Overview

It can be extremely frustrating when your website (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or custom site) loads perfectly on your phone’s cellular network, but throws a connection error—like ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT, 502 Bad Gateway, or a blank screen—when you try to open it from your home or office Wi-Fi.

When a site hosted on our InterNic Hosting platform is working for the rest of the world but blocked for your specific location, it usually comes down to one of three things:

• Automated Security Filters protecting your account from brute-force login attempts.

• Security Plugins inside your website script locking out your IP address.

• Local Internet Provider (ISP) Drops or stale connection cache files on your computer.

Why Does a Single Location Get Blocked?

Our Internic hosting servers use multi-layered security shields to protect your websites and mailboxes:

1. Server Security Guards (Fail2ban / Imunify360): If someone on your network accidentally types the wrong password a few times into WordPress (/wp-admin), Joomla (/administrator), FTP, or Webmail, our server security steps in to block that network address temporarily. This prevents unauthorized users from guessing your passwords.

2. CMS Security Plugins (e.g., Wordfence, iThemes, RSFirewall): Plugins running inside your website can accidentally flag your office Wi-Fi if multiple devices or background apps make too many requests at once.

3. Upstream Internet Provider Drops: Your local Internet Service Provider (like Rogers, Bell, Shaw, or Telus) or office router can sometimes hold onto old, outdated connection routes that drop your traffic before it ever reaches our servers.

Step-by-Step Self-Troubleshooting Guide

Follow these quick steps to isolate and fix the block:

Step 1: Find Your Current Public IP Address

From a device on the affected office or home network, visit myip.internic.ca.

You will see a series of numbers separated by dots (e.g., 184.70.195.118). This is your network’s "digital street address" on the internet. Make a note of it.

Step 2: The "Mobile Hotspot" Test (Isolate the Problem)

Disconnect your computer or phone from your home/office Wi-Fi and connect it to a Cellular Mobile Hotspot from your mobile phone. Try loading your website again.

• If the site LOADS on Hotspot: Your web hosting server, database, and domain are 100% healthy. The roadblock is strictly isolated to your local Wi-Fi network or Internet Provider.

• If the site FAILS on Hotspot: The issue is widespread across all networks. Contact InterNic Support right away.

Step 3: Clear Your Computer’s Local DNS Memory (Flush DNS)

Your computer keeps a temporary address book (called a DNS cache) to help load websites faster. If a server IP address changes or a temporary glitch occurs, your computer might keep trying to connect to the wrong path. "Flushing" this cache forces your computer to look up a fresh, updated path to your website.

On Windows (Step-by-Step):

1. Click the Start Menu or search bar at the bottom of your screen.

2. Type cmd or Command Prompt.

3. Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

4. In the black window that opens, type this exact command and press Enter:

   ipconfig /flushdns

5. You should see a success message that says "Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

6. Close the window and try loading your website again!

On Mac (Step-by-Step):

1. Open Finder, click Applications, then open the Utilities folder.

2. Double-click Terminal.

3. Copy and paste this exact command into the Terminal window and press Return:

   sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

4. Terminal may ask for your Mac’s administrator password. Type your password (no dots or characters will show on screen while typing, which is normal) and press Return.

5. Close Terminal and try loading your website again!

Step 4: Run a Connection Path Check (Traceroute)

If flushing your DNS doesn't fix it, running a Traceroute will map out the exact path your internet connection takes from your computer to our InterNic server, pinpointing where the chain breaks.

How to run a Traceroute:

• Windows: Open Command Prompt, type tracert yourdomain.com, and press Enter.

• Mac: Open Terminal, type traceroute yourdomain.com, and press Enter.

How to read your results:

• Healthy Trace: Traffic passes through standard hops and ends with a reply from your InterNic server (e.g., canada14.rebel.com [134.195.196.134]).

• Office Router Drop (Hops 1–2): The trace stops right at the beginning (192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x). Your internal office router or company firewall is dropping the connection.

• Internet Provider Drop (Middle Hops): The trace stops midway on an ISP hop (like shawcable.net or rogers.com) showing * * * Request timed out. Your Internet Provider is dropping the connection before it reaches our gateway.

Summary: Quick Solutions

Need Assistance? We're Here to Help!

If you've tried these steps and your website is still unreachable from your location, reach out to our InterNic Support Team with the following details so we can get it cleared for you right away:

1. Your domain name and hosting account details.

2. Your public IP address from myip.internic.ca.

3. A screenshot or text copy of your Traceroute results.

4. Let us know if the site worked when testing on a Mobile Hotspot.