Access denied while trying to reach Costco, Shop, Macys, Ralphs, USPS

[lephysteria]

We have Spectrum wifi at home. We have laptops, desktops, tablets and iphones. The wifi works well for most sites, most of the time.

Since November, we've been having the weirdest issue.

When using Spectrum wifi to access internet sites (specifically Costco, Macys, Shop, Ralphs, USPS), we are getting an Access Denied error message. The reference number always changes slightly, but we never can get to these websites.

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.costco.com/" on this server.

Reference #18.ca384317.1526329106.6aa0ab4

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.usps.com/" on this server.

Reference #18.95ce33b8.1526329120.6c243dbd

We can't access these sites using laptops/desktops/tablets or iphones when the wifi is connected. So on my iphone, I disconnect the wifi, and use my cell data bandwidth and I am able to connect, browse, shop, and conduct business.

This has been happening since November 2017 at least. We have not changed the equipment, wiring, furniture setup, etc. We've rebooted the router hundreds of times, factory reset, etc. We've also obtained new laptops, borrowed friends laptops, and it all seems to be the same. When using Spectrum wifi, we can't get to specific sites.

So, frustrated, when this happens to us, I will find the nearest cell phone, turn the personal hotspot on, and change the wifi connection on my laptop/desktop/tablet to my phone's hotspot credentials and I am able to connect to Costco, browse Costco and shop/checkout at Costco.com .... using my laptop .... but bypassing Spectrum wifi altogether.

The instant I change my laptop's settings back to our home Spectrum wifi, I can't access these sites any longer.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[karlbeckman]

 I'm located in the Great Lakes/ Midwest area, and I just successfully clicked on the links you provided for Costco and USPS. 

Three quick questions for you if you continue having this problem:

1)  When was the last time you cleared your computer's internet browser cache? 

2)  What IP addresses do you have loaded in your router for your DNS server?  HINT: Your answer should be the Spectrum DNS at 209.18.47.61 and 62

3)  What is your ZIP code?  If your answer to #2 was Spectrum, your ZIP code can tell us which Spectrum DNS location needs attention.

[gaylordw]

I'm having the same issue with usps, costco, and ups.  Has this been resolved by anyone?

[RAIST5150]

Could be a routing issue upstream from Spectrum's segments. Seen this happen with Level3 through the Atlanta area in the past.

Try a VPN... Proton has a decent limited free one for the phones, several others like Tunnel Bear and Windscribe as well. If it goes through that way, then it may well be a problem at the peering level. You could then run a tracert report to the specific site to help identify the intermediary ISP where it may be going south, and then Tier3 could take it from there.

[bflaws]

We are having the exact same issue as the original post mentions. We cannot navigate to the URLs posted plus others. Just tried clear the browsers cache....no luck. The router does have the Spectrum DNS set at 209.18.47.61 and 209.18.47.62. Zip code is 53189.

Any thoughts on this issue getting resolved?

Thanks.

[Julia_R]

I am also able to navigate to those sites.

I am in Western New York.

Are you able to run some traceroutes? Are you able to ping the sites?

Regards,
Julia R.
Spectrum-Social Media Customer Care
Lead Moderator-Community Forums

[bflaws]

I ran a tracert on both usps.com and costco.com. After 15 hops for usps.com and after 12 hops for costco.com, both then show "request time out" up to the max of 30 hops.

Pinging usps.com and costco.com.....both "request time out".

[bflaws]

Figured I would add screenshots of "tracert" and "ping" commands for usps.com and costco.com. NOTE: We are seeing this behavior on other sites as well, such as: picknsave.com, frysfood.com, ups.com

Tracert for usps.com and costco.comPing for usps.com and costco.com

[RAIST5150]

As I suspected... something is interfering upstream from Spectrum's network. Note that you were already handed off to TATA (as6453.net addresses, a peering partner that TWC/Spectrum has agreements with), and then xo.net and at&t. May not be either of those particular ISP's at fault, could be something at another exchange point (as in an additional provider may be having issues).

Pretty much falls to a higher tier of support than you would typically have access to with the usual trouble ticket... Would need escalation to/through tier3 to investigate further.

IDK what the new email addy is for Spectrum, but I used to forward those kinds of reports to a TWCHelp email address and they could escalate it from there to the proper people to investigate. Perhaps Julia or one of the more active posters can post the new Spectrum address?

[James_M]

@bflaws, @gaylordw, @lephysteria, 

@RAIST5150 is correct.  Since we are seeing the same issue from three different areas, we can submit a ticket to have this issue investigated.  If you could re-post the tracerts in plain text, then we can attach them to the escalation tool to have our Network Ops team take a look.  

James