How to Tell if My ISP Is Blocking a Website From Me
By Michelle Carvo
Updated September 22, 2017
You’ve typed in a website URL and the page is not loading. Your ISP might be blocking the website, but before anything else, try these quick solutions to check if the website is loading fine for others.
Checking Sites With Opera
The easiest option for checking whether or not your ISP is blocking a website is to use the free Opera browser. Opera has a free VPN service built into the browser. The VPN makes your browsing secure and gives you a virtual IP address so it seems as if you are browsing websites from another internet provider. Turn on the VPN feature by going to “Settings” and toggling on the “VPN” button. Type the website’s address into Opera and if the page loads, your ISP is blocking the website from you. If the page does not load, there is an issue with the website itself and not your IP.
Checking Sites With Proxy Servers
You don’t necessarily have to use the Opera browser to check whether or not an ISP is blocking a website as you can instead use a web proxy from within your existing browser. Web proxies like hide.me, hidester.com and whoer.net allow you to type in a URL and view it from that proxy. If your website shows up fine in any of these sites but does not display without the proxy then that is a good indication that your ISP is blocking the website.
Checking Sites With Browser Extensions
Yet another option for checking if a website is blocked is to use a browser extension. Browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have free browser extensions that allow you to easily connect to a VPN. Chrome’s free VPN extensions include SetupVPN, DotVPN and Hotspot Shield. Firefox’s free VPN extensions include Hoxx VPN Proxy and SetupVPN. As with Opera, you need to enable the VPN extension and then type in the address of the website you want to access to check if it’s blocked by your ISP.
ISP Blocking in the U.S.
It’s worth mentioning that ISP blocking is not common in the U.S. Typically only websites that offer illegal goods or services are blocked and even then, not all websites of this nature are blocked by ISPs. Websites, however, routinely block and redirect you if you are trying to access pages intended for a different country.
References
Tips
- A Google tool, "Nero," is in development as of 2011, which will enable you to check whether your ISP is blocking traffic to a particular address.
Writer Bio
Michelle Carvo has been writing professionally since 2006, contributing to a variety of websites. She is also a technical writer with extensive experience in Android/iPhone development and PC repair. Carvo holds a Bachelor of Science in computer information systems from the University of Michigan-Flint and works as an IT project manager.