OddThinking

I am encountering a weird networking problem with Bloglines.

The Bloglines web-site appears to be up, but it doesn’t seem to want to talk to me. Did I say something too nasty last time I was freedbacking?

The web-site is working fine (including responding to web-requests and to pings) when I contact it from:

1. another machine on another ISP,
2. via an anonymous proxy on my machine,
3. on my machine, as long as I VPN into another network.

However, when I contact it directly, my packets disappear somewhere on the other side of the Earth.

Here’s an example:

Ping result from Nwtools.com:

Ping 65.214.39.152
[bloglines.com]

Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 57 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 56 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 57 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 55 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 56 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 57 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 56 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 57 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 57 ms
Round trip time to 65.214.39.152: 55 ms

Average time over 10 pings: 56.3 ms


Ping result from my machine:

>ping bloglines.com

Pinging bloglines.com [65.214.39.152] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 65.214.39.152:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),


Now check this out:

Traceroute result from Nwtools.com:

TraceRoute to 65.214.39.152 [bloglines.com]

Hop (ms) (ms) (ms) IP Address Host name
1 0 0 0 66.98.244.1 gphou-66-98-244-1.ev1.net
2 0 0 0 66.98.241.16 gphou-66-98-241-16.ev1.net
3 0 0 0 66.98.240.5 gphou-66-98-240-5.ev1.net
4 1 3 1 129.250.10.189 ge-2-0-0.r02.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net
5 24 10 9 129.250.5.30 as-0.r20.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net
6 10 9 9 129.250.3.21 p16-0-0-0.r00.dllstx09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net
7 11 10 61 204.255.174.229 0.so-0-1-0.br6.dfw9.alter.net
8 12 10 11 152.63.103.77 0.so-3-3-0.xt2.dfw9.alter.net
9 54 54 55 152.63.21.73 0.so-6-1-0.xl2.bos4.alter.net
10 54 55 55 152.63.16.134 0.so-7-0-0.xr2.bos4.alter.net
11 69 55 57 152.63.29.221 0.so-7-0-0.wr2.bos6.alter.net
12 55 57 57 63.111.123.34 so-1-0-0.ur2.bos6.web.wcom.net
13 57 56 56 208.254.32.53 -
14 57 56 57 65.214.32.81 -
15 57 56 57 65.214.39.152 web.bloglines.com

Trace complete


Expurgated Traceroute result from my machine:

>tracert bloglines.com

Tracing route to bloglines.com [65.214.39.152]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms You don't
2 14 ms 13 ms 12 ms need to
3 11 ms 13 ms 12 ms know this part
4 175 ms 172 ms 173 ms gi0-0.bdr1.syd6.agile.on.net [150.101.199.232]
5 174 ms 171 ms 173 ms pos2-0.bdr1.lax1.agile.on.net [203.16.213.177]
6 172 ms 172 ms 171 ms GigabitEthernet3-2.GW1.LAX15.ALTER.NET [208.222.8.93]
7 173 ms 172 ms 173 ms 0.so-2-0-0.CL1.LAX15.ALTER.NET [152.63.115.210]
8 253 ms 253 ms 251 ms 0.so-6-0-0.XL1.BOS4.ALTER.NET [152.63.16.129]
9 265 ms 252 ms 250 ms 0.so-7-0-0.XR1.BOS4.ALTER.NET [152.63.16.122]
10 253 ms 253 ms 254 ms 0.so-7-0-0.WR1.BOS6.ALTER.NET [152.63.29.217]
11 255 ms 253 ms 255 ms so-1-0-0.ur1.bos6.web.wcom.net [63.111.123.30]
12 255 ms 253 ms 255 ms 208.254.32.37
13 252 ms 252 ms 252 ms 65.214.32.81
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.


It looks like on the last hop in the Bloglines network it either it is blocking stuff from my IP address, or I am blocking stuff from its IP address.

I have checked my router configuration, and I can’t see any thing firewally that might be getting in the way. I haven’t installed anything special recently (except Windows patches).

I’m sorry, Bloglines, but I have just started a FeedDemon trial because blog-reading is now a mission-critical application for this machine. I haven’t reported this directly to you, because I have no connectivity to you – it’s all too hard.

Can anyone get me back onto the straight and narrow before I fork out $US30?

Coda

Update 1: When I swap my newish Billion ADSL Router out and put my old D-Link ADSL modem in its place, Bloglines works fine. Swap back and it is broken again. Unfortunately, I just promised earlier this week to give away my unneeded D-Link modem to a friend!

Update 2: I have made my home machine a DMZ Host within the Billion router, as suggested by Alastair in a private communication. That has fixed the problem (at the cost of making my Windows machine less stealthy) but I still don’t really know why, nor what Bloglines is doing that is different to other sites. Thanks, Alastair.