Kitz Forum
Internet => Web Browsing & Email => Topic started by: tubaman on December 10, 2021, 02:36:16 PM
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My father-in-law uses AOL email and I've been trying to sort an issue for him and found I can't even get to AOL mail from any of my home devices. I've tried a Win 10 PC, Linux PC and Android phone, but all time out trying to get to the email login page. I can get to it on the Android phone via mobile data but not on my home internet connection.
As both me and my father-in-law are on a BT internet service I can only assume a setting in my Zyxel 8924 is the issue, but which one?
I'm starting from - https://www.aol.co.uk/?r=www.aol.com - which I can get to on home internet, but it times out as soon as I try to go to mail or login options.
???
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I use a Zyxel 8924 in bridge mode and I have no difficulty going to the AOL mail login screen. I don't have an account so I can't log in of course. I don't have any special configuration settings - it's just set up as described here: https://kitz.co.uk/routers/zyxel_VMG8324-B10A_bridge.htm#modem
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As both me and my father-in-law are on a BT internet service I can only assume a setting in my Zyxel 8924 is the issue, but which one?
I'm starting from - https://www.aol.co.uk/?r=www.aol.com - which I can get to on home internet, but it times out as soon as I try to go to mail or login options.
???
What are you using for DNS?
Works fine here, using cloudflare, quad9, google and adguard dns servers
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What are you using for DNS?
Works fine here, using cloudflare, quad9, google and adguard dns servers
It's BT's DNS but it does have their Webprotect product on it. I've tried turning that off and still the same issue.
Just tried Google DNS (8.8.8.8) and still doesn't work.
???
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The link you have shown, above, works for me . . . without any trouble.
I'm puzzled what could be blocking your access. Have you checked the stored cookies and cleared all those that are relevant? I.e. all AOL and Yahoo cookies.
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OK using BTinternet here.
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The link you have shown, above, works for me . . . without any trouble.
.... Have you checked the stored cookies and cleared all those that are relevant? I.e. all AOL and Yahoo cookies.
Just tried that and no change.
This is really very odd indeed!
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Most peculiar. :-\
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I'll try a router reboot, but can't do that today (civil unrest would ensue in the household ;D)
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Entering the URL (as shown in your screen-scrape) I obtain the following response --
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Hi
I suspect the IP address has been blocked and most likely to many failed logins is usually the cause but not always and could be dynamic IP from BT where last user sent spam etc...
I think AOL will auto release block after 24 hours but if above is correct, and continued failed logins keep happening, then the temp block would most likely turn to perm block.
We have this on all our platforms but temp ban is shorter then 24 Hours on our platforms.
I could be wrong sorry
Also, sorry I could not see URL in screen-scrape but and clicking mail icon from aol does not show that URL, so guess it might be connected with missing sessions and/or cookies etc...
Many thanks
John
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Anyone got a public IPv6 address to test this for tubaman?
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Hi
Sorry I see the URL now and not sure why your using that, other then you may have booked marked aol.com. It works for me on BT
meritez, using pure IPv6, you can access https://www.aol.co.uk/ but clicking the mail icon take you to https://mail.aol.com and no NX domain and no certificate showing for site whereas using pure IPv4, https://www.aol.co.uk/ works and clicking mail icon takes you to https://login.aol.com/
I did not think tubaman was using pure IPv6 but could be wrong
Many thanks
John
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I have a (public) IPv6 address and I get a page of news when I follow that URL.
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I am using IPv6/IPv4 DualStack so I thought it should revert if IPv6 fails, but perhaps not? The only IPv6 issue I've had in the past was the USA's visa application site a couple of years ago. I could apply for the visa ok but the payment page failed. Eventually worked out that it couldn't talk IPv6 and worked fine when I forced IPv4 on the router.
I have rebooted the router the morning and the problem persists. Usually on a reboot the router reverts to IPv4 (have to reapply VDSL settings to 'wake up' IPv6), but today of course it has rebooted with IPv6 working!
@Weaver, from the page I linked can you get to the mail login page (link on left of page) using IPv6 please?
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I'm on dual stack IPv4/IPv6. I'm using Firefox and have the https://github.com/HostedDinner/SixIndicator add on.
From the link in your first post, when I click Mail I get the attached. I've put the mouse over the indicator to show the IP of the current page.
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With IPv4 and IPv6 in operation, I can indeed get the webmail login prompt - followed that link on the left. Don’t know a username/password so can’t test it any further of course. This was on an iPad with Safari.
Exactly the same as jelv.
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Hi
I do think it is a IP block but using pure IPv6, I can access the following sites at AOL as defined by ping tests below
Many thanks
John
ping bbc.co.uk
Pinging bbc.co.uk [2a04:4e42::81] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 2a04:4e42::81: time=8ms
Reply from 2a04:4e42::81: time=8ms
Reply from 2a04:4e42::81: time=8ms
Reply from 2a04:4e42::81: time=8ms
Ping statistics for 2a04:4e42::81:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 8ms, Average = 8ms
ping www.aol.com
Pinging media-router-aol1.prod.g03.yahoodns.net [2a00:1288:110:c104::a000] with
32 bytes of data:
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=20ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=20ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=21ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=20ms
Ping statistics for 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 20ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 20ms
ping login.aol.com
Pinging ds-ats.member.g02.yahoodns.net [2a00:1288:110:c104::3000] with 32 bytes
of data:
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::3000: time=19ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::3000: time=21ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::3000: time=19ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::3000: time=20ms
Ping statistics for 2a00:1288:110:c104::3000:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 19ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 19ms
ping www.aol.co.uk
Pinging media-router-aol1.prod.g03.yahoodns.net [2a00:1288:110:c104::a000] with
32 bytes of data:
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=21ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=20ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=20ms
Reply from 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000: time=20ms
Ping statistics for 2a00:1288:110:c104::a000:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 20ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 20ms
ping login.aol.co.uk
Ping request could not find host login.aol.co.uk. Please check the name and try
again.
ping aol.co.uk
Ping request could not find host aol.co.uk. Please check the name and try again.
ping aol.com
Ping request could not find host aol.com. Please check the name and try again.
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It is looking like this is an IPv6 issue - I'll try setting my Zyxel to IPv4 only when I get a chance.
Thanks for all the help everyone. :)
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Rather than disturb the whole household by changing the router settings, can't you just turn off IPv6 on your PC?
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Jelv is it possible to use the Windows firewall to block IPv6 going to just that one website?
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That might get complicated as there would probably be a number of urls/IPs. If DNS lookups gave IPv6 addresses which were then blocked I don't think anything new would be learned. Easier to just disable IPv6 on the PC as a quick test.
Trying via the free VPN built in to a browser (e.g. Opera) might be worth a shot.
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Bear in mind BT don't have IPv6 DNS servers so you need IPv4 to get IPv6 addresses
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It is an IPv6 issue as I've just found a Firefox setting (network.dns.ipv4OnlyDomains) that allows you to force certain domains to use IPv4.
Putting "aol.com,aol.co.uk" into this allows me to get to the mail login.
Stupid AOL :rant:
What I still don't understand is why this works fine for my father-in-law who is using a BT Hub2 which I assume is IPv6 enabled? Next time I'm at his house I'll take a look.
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As nobody else is having issues accessing the login page via IPv6 I suspect it's stupid BT :rant: not stupid AOL.
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As nobody else is having issues accessing the login page via IPv6 I suspect it's stupid BT :rant: not stupid AOL.
Quite possibly!
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Hi
Sorry Jelv, no issues connecting IPv6 using BT IPv6 here
The workaround is using IPv4, which was suggested early in thread and I still think it maybe a block
The easiest way to test as a rule, is to ping first bbc.co.uk - to make sure it is IPv6 resolution and ping return then ping same as my pings.
If ping fails, check the DNS resolution, if it cannot resolve, it is usually a DNS issue but of it resolves ok, then it is usually a block.
Many thanks
John
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Here's my ping results. Interesting that the last two AOL ones resolve to IPv4 addresses, which I assume is the dualstack fallback working?
ping bbc.co.uk
PING bbc.co.uk(2a04:4e42::81 (2a04:4e42::81)) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2a04:4e42::81 (2a04:4e42::81): icmp_seq=1 ttl=58 time=9.52 ms
64 bytes from 2a04:4e42::81 (2a04:4e42::81): icmp_seq=2 ttl=58 time=9.07 ms
ping www.aol.com
PING www.aol.com(media-router-aol71.prod.media.vip.ir2.yahoo.com (2a00:1288:110:c104::a000)) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from media-router-aol71.prod.media.vip.ir2.yahoo.com (2a00:1288:110:c104::a000): icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=53.5 ms
ping login.aol.com
PING login.aol.com(ats2.member.vip.ir2.yahoo.com (2a00:1288:110:c104::3000)) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from ats2.member.vip.ir2.yahoo.com (2a00:1288:110:c104::3000): icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=22.5 ms
ping www.aol.co.uk
PING www.aol.co.uk(media-router-aol71.prod.media.vip.ir2.yahoo.com (2a00:1288:110:c104::a000)) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from media-router-aol71.prod.media.vip.ir2.yahoo.com (2a00:1288:110:c104::a000): icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=21.2 ms
ping login.aol.co.uk
ping: login.aol.co.uk: Name or service not known
ping aol.co.uk
PING aol.co.uk (98.136.103.23) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from w2.src.vip.gq1.yahoo.com (98.136.103.23): icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=150 ms
64 bytes from w2.src.vip.gq1.yahoo.com (98.136.103.23): icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=150 ms
ping aol.com
PING aol.com (98.136.103.23) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from w2.src.vip.gq1.yahoo.com (98.136.103.23): icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=144 ms
64 bytes from w2.src.vip.gq1.yahoo.com (98.136.103.23): icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=147 ms
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> which I assume is the dualstack fallback working?
I don’t know what that means. The dns lookup for aol.co.uk gives principally five A records ie IPv4 addresses and that’s it, no IPv6 addresses at all. In this case the outcome is solely controlled by the DNS records. Now amongst those five A records an application must make some decision as to which one of those addresses to talk to. And say there are both IPv4 and IPv6 records it’s only the same thing; some application must choose either an IPv6 address to talk to or an IPv4 address.
Are you thinking of the "happy eyeballs" algorithm in web browsers perhaps? In that case the answer is no.
We really need to look at what all the many results of the dns lookups are before using things like ping which just have to guess what to do when they get several completely different results back, otherwise the results just get very confusing.
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> which I assume is the dualstack fallback working?
I don’t know what that means. ...
I was referring to my Zyxel VMG-8924 being set to "IPv6/IPv4 DualStack" in its network settings. This clearly allows it to use both IPv6 and IPv4, but exactly how that works I don't know as I'm no expert in these things.
:)
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Hi
Sorry I missed from last post if ping fails after dns resolution is correct, then it is more likely a block
The ping test is a good simply quick test, as it performs a dns look and ping, if ping fails it usually points to a block
The dns is likely to be a round robin and upon connecting from a device is likely load balanced, so the results of dns is not too important other then to determine if there is a dns issue.
I would test using a different browser as the ping did not fail
Many thanks
John
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...
I would test using a different browser as the ping did not fail
...
See my reply #23 - I've configured Firefox to force it to use IPv4 for AOL domains and that does work. If anyone knows a similar workaround for Chrome/Edge that'd be useful.
:)
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Hi
Many thanks and yes, I was aware of your workaround and posted that using IPv4 as a workaround was posted much earlier then your post
Edge prioritises IPv4 dns lookup over IPv6 but this may have changed, so no workaround needed (see below)
Many thanks
John
Edge does work with IPv6, it just prioritises IPv4 name resolution first (to be clear technically, requests A records from DNS first rather than AAAA). If you try http://ip6only.me it will show you your IPv6 address if you have IPv6 connectivity (this DNS name only has AAAA record, not A).
You can also try a "dual" test site like https://test-ipv6.com or https://ipv6-test.com and you can confirm both are running.
André Melancia (Andy.PT)
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I am a grumpy old cat. At risk of catching it from Burakkucat. I rather hate the word dual-stack because I think it’s horribly overused. As best I can make out it arose from o/s designers who were designing o/s TCP/IP subsystems that had support for both IPv4 and IPv6 in an integrated fashion, as opposed to IPv6 being an independent add-on like a driver for a new and completely alien protocol.
When Microsoft spent ages on the new TCP/IP networking subsystem for Windows Vista, which kept getting delayed further and further for whatever reasons, then they had the opportunity to do IP right and it seems completely rewrote parts of the IPv4 stuff so that it used common code from the IPv6 side of things, and that caused IPv4 behavioural changes that were real improvements. (It’s been too long ago now, but I read Microsoft’s book about IPv6, IPv4 and Vista.) For example the source address selection algorithm was made available to IPv4 not just IPv6.
So that was an example of ‘dual stack’ being used properly, about a style of operating system design. And to me that was _the_ correct kind of usage. But later people, understandably, started using the word just to mean something really vague like ‘I have IPv6 and IPv4’ which is already so vague that we can’t understand it - what is it that they do they ‘have’? If it means that they have an o/s that is capable of speaking both IPv4 and IPv6 - then that is every modern o/s, so it’s not saying much.
So I like clarity. Things that are simple to understand.
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Many thanks again for everyone's help on this.
A summary of the situation:
1. AOL mail works fine at my father-in-laws (Win 10 PC with BT VDSL internet on an out-of-the-box configured Smart Hub 2).
2. AOL mail doesn't work at mine (Win 10 PC / Android phone / Linux Mint laptop with BT VDSL internet through a Zyxel VMG8924-B10A with IPv6/IPv4 DualStack config). Note I'm on the same telephone exchange as the father-in-law but connected via a different VDSL cabinet - both are Huawei.
3. AOL mail can be made to work at mine by configuring Firefox to force AOL to use IPv4.
As far as I know IPv6 is running at the father-in-law's so this all points to a difference in the way my Zyxel and his Smart Hub 2 deal with IPv6.
I'd love to know what that difference is but as I now have a workaround I think we are done.
:)
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Are you and your father using the same browser/version?
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Are you and your father using the same browser/version?
He's using Edge and I've tried Edge here and no go (usually I use Chrome on Win 10 and Firefox on Linux).
:)
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Have you had F-I-L run the https://test-ipv6.com/ or similar test?
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Have you had F-I-L run the https://test-ipv6.com/ or similar test?
As below:
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Is that the same as you get?
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Is that the same as you get?
Ah, just twigged 'F-I-L'. The screen shot was mine as I haven't been around to his to run the same there (he won't be ale to do it).
Sorry for the confusion.
:)
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Have you thought of using TeamViewer or similar so you can help without having to visit?
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Have you thought of using TeamViewer or similar so you can help without having to visit?
It's a good idea and is probably something I ought to get set up for him, as even the most basic PC issue leaves him totally flummoxed.
:)