Website not loading in the Philippines

freeCodeCamp Support
42

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to the ISP and getting back to us. We appreciate the effort in trying to help us.

However, and respectfully I do not think they are correct. To me, this looks like a templated reply for shifting blame.

Like some have mentioned in this thread earlier, using a VPN or a different ISP seems to resolve the connectivity issue. While we are not going to endorse any VPN services we would recommend you should use one if you can.

We regret that you are facing this inconvenience but we would do everything on our part to resolve this if we could identify the root cause.

To the best of our knowledge, there is nothing specific on our end that we do once we open the doors to the internet :slight_smile: - that is we do not filter traffic in any way.

Off the top of my head, this connectivity issue looks like some sort of a DNS leak problem to me. We have had ISPs in Pakistan & India accidentally block some of our FQDNs in the past.

For instance: ISPs often claim to be transparent proxies with the reason of “enhancing” your browsing experience. You know - So that you can access your social media and streaming services fast :wink: !

However, for a million reasons beyond our control, this approach can do more harm than good for your browsing experience (i.e. in general and not just visiting freeCodeCamp)

Anyways to drive this argument home, by using a VPN OR probably even a public resolver like https://1.1.1.1/dns/ or https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns you may be able to resolve the connectivity issue.

You should also consider some “DNS over HTTPS” - (Google this if you are interested, I do not want to endorse anyone) service if a VPN or a Public DNS resolver based solution does not work for your ISP.

And,

If you ever need to check if one of our services is down, you should subscribe to updates here:

https://status.freecodecamp.org

We are truly sorry about your experience, we hope we can be of help.

Thanks & happy coding.

43

Hi @raisedadead ,

Thanks a lot for the knowledge you shared; I used VPN for google chrome, instead, to get into our fcc.org site.

Again , thank you.

44

Hi,

Good day and hope everyone is well,

I would like to report an issue that we in the Philippines has not been able to access the Freecodecamp.org page for two days now. I asked my friend and he encountered the same problem. We can only access it if we are connected via VPN.

Please, I hope the Network Team from freecodecamp can investigate this further.

I can be reached via email. Appreciate your assistance. Thanks.

free-code-camp-down
free-code-camp-down978×679 17.1 KB

45

@sitiocoder
For those reports to be seen by freecodecamp team, please change the topic from #general to #support .

Thank you.

46

@AndrewAung11

Thank you!

47

Same problem. Using VPN is not working for me. I also tried 1111dns and did not work. Works on my iPhone though (using the same network).

48

We understand your frustration with this, but sadly there is not much we can do :slight_smile: like we have asserted earlier.

If you need troubleshooting help with setting up with your DNS Resolver or a VPN you should reach out to the tech support for those apps.

Goodluck.

1 Like
49

Hi, guys!

Rem Lampa here from freeCodeCamp.Manila.

Someone from PLDT reached out to me, and told me they’ve resolved the issue already.

Could you guys verify from your end? Thanks!

1 Like
50

confirmed working on my end without using VPN (I’m using PLDTHome WiFi). Thanks, @RemLampa!

1 Like
51

Hi,

confirmed, site is back on ISP(PLDT) that was in question.

53

The geographical location of a server is just one factor that affects the speed and quality of content delivered to your device. Smart routing technology balances load by off-loading traffic from geographic areas with unusually high loads.

For users in certain locations, this “load balancing” results in lower image quality or longer download times or both, even if the user has paid for faster service. This is because some areas may not have enough bandwidth capacity to handle peak demand for web content. The network provider must then start increasing bandwidth capacity in order to serve a greater number of customers with an acceptable level of performance and without overloading the network connection—increasing the cost.

When I need to use the net in countries where service providers block what they don’t want people to see, like Italy and Philippines, but my company has paid for high-speed access only restricted to certain sites due to shady regional licensing agreements (I’m looking right at you “regional licensing restrictions”), then I just use a VPN - either one that automatically connects or manually connects by starting it up on its own OS - regardless.
One great way to read about VPN review is this source.