Most iPlayer servers not usable from US. DNS?

[Borrible7 3]

Hi. If I'm connected via a US server I cannot access BBC iPlayer recordings carried via Limelight (e.g. rtmp://bbcfmt.fcod.llnwd.net) or Akamai (rtmp://vod-rtmp-uk-live.edgesuite.net).  

 

I can access the Level3 stream (e.g. rtmp://iplayertokfs.fplive.net) only.   This is always the high bitrate stream (3200kbps), more than I need and often conducive to buffering.

 

I cannot access the live streams at all: e.g BBC One, rtsp://vs-hds-uk-live.bbcfmt.vo.llnwd.net/, which also seems to be a Limelight URL.

 

If I connect to a UK server then I can access all the iPlayer streams, live and recorded.

 

This seems to have to do with name resolution.   When I'm connected via Fremont servers Heze or Persei (the nearest ones to me), the AirVPN namserver 10.4.0.1 resolves the limelight host this way:

 

# nslookup vs-hds-uk-live.bbcfmt.vo.llnwd.net 10.4.0.1
Server:    10.4.0.1
Address 1: 10.4.0.1 dns.air

Name:      vs-hds-uk-live.bbcfmt.vo.llnwd.net
Address 1: 208.111.148.7 cdn-208-111-148-7.sjc.llnw.net
Address 2: 208.111.148.6 cdn-208-111-148-6.sjc.llnw.net 

 

When I'm connected to a UK server, the AirVPN nameserver 10.4.0.1 resolves the limelight host as follows. Note "lon" (London?) instead of "sjc":

 

# nslookup vs-hds-uk-live.bbcfmt.vo.llnwd.net 10.4.0.1
Server:    10.4.0.1
Address 1: 10.4.0.1 dns.air

Name:      vs-hds-uk-live.bbcfmt.vo.llnwd.net
Address 1: 87.248.210.253 bbcfmhds.vo.llnwd.net
Address 2: 87.248.210.254 cdn-87-248-210-254.lon.llnw.net 

 

Thanks for any help you can provide with this.

[Staff 9972]

Hello,

 

thank you very much, a preliminary analysis confirms your report. An investigation on the issue has been scheduled.

 

Kind regards

[mcurrale 8]

Hi.

 

I'm having the same issue.

 

Hope this can be resolved.

 

Just to add, ITV works for me, but same as the original poster, BBC live streams don't.

 

Cheers.

 

Marco

[mcurrale 8]

Just to add further, ITV player when playing catchup doesn't work when connected to the Sabik server in the U.S. Haven't got time to try any others right now.

[Staff 9972]

Hello!

 

The problem has been solved. You can now access and watch BBC programs and iPlayer from any Air VPN server, enjoy!

 

Kind regards

[Borrible7 3]

[duplicate comment - edited out]

Edited ... by Borrible7

[Borrible7 3]

I can confirm that both live and recorded streams now work when connected via US Fremont, if AirVPN's DNS servers are used.  Thank you!

[Borrible7 3]

Thanks for your help back in June. It looks like the iPlayer servers have been updated since then and the problem has returned.

 

From the US when connected via Fremont, the 10.4.0.1 AirVPN DNS returns California-based hosts for the Akamai and Level 7 streams.  The Limelight servers are still reachable, but those are a poor option because they're not nearly as well provisioned as Akamai and L7 and have much inferior network performance (latency, rebuffering).  It's so much better when we can reach the Akamai and L7 streams.  

 

Example host/domains that ought to return UK servers but return US/California servers:

 

cp401489-vh.akamaihd.net

  Fremont CA DNS returns a96-6-45-120.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com (96.6.45.120)

  UK DNS returns a92-123-143-179.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com (92.123.143.179)

 

 

cp112048.edgefcs.net

  Fremont CA DNS returns 198.87.182.181 (198.87.182.181)

  in UK returns 80.156.249.23 (80.156.249.23)  Edit: This seems to be working now.

 

These are two examples among many; I can post a more complete list if needed.  Thanks for any help you can give.

 

There is a separate issue with the live streams as well, which I'm unable to diagnose as yet.  There is no difference between the DNS or the exit node indicated by traceroute when using UK and US servers, but permission is denied when using US servers.  I'll follow up if I can figure out what's happening with this one.

Edited ... by Borrible7

[phille 0]

I can play BBC iPlayer but can't cast it to chromecast ... anyone an idea?  Router RT-n66u had firmware update Asuswrt-Merlin

[guppy 10]

I can play BBC iPlayer but can't cast it to chromecast ... anyone an idea?  Router RT-n66u had firmware update Asuswrt-Merlin

 

Other than being on the same wireless network but the telefone/tablet and chromecast needs to use vpn - so if your only running a vpn client on the phone that's your problem.

[spinmaster 30]

I hope it's not offtopic, but I just read this on TorrentFreak - may be related: https://torrentfreak.com/bbc-iplayer-blocks-uk-vpn-servers-over-piracy-concerns-151016/

[Valerian 20]

Thanks for posting that link. What the BBC is doing is bang out of order.

[Borrible7 3]

From the US if I connect directly to gb.vpn.airdns.org I can access pretty much all iPlayer content, so the problem as described in that story doesn't seem to be affecting AirVPN's entry points at the moment.   

 

Unfortunately thanks to my ISP's routes, congestion is so severe if I do it this way that streams are basically unwatchable.

 

If I try to use a nearby AirVPN server instead, the internal network DNS forwarding and reamapping tricks don't seem to be up to date: so if I'm connected to US servers (heze and persei in Fremont are my closest, ping-wise), iPlayer's live channels and many of the catchup servers fail on resource not found errors, at least in part because the IP addresses are wrong.

 

Is there any chance AirVPN's staff can update these?  I can provide specifics again if needed.

[Valerian 20]

I realise it costs extra, but the easiest way round problems like these is to subscribe to a SmartDNS service.

[Borrible7 3]

AirVPN's geolocation routing and DNS performs the same function, so that would be redundant: see earlier in this thread where they updated their tables and fixed the problem when it was reported to them.  The purpose of pointing these things out is to assist them in staying on top of it, because it's a moving target.

[Valerian 20]

Sorry, I thought the term "double-hop" meant that you were actually going through a second server. If what you say is true, why can only one UK server connect to the National Lottery site?

[eyes878 43]

If you give it a few days, I would assume the staff will have something sorted. They are usually pretty good when it comes to staying on top of things like this.

 

Alternatively, all I can recommend is for people who aren't in the UK to simply connect to the UK servers and use those. There are 2-3 providers in use in the UK to make sure that you try all of the servers in case one of them has better routing than another.

[Lekan 0]

I am wondering why airvpn not playing BT SPORT, I connected to UK server on my phone and it wont play as the detect that am not in the Uk, I will appreciate if anybody can help, thanks 

[nitehawk 4]

cannot access BBC from Sabik server

havent tried from any others but is this because the BBC are now blocking VPNs from using their services?

 

 

https://imgur.com/dCCoUdZ

 

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/20/bbc-iplayer-vpn-access

 

what is air doing about this?

i thought because of double hop it wouldent be a problem

 

edit..now it's playing..

strange

[nitehawk 4]

BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only. Find out why.

If you are in the UK and see this message please read this advice.

 

hi , currently on Singapore server and receiving this message.. worked fine earlier today

anybody else experiencing these intermittent issues?