Why is Fido website simply blocked in Brazil?

[victorwestmann]

I am travelling to visit my family in Brazil and I was very annoyed to realized that the Fido.ca website simply does not work outside of Canada if you use the regular channels. I am forced to use the Opera web browser, in a portable version, which the application is not entirely installed on my computer but just extracted into a single folder and ran from there, to be able to then, open Opera, enable VPN from Opera (it is built in so no need to worry on getting spyware, malware or whatever-ware) and then, and ONLY then, I can login to fido.ca.

Why is thing going on the way it is? I understand that customers should be able to use fido on Canada but we are on the 21st century and I just want to go online to pay my phone bills and check my balance. Why is this being denied from me? I am reasonably tech savvy. Imagine a regular computer user who does not know any of this and travels abroad. It would probably freak out and panick? Please treat us more nicely and solve this annoying issue of not working correctly in Brazil. Thank you! Victor Westmann

[victorwestmann]

It seems you are right my friend. I tried loggin here again to answer this and it was a dance! Oh my. I will send an email to the ISP from Brazil to know what the heck is going on. Thanks!

[FidoNick · Accepted solution]

Hey @victorwestmann !

Though our app can only be accessed in Canada and the US, and our website is accessible anywhere in the world, we don't restrict access

Keep in mind though that some countries may have their own rules in terms of what sites can be accessed while on their internet connections. Brazil seems to be affected - what you're experiencing is related to the interet in Brazil and not the actual site. What you can always do is get in touch with the internet provider in Brazil to see if anything can be done on their end to un-restrict access. 

I hope that info helps!

[Brubs]

This is simply not true. I tried accessing Fido website from different networks and all of them were refused. The website access was only possible when I activated my roaming! Please fix that!

[Brubs]

When using postman I see that the following server is blocking the access:

AKAMAI

When digging at their site, I found the following...

https://community.akamai.com/customers/s/question/0D50f00005WHJkACAX/we-are-getting-access-denied-wh...

[victorwestmann]

This is so strange. It does not seem to be blocked if I ping it. I mean... it is reachable.

ping www.fido.ca

Pinging e11500.g.akamaiedge.net [23.74.185.86] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 23.74.185.86: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=57
Reply from 23.74.185.86: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=57
Reply from 23.74.185.86: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=57
Reply from 23.74.185.86: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 23.74.185.86:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 28ms, Average = 12ms

Can I post a screenshot here as well?

[Cawtau]

Hello Victorwestmann,

  The access does seem to be restricted on the Brazil side. I, too, received the Access Denied notification when attempting to access Fido.ca using a VPN site from Brazil. However, there aren't any issues from other Countries in the area. I am currently using a VPN site from Costa Rica and am able to access Fido.ca without issue. I have also tested VPN sites from Chile and Argentina today, also without issue. I have also used other various Country VPN sites to access Fido.ca in the past and have not been denied access from those locations either.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers