ISP blocking my content

[Xdrinkn]

Please follow the below template, it will help us to help you!

Expected Behaviour:

Using unbound and quad9 upstream DNS I should bypass restriction from ISP DNS blocking

Actual Behaviour:

I can't get into some torrents sites, sometimes I get to the desired section of the torrents but when trying to click on a link if z torrent I get a blank page

Debug Token:

Running a dig on the website I get replies but when digging on the complete url of the torrents I get nxdomain

[jfb]

@Xdrinkn

Running a dig on the website I get replies but when digging on the complete url of the torrents I get nxdomain

You can only dig a domain, not a complete URL. In this example URL, the domain is cnn.com

https://cnn.com/updates/index.html

These tools can help you determine why your requested content is blocked:

How do I determine what domain an ad is coming from?

Block ads or fix broken sites This FAQ is written in the context of finding out how to block an ad that isn't blocked automatically, but the same steps can be used to troubleshoot issues with sites that don't function properly. An example is that sometimes certain payment gateways try to collect metrics on the sale, but these domains are blocked by Pi-hole, so the payment cannot be processed. Also, some links send you through several referrers and if one of them is blocked, you may land on a …

[Xdrinkn]

Yeah I even disabled pihole for 1 min and it was still not resolving which is very odd.

> query[A] rarbgmirror.com from 192.168.1.26 
Oct 14 20:44:48 dnsmasq[22689]: forwarded rarbgmirror.com to 127.0.0.1 
Oct 14 20:44:48 dnsmasq[22689]: dnssec-query[DS] rarbgmirror.com to 127.0.0.1 
Oct 14 20:44:48 dnsmasq[22689]: reply rarbgmirror.com is no DS 
Oct 14 20:44:48 dnsmasq[22689]: validation result is INSECURE 
Oct 14 20:44:48 dnsmasq[22689]: reply rarbgmirror.com is 104.31.18.30 
Oct 14 20:44:48 dnsmasq[22689]: reply rarbgmirror.com is 104.31.19.30

[jfb]

The log output you provided shows a query and a reply with an IP. This was when Pi-Hole was disabled?

[Xdrinkn]

Yeah I don't see anything being blocked that's why I'm at lost...those are the only ones being registered when visiting that site

[jfb]

I think this rules out Pi-Hole as contributing to the problem.

[Xdrinkn]

I'm not saying it's related to Pi-hole as I couldn't access this website before unless I used a VPN, hence my question. I'm using unbound and a quad9 upstream DNS so how would my ISP block this??

[jfb]

I assume you are using unbound as an encrypting resolver communicating over an encrypted interface to the Quad 9 resolver? If this is the case, the DNS traffic should be invisible to your ISP.

However, even if the DNS traffic is encrypted, the ISP will still see all your requested IP's unless you run all your traffic through a VPN. If they can see the IP, they can block it. They know which IP's serve which domains.

[Xdrinkn]

So by using VPN, you mean a third party VPN correct? But then I lose my pihole settings as my VPN provider pushes its own DNS

[jfb]

@Xdrinkn

So by using VPN, you mean a third party VPN correct?

Yes.

@Xdrinkn

I couldn’t access this website before unless I used a VPN

As you noted, you can't load your requested content without running a VPN, so you will need to run a VPN to get that content.

[Xdrinkn]

Indeed, I thought it was a dns problem but looks like it's an IP pool being banned by the ISP. As soon as I enable the VPN it loads fine.