HomeFusion Blocking Youtube Videos?

[CrazyBear]

The past week or so I have been unable to play YouTube video's on any of my home PC's. Video's on all kinds of other sites are fine, and the webpage for YouTube video's are instant loaders, but hit play, and NOTHING. Seems only the video feed from YouTube is blocked. It seems rather convenient that this only started happening after youtube won that lawsuit to censor the internet for personal profit.
I did see another page that mentioned Verizon FiOS and problem with youtube, Verizon tried to claim it wasn't their fault (Right,...) but that blocking certain IP's would fix it, well, I blocked those IP ranges and still doesn't work.

Anyone know how to get around Verizon's blocking of youtube content?

[scott21]

I am on HF and youtube working fine.

[rcschnoor]

I am on Verizon Fios and able to watch Youtube videos just fine, too. I don't think it has anything to do with Verizon as I have done nothing special to "get around" any attempt at blocking of Youtube videos by Verizon.

[John_Getzke]

First of all, YouTube didn't sue anyone for anything.  Verizon recently won a case that said the FCC does not have the right to regulate ISPs as a Common Carrier/Phone Company.  That means any ISP can choose to regulate its network however it wants....for now.

I suggest you investigate a little more to find out why YouTube is not working on your machines.  Try updating your Flash Players and browsers to make sure the block is not an application failure.  You can also try swapping out your DNS to use a free open one instead. 

Let's collect some more info.  Are there any error messages or screenshots you can post for us to review?  What happens if you setup a simple monitoring application like Fiddler or Networx?  Any bad packets or network level error messages?  What happens if you install something like Microsoft Process Monitor?  ProcMon should be able to show you an application level problem on one of the machines if you have it monitor your web browser while navigating out to YouTube.

[wtfranklin]

I've downloaded ProcMan. What exactly should I be looking for?

Thanks.

[John_Getzke]

ProcMon is a high level troubleshooting tool.  It will show you everything on a local machine while it is running which can be a lot to filter through as a first time user.  You will need to setup filters to monitor both your web browser and the Adobe/Flash application.  Proper filters should help you narrow down the results.

There are lots of great guides and tutorials on ProcMon online.  I suggest you look up a few and get familiar with the product before you try to analyze your current problem.

Here is how I suggest you proceed:

1. Start ProcMon

2. Navigate to Youtube and attempt to view a video

3. Stop ProcMon

4. Review the log and search for errors, timeouts or buffer issues

5. Repeat the test a few times to see if the problem is consistent

6. Search the internet for the errors that you found and see if there are any solutions

The quicker you can execute the test the better your results will be.  All you need to capture is the moment of the failure and nothing more.

[John_Getzke]

The details of your first post suggest that perhaps the problem is with the HF Router as opposed to the HF Service or VZW network.  The same computers that have problems at home work fine when not connected to the HF router.  Even the VZW phone can view the videos until it is connected to the HF Router.  That suggests that it is not the local VZW network blocking you but something on the hardware of the HF Router that is causing a problem.

We also have a testimony that a different HF user is working fine.  That would suggest the problem is isolated to your area or a common resource you and the OP share like a DNS service that may be different for other HF users.  You could try swapping the DNS on one of your machines as a simple test.  You could also try to VPN connect to a free VPN server somewhere and see if the traffic can make it through.

You might want to check in with VZW on this one and see what they have to say.  I'm not aware of any active blocking efforts by VZW so I would assume there is some kind of hardware problem on the HF Router that is not delivering the traffic to your computers.  Perhaps your HF router needs a reset, update or should be swapped out under the warranty.

[wtfranklin]

When I take my laptop to another location, yes, it's connected to a non HF router. But that ALSO means it has a NON Verizon assigned IP address. If Verizon wants to block a site or limit bandwidth, that is what they would be focusing on - THEIR assigned blocks of IP addresses.

A different HF user would have a different (Verizon) IP. AGAIN, Verizon has a block of IPs it assigns to whoever is using their network. They could easily assign a particular range to certain HF customers to experiment on.

I've been away from home for a couple of days and just got back to my problem - BTW the laptop worked FINE while out of town. I've been experimenting. OCCASIONALLY - maybe once out of 20 times - I can play a video. Sometimes ONLY the ad, sometimes ad AND video. If I hit reload though, it usually WON'T play the 2nd time. Other times it sits there for 30 - 40 seconds and THEN starts to play.

I didn't mention that when my 1st PC was affected; when I could still use the other 3, I was concentrating on THAT machine. Thinking I had a virus, I eventually ran out of ideas and just reloaded Win7. Youtube worked fine for about 3 hours, then STOPPED again. It's not a tower issue. I can see the tower from my house - it's 1 mile away. My Verizon phone plays the vids fine (from the SAME tower) when NOT connected to the HF WIFI.

It's still hard to believe that the router itself (hardware) could be the cause of NOT being able to play videos from ONE site on the net. Look at the list I displayed below. I stopped at 13 because it was apparent that ANYWHERE else I went, I was going to be able to play the videos. Now...router SOFTWARE is another matter, and that's what I'm getting at - SOFTWARE to slow speeds or deny access - POSSIBLY the newest firmware.

In an effort to be able to access youtube videos, I've been going to the youtube site and selecting the video I wanted (HOPING it was what I wanted - since I couldn't actually VIEW it - and copying the URL. I would then go to another site and copy that into the navigation bar. That site would access youtube and download the content to my PC. As background...I have 2 video editing software programs that I'm learning. One has ALL of their tutorials on youtube. The other has a large following of users and MANY post tutorials on youtube. Rather than going out and playing the SAME tutorial DAY after DAY - wasting MY cap and adding unneccesary traffic EVERY day, I would download the tutorials and watch them at my leisure. Today, THAT site is not able to access youtube. I get the error: "Failed to make the request. Please try again." Just started TODAY. HOWEVER...I found a DIFFERENT site to do the same thing a couple of minutes ago and lo and behold, that site WORKS. Any bets as to how log until THAT site FAILS? I've also lost the ability to view embedded youtube videos - like those that friends post on Facebook. Those worked until yesterday.

And...I'm not trying to be demeaning here so don't take it that way, but why would you be privy to "any active blocking efforts by VZW."? I wouldn't suppose they'd be broadcasting that anywhere. Maybe you work for VZW?

I did a (soft) reboot of BOTH HBA and HBR. Made no difference. I guess a factory reset is next for the HBR, though I'll lose some port forwarding changes and static address assignments that I made (over a year ago, BTW).

When that DOESN'T work, I guess I'll be calling tech support. And BTW, WHY is there NO way to roll back a faulty firmware upgrade? That's bush league!!

I'm paying $120/mo for a VERY limited amount of bandwidth! I hope you can see why I'm a little MORE than upset.

Thanks for weighing in people. This is pretty frustrating.

[captain_freddie]

Here's the answer. I called and opened a ticket with them. Diego from the network team called back and had me reboot the system. All's well now. He had to disable IP version 6 which reverts back to version 4. Version 6 sends packets that are too large and are being dropped. 

Call them and they can fix you up.

Sent from my Motorola Bag Phone

[wtfranklin]

Hard reboot - paper clip?

I already did a reboot from the admin panel. It didn't help. Also, there isn't another way to reset the IPv6 to IPV4 WITHOUT rebooting? SMH

Thanks for the info.

[captain_freddie]

There may be a way on the router...?

Sent from my Motorola Bag Phone

[wtfranklin]

Couldn't find one. So you did a reset from the back of the router then?

[Anonymous]

How did you disable IPv6?

[wtfranklin]

I haven't yet.

Sounds like captain.freddie had to do a hard reset (from the back of the router). If that's what it takes, I'll do it, but would rather not since that'll reset everything back to factory settings.

I'm waiting to see if that is in fact what he did. I did a soft reset (from within the admin panel) and that did nothing.

Sounds like a hard reset restored IPv4. I would think you could do it from the admin panel, but I couldn't see anything.

What say ye cap'n?

[vzw_customer_support]

Wtfranklin, you've done excellent trouble shooting so far, but we really need to get to the root cause of what's going on. We have a specialized Technical Support - HomeFusion Broadband team for further trouble shooting. You can give us a call at 1-800-922-0204 and request to be transferred to them.

SarahO_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[wtfranklin]

Reset did nothing for me. Except force me do redo the admin password. Your mileage may vary though.

[wtfranklin]

Actually, you'd think a true factory reset would wipe out any port forwarding you had set up, but it didn't. Didn't affect the 3 static IPs I had either. Guess it's more of a "selective" factory reset.

I'm starting to like this product less and less.

[wtfranklin]

Couldn't find a way in the router. HOWEVER, I disabled IPv6 on my PC and that seems to have solved it. It's 2:05am. I'm going to bed.

Thanks to captain.freddie for the clue.

Don't know why a reset was needed. It didn't do anything for me.

Good luck all.

[wtfranklin]

OK...I can't seem to edit my last post so I'm replying to it.

Although DISABLING IPv6 on your computer(s) works, it's not really a good solution. Verizon has managed to mess something up in the latest router (up?)grade.

IPv6 is going to be a necessity in the near future. The world is running out of IPv4 addresses.

Verizon needs to get some competent people working on their software. Seems every firmware update fixes one thing, and screws up 2 other things.

End of rant.

Happy Super Bowl everyone!!

[IgorLugosi]

I discovered the YouTube videos were not working on Friday, and I wasted lots of time troubleshooting my browser and PC.

After much head scratching I found my way here.  At last a reasonable explanation!

Thanks for digging deep into this issue guys!

YouTube switched to production quality IPv6 over the weekend and HomeFusion cant use IPv6 without dropping lots of packets, so that explains why I can't watch anything there.

I hope this gets fixed soon, Come on Verizon!  IPv6 will happen with or without you!

Aside:

That was one lopsided Super Bowl...

[John_Getzke]

Ah ha, there is the clue we were looking for.

More confirmation here:

http://www.fix6.net/archives/2010/01/31/google-enables-ipv6-on-youtube/

So it would appear that VZW is not trying to block YouTube, even though it is not working for some.  HomeFusion simply has an incompatibility with the IPv6 rollout conducted by YouTube.  This will most likely require a firmware update to be pushed out to all HF customers.

For now the quick workaround is to try and disable IPv6 on your machines and HF router.  However, users should report this problem into VZW to help it show  up on their radar and pressure the firmware guys to get a fix rolled out.