Can't post to Forums when on FTTN; ok via Sonic VPN?

[blakers]

I've previously posted to these Forums, when connected to the 'net via Sonic legacy DSL.

Since switching to a Sonic FTTN connection last Friday, I've been unable to do so.

I can login, read posts, edit my preferences, without any problem. But, any action that requires any post/submit -- i.e., previewing or submitting a new topic or additional comment/post -- simply fails with either a timeout, or a Secure Connection Failed msg.

I *am* able to navigate and post to *all* other sites on the web -- e.g., 'Broadband Reports' -- with absolutely no problem.

I've verified this issue across 3 different linux computers on my LAN, with 3 different browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome & Chromium) on each, with extensions both enabled and disabled. The problem is 100% consistent.

Per request @ Support to test, I connected through the Sonic/Cisco vpn.

When routing traffic through the VPN, I *am*, now, able to post to the Forum.

Ability to post toggles, reproducibly, with the state of the connection.

Any ideas why the FTTN connection is prevented from posting?

[Guest]

I've previously posted to these Forums, when connected to the 'net via Sonic legacy DSL.

Since switching to a Sonic FTTN connection last Friday, I've been unable to do so.

Are you using a local proxy? I've had trouble with Squid before, and only on Sonic's forums. Most people who have this problem for their entire connection generally are solved with adjusting their MTU.

[blakers]

No, no proxy.

And, absolutely unique to the Sonic Forums, only for the submit/post action.

In a follow-up call to Sonic support, after checking with 'a supervisor', it was suggested that

(a) you may only be able to post to Sonic forums if on a Sonic IP (news to me, but anyway ...),
The FTTN connection's IP is *not* -- it's in AT&T address space; the VPN connection, I presume, *is*.

(b) "it's not supported anyway". When I asked WHAT isn't supported, I was told "posting to the forums".

Really?

I'll leave the ridiculousness of that statement just to marinate awhile ...

[dherr]

(a) you may only be able to post to Sonic forums if on a Sonic IP (news to me, but anyway ...),
The FTTN connection's IP is *not* -- it's in AT&T address space; the VPN connection, I presume, *is*.
.

That was clearly wrong. I am posting in non-guest manor and am coming from a Sonic FTTN (a.k.a. AT&T) IP.

Have you tried logging out and then posting as a guest?

[blakers]

> Have you tried logging out and then posting as a guest?

Yep. No difference.

[Neil]

[...]
In a follow-up call to Sonic support, after checking with 'a supervisor', it was suggested that

(a) you may only be able to post to Sonic forums if on a Sonic IP (news to me, but anyway ...),
The FTTN connection's IP is *not* -- it's in AT&T address space; the VPN connection, I presume, *is*.
[...]

The forums isn't the only place this happens. I follow a couple of Usenet newsgroups, and I can't access them if I use my FTTN/Uverse native IP address. But as soon as I connect via the VPN, shazam it works. Read, post, the whole nine yards. Disconnect from the VPN and it stops working. (FWIW, I use Thunderbird as a news reader, and the part of it that checks email doesn't have a problem with not going through VPN, only the parts accessing Sonic's news server.)

They're smart guys up there in Santa Rosa, they're going to have to figure out a workaround for this, because it will become an ever bigger issue as more customers transition from legacy ADSL1 to FTTN.

[Neil]

They're smart guys up there in Santa Rosa, they're going to have to figure out a workaround for this, because it will become an ever bigger issue as more customers transition from legacy ADSL1 to FTTN.

And as soon as I submitted my previous comment, I noticed that it posted without being me connected thru the VPN. It hadn't been working like that a few days back. Something change?

[dherr]

The Sonic usenet servers are only set to work unauthenticated if you are on Sonic IP. So you are describing expected behavior for somebody now using FTTN. In my usenet program I simply added my Sonic user/password and it did work just fine.

But these forum have always been open to the outside as far as I know, and they do sure work for me using my FTTN IP.

[blakers]

@dherr

> they do sure work for me using my FTTN IP.

how are you connected? PC directly to your modem? or though a linux router?

and, what mode is your modem in? standard (as config'd out of the box) DHCP + firewall on/active? or in DMZ+ (faux)bridge mode, with all available ports passed through?

[dherr]

@dherr

> they do sure work for me using my FTTN IP.

how are you connected? PC directly to your modem? or though a linux router?

and, what mode is your modem in? standard (as config'd out of the box) DHCP + firewall on/active? or in DMZ+ (faux)bridge mode, with all available ports passed through?

Posting from a linux/Fedora host on a wired connection via a switch and then to the Pace. The Pace is not greatly altered from stock config. I used a different 192.168.x.x subnet, but still a /24. The Pace is still doing DHCP but my host is static. I don't like use the nameserver on the Pace so I am directly pointing to the same AT&T name servers that it came up with (they won the namebench challenge). I have not greatly altered the firewall, might be that the only change was allowing ICMP. I do forward apache & sshd to my host but that should not effect this issue.

I am considering trying DMZ+ but for the time being am trying to get a happy and stable config without adding any more devices to the mix. I am ok for the time being to wait for AT&T to re-enable IPv6 on these things.