Website blocked by content control on broadband

[simonlant]

I am trying to access some content on Mediafire being shared by a colleague and I get a strange error message stating that the certificate has an issue and when I progress I get another error Too Many Redirects and the URL changes to:

https://www.mediafire.com/www.vodafone.co.uk/contentcontrolpage/www.vodafone.co.uk/contentcontrolpag...

I have switched off Content Control on my account via the web, but it still remains blocked after 48 hours. It was working fine just before the weekend.

Please help.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

I use another isp provider so cannot check on my side but mediafire works fine. 

I think you may need to speak with Broadband Tech Support on Live Chat or by phone to see if this needs looking at. 

Got a question?

08080 034 515
(free from all UK landlines and mobiles)
Lines are open between 8am and 11pm, seven days a week

Vodafone Contact Us Link.

Have you tried clearing the browsers caches and cookies and or tried another browser. 

[its5am]

Thanks for this - i've been trying to recreate this very issue to raise for a while

are you getting a page like this:

Whats happening here is Vodafone's content control system is using redirects badly on secure sites so your browser is throwing an error to warn you of a 'man in the middle' attack (essentially where someone plants a bit of listening code inbetween your computer and the website you want to go so they can steal sensative data).

This appears to happen regardless of if you have content controls on or not. 

[MongooseGeneral]

I've had this problem too and unfortunately I think it is just one of a catalogue of issues with Vodafone's broadband set up that they don't seem interested in addressing (sorry to be negative). If I deativate content control I want to be able to look at whatever I want (within reason!).

More info is in this thread of how you can potentially get around a very similar issue:

http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-monthly-products-services/Website-security-certificate-coming-fro...

[its5am]

Looks like the simplest fix is to change your DNS supplier from the default vodafone one to something like google, a useful reference of free (and paid) providers can be found here:

http://www.computerworlduk.com/security/best-6-free-dns-services-2016-boost-internet-performance-sec...

(log into your router, go to internet, ensure your on expert mode, select DNS & DDNS, change DNS configuration to manual and enter the DNS IP addresses in the field - ie 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4 for google)

[simonlant]

@its5am this is the exact issue!
Good explanation, it is strange how it happens even when no content control is on and even if mediafire.com is added to the safe allowed sites list!
Funnily enough, this site can be accessed on Vodafone mobile Internet just not Broadband...
Any VF colleagues able to look into this?

[Carly]

@simonlant

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

I've double checked this with our Broadband team and this is how our routers are set up, we're unable to change any settings at our end.

[its5am]

Carly - its not the routers, its that way your doing content control and using a man in the middle redirect to 'check' sites, regardless of if content control is on or not looks like a hack.  

Its poorly through out and implementate, but luckily relatively easy to get around.

[simonlant]

Hi, I have changed the settings on the Vodafone portal again, off to on and back to off. Rebooted the router and now it seems to be working again. Very frustrating, thinking I will switch away the DNS settings as suggested!

[Retired-Tom]

@simonlant Please clear the cache and cookies through your browser history and then try to access the webiste. You can also try manually setting your DNS settings as @its5am has previously mentioned. If all else fails, please try flushing your DNS cache through command prompt.