After several consecutive busy weeks, I looked forward to today — a Sunday with no appointments. A day to assemble my book.
My morning began with my usual routine of switching on my iPhone.
There was one voicemail message.
“I was looking at your blog …. because I need sheet music for Charlie on the MTA …”
That’s easy. All that my ukulele student needed was the URL of the song sheet I had created and “hung” off my website.
I tried accessing my website on my iPhone 7, so I could copy and paste the link. The browser loaded “Safari cannot open the page because the server stopped responding.”
That’s strange, I thought.
Anxious to resolve the problem, I contacted my webhost provider Bluehost via their online chat. After security checks, the chat person asked me to check if I could load my website on mobile data only (switching off the home wifi access).
- It was not a mobile data but home wifi issue. This means there’s something wrong with the wifi, ISP, or IP address.
“It seems your network has added some firewalls and that is causing this. You can try restating the router or contact your ISP for this. Please contact your ISP to unblock your site.”
It took a little translation to figure out what ISP stood for. Internet Service Provider.
I dread calling Comcast, for each time I got transferred to someone else in the same company, I had to verify who I was: account number, last four digits of credit card on file, address. I’d retaliate by saying, “I’m the same person who spoke to your colleague who transferred me to you. No one has kidnapped me or impersonated me on the same call. Why do I need to verify who I am, where I live — every single time???”
The first guy reset the router from his end. The second guy or gal got me to flush out all 2,500 cookies in my Safari browser cache, so that I now have to type in every log in and password combination for every site I use that requires it.
What caused the problem?
It was not my new modem. It was not my ISP. My ISP did not add a firewall or blocked my site. It was not my various MAC devices or browsers.
I opened another chat with Bluehost. This time, another Indian-sounding name answered. After a long chat during which time he asked me to identify my IP address, he found the culprit.
2. Bluehost had blacklisted my IP address. This meant anyone using my home wifi will not be able to access those websites — or any websites they host.
“The IP address will be blacklisted from the Bluehost server itself. So that IP address doesn’t abuse any other websites that are hosted with us.”
While simultaneously talking to the third person at Comcast on my nearly two hour call, I chatted with the second person at Bluehost on my laptop. I complained that I did not get any warning. He replied that his company had no way of knowing that my blacklisted IP address was associated with me.
“We do understand your concern and your wish to get the issue resolved soon. The IPaddresses are only added to the blacklist when they show suspicious connection activity that is causing a performance issue on the server. IP address will be blocked by our servers automatic firewall filter, due to which site will not be accessible or log into webmail from our server as this is essential to ensure server security and its performance.”
How to resolve the issue? I had to do all of the following tasks. Each task required a conversation — definitions, details, implications, etc.
- Scan all computers/devices that use that router for malware.
- Secure the wireless access point on the router (if it has one) or changing its password.
- Check to see if you are running anything automated or manually doing things repeatedly that might have connected too many times and gotten them blocked.
My plead to Bluehost was simply this:
“Do not expect your clients to be as tech savvy as you. Please inform and educate us. Don’t do anything to us without warning. I mean no harm. I don’t know why you need to protect yourself from me — I am your client.”