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@jalogisch
Last active May 15, 2016 09:45
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I have since last Monday(2016-02-22) - first day i notice - problems getting Netflix Content into my home. - Lost in a Customer Hell between Netflix and Unitymedia
Netflix Charly: Thanks for chatting in! Charly here, how can I assist you?
You: Hej Charly - i have a problem Accessing Netflix
You: when i start a Stream it says that i'm using a proxy
You: but i do not use a proxy
Netflix Charly: Oh I see, we'll look into it right away, can I have the email address linked to your account to check some additional information on it?
You: XXX@jalogisch.de
You: my Network i have an IP from: http://static.jalogisch.de/uploads/2016/ripe_lookup.png
You: and my IP with Local Information: http://static.jalogisch.de/uploads/2016/wmip_2016.png
You: at the moment i'm sitting on a computer that is connected to my companies VPN - thats why i connect with other IP to you
You: and the Streaming is working
You: for me it looks like a problem with the proxy lookup you need todo because of the copyright laws
Netflix Charly: I see, thank you for letting me know, so you're actively connected through a VPN on work and the streaming stopped working, correct?
You: no - let me explain
You: at home i get the message that i'm using a proxy when i try to stream netflix.
You: on every device
You: on my computer http://static.jalogisch.de/uploads/2016/Netflix_2016.png
You: and on my TV and on my FireStick
You: but i do not use a proxy and i have a native IP4 Connection without any proxy services
You: as this problem occurs even when i do a reboot of my cable modem (to get a new IP) i guess that netflix has a problem doing the proxy lookup with my provider
You: as ripe shows correct information http://static.jalogisch.de/uploads/2016/ripe_lookup.png
You: and even my IP is located to my home town http://static.jalogisch.de/uploads/2016/wmip_2016.png
You: and this problem comes up at sunday/monday
You: my ISP is (as they said) in contact with your tech department, but as long as this is not fixed i'm not able to watch anything at home.
You: and using always a VPN is not an option.
You: So - What can i do to get Netflix back working?
You: i had already called the German hotline and they should have added some notes to my account about this
Netflix Charly:
Alright, let me have a quick look on the account and have the notes translated to English and then I'll contact my team about it.
You: o boy - i had give what they should write to them already in english ... to avoid language problems
Netflix Charly: No worries at all, I'll be right back with you
Netflix Charly: Hey, quick question, you are physically located in Germany, correct?
You: yes
You: at the city that can be seen in the screenshot
Netflix Charly: Thank you very much, let me check in now with my team to see what we can find out about this situation
You: perfect - if you need more information please let me know.
You: backround - i'm a DevOps Engineer and would be able to give technical information
Netflix Charly: Hey, just letting you know that we're still checking on our options here for you, I'll be right back.
You: thanks - i'm in a telco and will have this window open until we have finished here on this topic
Netflix Charly: Thank you for waiting, we checked here on what we could do for you but in order to progress even further we would need to run some tests on your devices but since you're at work it wouldn't be possible, could you please contact us back once you're home? I'll make sure to leave a very detailed note here so you don't have to do all the explanation again.
You: ok, but i'm sitting at home - having only one device at the office network
You: so i can just go to the computer or ipad/iphone next to me and make any test you like to
Netflix Charly: That would be absolutely great, please try streaming once on every device and let me know when the message comes up
You: starting and instant the error comes up
You: N8106-154-5059
You: is the error code
Netflix Charly: That was on the computer, correct?
You: yes
You: safari on a mac
Netflix Charly: Right, and all browsers are showing the same, correct?
You: yes
You: on my sony bravia tv i get the error aip-703
You: and on my iphone no errorcode is give - only that "error, it looks like you use aproxy" message
Netflix Charly: Gotcha, then let me go ahead and give this information directly to my team
You: (y)
Netflix Charly: Thank you for waiting, we ran the tests here so give me amoment to type down the results
You: ok no problem
Netflix Charly: Alright, we checked here and were able to confirm that you're trying to access from Germany as you mentioned, no problem there, the thing is that the internet you're trying to use is showing some settings that are showing as a Proxy, although not necessarily one, my best recommendation to you would be to try accessing from a different internet connection from another household, like your computer that is using the companies VPN, and try accessing from there, if it is successful then the issue would be entirely on the internet service and they should be able to fix it for you specifically by reestablishing all internet settings to default.
You: Hej Charly - thank you. I had already tried this and even when i use my mobile 3g it is working.
You: BUT when i reconnect my internet connection to get a new IP netflix is running for some time.
You: Netflix is pointing to my ISP and my ISP is pointing to Netflix
You: that is total Customer Nightmare and will end in a Termination of both services on my end when this will not end!
You: I'm tech Person (Working in Internet Business for 15 Years) in HA Environments with million of users
You: and your microservice which runs to prevent proxy users to use netflix has issues with my ISP
You: and the only thing you do is pointing to my ISP
You: i have used both netflix and my ISP for a longer period without any problems
You: and only after Netflix has enabled the proxy "prevention" i have issues
You: and i would like to show that his is a technical issue and not something that can be pushed back to me.
You: It is a problem with Netflix Environment and Server with my ISP i demand that you get this fixed!
You: Netflix is the part that has changed something and no-one else
Netflix Charly: I totally understand your position but since we do not have access to your internet settings we cannot check that out here for you, that's why we advise to contact the ISP to check them out for us, the most likely explanation is that these setting that is showing on our side has always been there but did not cause any trouble until the Proxy blocking recently and that it enters in the category to be blocked, if not then for no reason at all would we block it, that much I can assure you.
You: and again - i total understand this. BUT it was working for month. you changed something on your end
You: and now you do the lazy way and push me back.
You: I do not use a proxy i have a direct IPv4 connection to the internet
You: if i look at my traceroute i have 3 hops before i enter amazon Network (and this means your content network)
You: it's a shame - netflix does not have a mail adress i can send my technical findings to
You: and as i understand you this is not wanted because the all mighty goods at netflix do not make any errors
You: thank you for showing me how to not interact with customer.
You: you have one month (because i had payed for the next month yesterday) and i'll be never back
You: did you wrote a note to my account with the information i have given you?
Netflix Charly: I'm really sorry that you feel that way but what I can assure you is that I gave you all true information and tried everything in my power to get it back on track, even contacted our techs and they're the ones that gave me th results, I'll make sure to leave all this in the note because I can only write it once the chat is over, no detail will be left out.
2016-02-22
During the Day (2016-01-22) i notice that Netflix is not working on my TV. I tried other Devices but always getting an Error pointing me to http://netflix.com/proxy.
I called netflix (Germany) and over 30 min the agent followed his script what need to be done (reboot the modem, change devices and use mobile data) to show me that netflix does not have a problem and i should call my ISP.
Short after that, i called my ISP. The Agent told me that this morning they got notified by the tech department that unitymedia tech is working with netflix tech on this issue.
If i use another connection - a VPN to my Server, mobile data - connection is possible. Netflix relax and say "look your ISP has an issue"
Detailed Information are written down as note to my Account.
2016-02-25
Chattet with Netflix US (see chat_with_netflix (2016-01-25)) and it is still my ISP that has issue.
Nobody cares. All are very sorry but can't help me. No Hotline / possible contact to Tech People.
2016-02-26
called Unitymedia again to ask for help.
They know that they might have some issues with netflix, but can't help. I should call Netflix to get the issue fixed.
2016-02-29
disconnect of my internetline at noon, direct reconnect possible.
netflix is working (streaming starts). three hours later netflix show the blocked page again.
@sebrem
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sebrem commented Feb 29, 2016

I feel you. Glad I didn't choose UnityMedia when I moved recently. A wild guess maybe it's just the MTU size of the cable modem connection triggering the VPN detection. I for example had trouble establishing an OpenVPN connection through UnityMedia and had to adjust the MTU size in the OpenVPN settings. Or UnityMedia has some transparent proxy running which is tainting the packets (how else would they deliver that bandwidth they advertise with in a shared medium like tv cable).

@UdoKifferbrehl
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Did you try to use a VPN on your own German server? Perhaps it will work then. Or your provider asks Netflix to white list its IPs.

@jalogisch
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@UdoKifferbrehl thats what i had done - use my non unitymedia infrastructur to look into this issue and to analyse. whitelisting will not be done and the reason for the vpn block might be the ip profiling that liberty global request from unitymedia. but that are only rumors some tech people had said of the record.

@thomashilzendegen
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Maybe it comes in hand with the recent L2TP problem which came up with iOS 9 and El Capitan as Unitymedia is (or was) flagging all packets with ECN 0x03 and Apple activated respecting ECN values. This is the reason why all L2TP connections stopped sending and receiving traffic.

http://unitymedia-helpdesk.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7191

They state that it should be fixed, but who knows... :)

@thomashilzendegen
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Maybe they are doing funny things in their network...

@jalogisch
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@sebrem as it is working with vpn (openvpn and cisco vpn and ipsec) thats not the issue. IMHO this is something in the deeper osi layer. netflix has done some magic to identify proxy usage and unitymedia might set some flags or whatever i can not see ...

@thomashilzendegen i do thing that it is something similar. but as no tech people from netflix talk about how the proxy identify is working and no information what unitymedia does with my packages (traceroute show 2 hops until amazon is reached which is btw. a very short connection.

@Constey
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Constey commented Feb 29, 2016

maybe some misconfigured deep packet inspection // proxying leftovers by unitymedia? :o)

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