Centurylink blocking Netflix?

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camo

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Feb 11, 2010
898
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Nebraska
Process of switching ISP from cable over to DSL centurylink and first thing I noticed while testing service, nothing will load beyond 24% while using Netflix unless hide IP address using VPN service, then everything loads and plays normally.
Is this a know issue? I searched a little on google and saw complaints of centurylink throttling but never blocking entirely. Is it even legal?
 
camo said:
Process of switching ISP from cable over to DSL centurylink and first thing I noticed while testing service, nothing will load beyond 24% while using Netflix unless hide IP address using VPN service, then everything loads and plays normally.
Is this a know issue? I searched a little on google and saw complaints of centurylink throttling but never blocking entirely. Is it even legal?
Click to expand...

I would call their tech support and ask
 
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Juan said:
How fast is your dsl link? When I try to use a VPN with Netflix I get an error on Netflix saying VPN not allowed

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!
Click to expand...

Netflix blocks most VPN’s. Only one I know of that isn’t blocked is ExpressVPN and that’s what I use. They have a few ports that work with Netflix.
 
The DSL download speed is 18 mbps after line lose. Previous cable was 25 mbps but unreliable and about $14 more month.
I switched to the $45 month plan for life Centurylink is currently offering. Ping speeds are fast and cleaner signal on bonded ADSL2+ vs what I was getting on cable.

Just to be clear I tested Netflix on 3 different devices (android TV, Roku, FireTV) and all act the same. Nothing will play unless I use VPN service apparently not bocked by Netflix and everything is normal.
Also tried Amazon Prime movies and all is normal. Its just Netflix.

I do need to call before I cancel cable and ask why they are blocking netflix but Centurylink is such a mess dealing with CSR's. Usually 45 minutes on phone and get nowhere from my previous experiences. (I had them before)
 
comfortably_numb said:
Netflix blocks most VPN’s. Only one I know of that isn’t blocked is ExpressVPN and that’s what I use. They have a few ports that work with Netflix.
Click to expand...

It works with SmartDNS in fact it and the other one I use (can't remember the name) both have specific switches for Netflix to work.
 
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camo said:
The DSL download speed is 18 mbps after line lose. Previous cable was 25 mbps but unreliable and about $14 more month.
I switched to the $45 month plan for life Centurylink is currently offering. Ping speeds are fast and cleaner signal on bonded ADSL2+ vs what I was getting on cable.

Just to be clear I tested Netflix on 3 different devices (android TV, Roku, FireTV) and all act the same. Nothing will play unless I use VPN service apparently not bocked by Netflix and everything is normal.
Also tried Amazon Prime movies and all is normal. Its just Netflix.

I do need to call before I cancel cable and ask why they are blocking netflix but Centurylink is such a mess dealing with CSR's. Usually 45 minutes on phone and get nowhere from my previous experiences. (I had them before)
Click to expand...

Is it possible your new IP isn't fully registered yet? The other thing to do (and actually not bad for any time) change to the Google DNS settings 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4. That would not change anything if Centurylink is actually blocking but might if it's a technical problem.
 
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camo said:
I switched to the $45 month plan for life Centurylink is currently offering. Ping speeds are fast and cleaner signal on bonded ADSL2+ vs what I was getting on cable.
Click to expand...

Have had CL for years and never had Netflix blocked. Am on the same $45 month plan with a bonded pair.

Edit:
Modem is in the bridged mode with a stand alone router with ddwrt.
 
Tampa8 said:
Is it possible your new IP isn't fully registered yet?
Click to expand...
What do you mean by "registered".

Domain Name System (DNS) has no impact on IP addresses be they static or dynamic. It is simply an index that converts from domain names to IP addresses. The only time this is a problem is when you're using a domain name and the ISP doesn't have "reverse DNS" set up that verfies that your IP is associated with your domain. Since there's no domain name involved, DNS isn't either.

If Netflix thought it was a VPN IP address, they would have said so.

According to Neflix's own ISP speed index ( https://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/country/us/ ), Centurylink is tied with Frontier for first place among DSL providers so it doesn't seem logical that they're blocking Netflix. By the same token, because Centurylink's operations are broken up into regions, what's happening in one area may be decidedly different from what's going on somewhere else in terms of performance. The policies should be the same across the board.

I agree that only Centurylink is going to be able to give you an authoritative answer.
 
Update everyone all is working. Never had chance to call Centurylink support but just tried again and normal viewing on all devices. I do wonder now if something didn't happen when I enabled transparent bridging mode on built-in CLink router modem combo so I could use my R7000 Netgear router. I did this just before testing Netflix making sure all was well before canceling cable.
Thanks for all the input and advice.
 
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When they switched me over to the $45 month plan I figured that was before taxes and fees. I was wrong it is a flat $45 per month. For what it is, it's a great deal. Have been on that plan for over a year now.
 
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harshness said:
What do you mean by "registered".

Domain Name System (DNS) has no impact on IP addresses be they static or dynamic. It is simply an index that converts from domain names to IP addresses. The only time this is a problem is when you're using a domain name and the ISP doesn't have "reverse DNS" set up that verfies that your IP is associated with your domain. Since there's no domain name involved, DNS isn't either.

If Netflix thought it was a VPN IP address, they would have said so.

According to Neflix's own ISP speed index ( https://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/country/us/ ), Centurylink is tied with Frontier for first place among DSL providers so it doesn't seem logical that they're blocking Netflix. By the same token, because Centurylink's operations are broken up into regions, what's happening in one area may be decidedly different from what's going on somewhere else in terms of performance. The policies should be the same across the board.

I agree that only Centurylink is going to be able to give you an authoritative answer.
Click to expand...

When you first change providers ESPECIALLY to DSL the first IP you get may not be fully registered across the internet as to where it is for awhile. For some sites it won't matter but for others it does particularly those like Netflix that are region sensitive. I bet this is exactly what happened here as he now has the service. I have seen this many many times before with not just Netflix but Amazon's site also, not even their video site just getting to their main site. When I had DSL and changed to a new router I encountered this all the time. I was up and running, could access sites but not all sites, it took awhile but eventually all sites could be reached.

Now I will address changing DNS. MANY here had a problem about three or so years ago with HULU using the router setting "get DNS automatically." There was a technical problem with then Brighthouse, they were not blocking but for technical reasons HULU (maybe others?) could not get through. Changing the DNS to Google settings fixed it.

"One of the biggest reasons we suggest customers switch to Google's resolvers is that their network is set to use improperly configured resolvers. Providing correct results is one of the key benefits which Google Public DNS provides. It puts priority on returning the right answer to a query. In cases when there is a query for a non-existent or mistyped domain name, users get an NXDOMAIN response, which indicates no known response, to their query."
Why and How to Use Google's Public DNS - DNSimple Blog
 
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stardust3 said:
When they switched me over to the $45 month plan I figured that was before taxes and fees. I was wrong it is a flat $45 per month. For what it is, it's a great deal. Have been on that plan for over a year now.
Click to expand...

I had same service prior to switching to cable and now back again at much lower price. They were charging $70 for the 20/2 mbps, now at $45 is a good deal when you have few other options. The cable proved unreliable with inclement weather. We just had a blizzard couple weeks ago in northern Nebraska and went without internet full day.
Main problem, I also run a weather website and had about 400 visitors on watching blizzard when internet went down and stayed down throughout much of blizzard with no local tech ISP support, ( from another town) and all roads shut down so was screwed.
My weather site with realtime weather conditions and cameras is here: Welcome, Valentine Nebraska real-time weather with HD webcams - Home
 
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Tampa8 said:
Is it possible your new IP isn't fully registered yet? The other thing to do (and actually not bad for any time) change to the Google DNS settings 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4. That would not change anything if Centurylink is actually blocking but might if it's a technical problem.
Click to expand...
 

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