I've been unable to connect to one specific site (http://gastoniacap.us) since Aug 17. I had an IT guy troubleshoot it and he found that mine and a range of Spectrum IP addresses are on the Spamhaus ZEN blacklist and a couple of others.

I'm not an IT guy so don't know much about this, but the IT person said there's not much I can do except access the site through a web proxy or a VPN.

Below is what my IT guy wrote:

**********************************

Went to mxtoolbox.com and checked to see if my public IP address was blacklisted.

The following was a result from Spamhaus. Do you know if your email/website service is using Spamhaus for honoring the blacklist? Is it possible to whitelist my public address?

As you can see below, it looks like the entire /16 range is on the PBL.

Add blacklist monitor for 172.73.196.1

https://www.spamhaus.org/query/ip/172.73.196.1

https://www.spamhaus.org/pbl/query/PBL1618138

Ref: PBL1618138

172.73.0.0/16 is listed on the Policy Block List (PBL)

Outbound Email Policy of Time Warner Cable/Road Runner for this IP range:

It is the policy of Time Warner Cable/Road Runner to share with other entities lists of our dynamic IP address space. While Time Warner Cable/Road Runner does not currently forbid customers from sending out mail directly from such space, it recognizes that others may wish to refuse mail from such space, and so Time Warner Cable/Road Runner makes that space known to others to facilitate their enforcement of their policies. Customers finding their mail refused by others due to a PBL listing should send their outbound mail through the outbound mail server designated for them; see http://help.rr.com/HMSFaqs/e_emailserveraddys.aspx for more information on the servers' names.

1 <1 ms 2 ms <1 ms LINKSYS10087-2 [192.168.1.1]
2 19 ms 16 ms 17 ms cpe-172-73-192-1.carolina.res.rr.com [172.73.192.1]
3 31 ms 39 ms 28 ms cpe-174-111-099-101.triad.res.rr.com [174.111.99.101]
4 14 ms 14 ms 40 ms cpe-024-074-251-192.carolina.res.rr.com [24.74.251.192]
5 25 ms 23 ms 22 ms ge-5-1-0.rlghncpop-rtr1.southeast.rr.com [24.93.64.26]
6 31 ms 29 ms 31 ms bu-ether15.asbnva1611w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.80]
7 24 ms 32 ms 35 ms 0.ae2.pr0.dca10.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.169]
8 25 ms 29 ms 30 ms be-206-pe07.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [50.242.149.253]
9 31 ms 26 ms 26 ms be-10189-cr02.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.83.65]
10 36 ms 31 ms 39 ms be-10102-cr01.newark.nj.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.85.162]
11 46 ms 32 ms 36 ms be-10203-cr02.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.85.186]
12 29 ms 27 ms 36 ms be-10368-pe01.111eighthave.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.84.218]
13 37 ms 34 ms 35 ms 50.242.150.38
14 29 ms 32 ms 27 ms vl42-br2.pnj1.choopa.net [108.61.2.89]
15 33 ms 35 ms 28 ms ethernet1-50-c9-13-c6-1.pnj1.choopa.net [108.61.92.102]

The Blacklists are for email.
It shouldn't affect your ability to see their web page.
If you get listed it is generally due to your email server spamming or similar.
IF you do have an issue where your email server is listed there are remedies and it can be quite tiresome to clean up.

Yeah blacklists are used to block email sending often due to a problem with an email server or even an infected PC on the network that is sending out spam or infected email. I once worked an an Exchange email server that had almost a million emails in the outbound QUE waiting for their turn to send out spam LOL.

Try using a different PC or even a different web browser (Chrome or Firefox) on the PC you are having an issue accessing the website and it can also be caused by security software on a PC blocking access to a website it believes is dangerous. Temporarily disabling any firewall component on security software being used could determine if security software firewall is blocking access to website.

Out of curiosity can you access the website via it's SSL connection at https://gastoniacap.us/ ? If you are trying SSL make sure date including year and time are correct on PC.

quote:

Originally posted by grumpy1:
Yeah blacklists are used to block email sending often due to a problem with an email server or even an infected PC on the network that is sending out spam or infected email. I once worked an an Exchange email server that had almost a million emails in the outbound QUE waiting for their turn to send out spam LOL.

Try using a different PC or even a different web browser (Chrome or Firefox) on the PC you are having an issue accessing the website and it can also be caused by security software on a PC blocking access to a website it believes is dangerous. Temporarily disabling any firewall component on security software being used could determine if security software firewall is blocking access to website.

Out of curiosity can you access the website via it's SSL connection at https://gastoniacap.us/ ? If you are trying SSL make sure date including year and time are correct on PC.

Can't access it at all except through web proxy, or phone LTE and not wi-fi.

Some admins, fed up with rampant network abuse from Certain Networks, and unresponsive owners of those networks, have taken to using facilities like Spamhaus' DNSBLs to block more than just email. Some people even apply them to their border routers and block everything.

I've been tempted.

 
I was fortunate to get a static IP from CenturyLink that had not been tainted in the past. I use it to run my smtp server. Every time I use a site that checks your IP against a whole bunch of RBL's, it comes back clean on all of them. Once an IP address (or block of addresses) has been tainted and blacklisted, it can be difficult to reestablish credibility. Dealing with an ISP to do something about their addresses being blocked can be a frustrating and non-productive PIA.
 

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Some admins, fed up with rampant network abuse from Certain Networks, and unresponsive owners of those networks, have taken to using facilities like Spamhaus' DNSBLs to block more than just email. Some people even apply them to their border routers and block everything.

I've been tempted.

So, so tempted. Sadly, a branch office uses Spectrum as their ISP because there just isn't anyone else.

For the OP, you MIGHT be able to get a different address if you convince TW/Spectrum to replace your modem. A new MAC addess on the hardware will sometimes get their systems to assign a new IP.

If your modem isn't having any problems, just dig up a power brick that has about twice the voltage as the one that comes with the modem. Shove the plug into the jack on the modem and power it up. If you hear a pop, congratulations now you have problems with your modem.

- Bret