks above is being used against my IP, despite Akamai showing it is not a bad IP!

[Craigv9]

Mark, how do I find out my ISPs public IP?

Sky chat this AM were completely dismissive of your work, claiming it was irrelevant

Your support here IS going to help people and once I have the fix, be sure I am going to pay it forward...

[Craigv9]

To be fair, they've let me leave without penalty, but that's not a kindness it's consumer law

The fact that they are letting customers go so easily, in my opinion is very telling.

(removed)

Moderator note: Removed unfounded allegations.

[Anonymous]

If you want to check your public IP do this

go to google and type "what is my ip"

The results page will include a section that tells you (without having to click any links)

Now go to Blacklist Check - See if your server is blacklisted

Type the IP that Google gave into that page and it will show you the blacklist status on many blacklist sites.

The reason most IPs get Blacklisted is sending spam emails, but an IP could also be blocked for performing malicious activity, it could also be a legacy block from someone else, that you inherit because the IP has moved to you.

[Anonymous]

I would like SKY to come to me and dismiss my work, because I will sue them for it