Can't login to progressive.com unless using vpn
ronzie1
Contributor - Level 2

When we try to login to the progressive.com website to pay our insurance bill the connection never completes.  We can get to the main page, but the site that the login button links to can't be reached, unless we use a vpn service.  This is the case from any pc in our home.  We pay the bill every six months, and it worked fine up until recently.

The login link leads to onlineservice4.progressive.com or onlineservice3.progressive.com.  Attempts to tracert to these addresses fail unless using the vpn.  Here is the output of the tracert when NOT connected to the vpn:

Tracing route to onlineservice4.progressive.com [170.218.212.203]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  Wireless_Broadband_Router.home [192.168.1.1]
  2     6 ms     4 ms     4 ms  L100.PITBPA-VFTTP-22.verizon-gni.net [96.236.129.1]
  3    10 ms     6 ms     7 ms  G0-0-2-2.PITBPA-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [100.41.201.215]
  4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

Trace complete.

Yes, I have tried rebooting the router.

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Re: Can't login to progressive.com unless using vpn
TelecomAdvo
Enthusiast - Level 2

Try disabling IPv6. 

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Re: Can't login to progressive.com unless using vpn
ronzie1
Contributor - Level 2

@TelecomAdvo wrote:

Try disabling IPv6. 


I disabled it on the router and on a pc, but it made no difference.

More info that I just got; my brother tried to access the page from work, a location about five miles away from my home, where they also have Verizon FiOS, and he couldn't get through from there, either.

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Re: Can't login to progressive.com unless using vpn
Capricorn1
Community Leader
Community Leader

Odd. I can get to the login prompt just fine. I can't go further since I don't have an account with Progressive, but I at least get that far.

I ran PingPlotter 5 against onlineservice4.progressive.com and got:

Target Name: onlineservice4.progressive.com
         IP: 170.218.212.203
  Date/Time: 4/29/2016 9:57:09 PM - 4/29/2016 9:58:09 PM

Hop  Sent  PL%    Min    Max    Avg  Host Name / [IP]
  1    14    0   0.38   0.54   0.46  lan-if.inside.local [192.168.3.1]
  2    14    0   3.23  11.11   5.17  lo0-100.CLPPVA-VFTTP-304.verizon-gni.net [72.86.37.1]
  3    14    0   6.98  10.32   8.55  B3304.CLPPVA-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net [130.81.221.132]
  4    13  100      0      0      0   [-]
  5    13  100      0      0      0   [-]
  6    14    0  16.28  28.65  22.86  Bundle-Ether11.GW2.CLE3.ALTER.NET [140.222.235.205]
  7    14    0  15.69  17.82  16.68  progressive-gw.customer.alter.net [152.179.81.202]
  8    14    0  18.09  20.58  19.10  198.181.158.11 [198.181.158.11]
  9    14    0  19.00  20.48  19.97  onlineservice4.progressive.com [170.218.212.203]

And from onlineservice3.progressive.com, I get:

Target Name: onlineservice3.progressive.com
         IP: 170.218.212.202
  Date/Time: 4/29/2016 10:03:57 PM - 4/29/2016 10:04:57 PM

Hop  Sent  PL%    Min    Max    Avg  Host Name / [IP]
  1     7    0   0.42   0.63   0.50  lan-if.inside.local [192.168.3.1]
  2     7    0   3.41   5.19   4.44  lo0-100.CLPPVA-VFTTP-304.verizon-gni.net [72.86.37.1]
  3     7    0   4.22   7.09   5.69  B3304.CLPPVA-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [130.81.221.134]
  4     6  100      0      0      0   [-]
  5     6  100      0      0      0   [-]
  6     7    0  16.48  26.11  21.09  Bundle-Ether12.GW2.CLE3.ALTER.NET [140.222.235.209]
  7     7    0  13.19  15.59  13.99  progressive-gw.customer.alter.net [152.179.81.202]
  8     7    0  15.72  17.89  16.57  198.181.158.11 [198.181.158.11]
  9     7    0  16.07  17.41  16.70  onlineservice3.progressive.com [170.218.212.202]

So, with the exception of a couple squelched pings, I don't seem to be having a problem. That's originating from Virginia rather than Pennsylvania.

I did, however, notice that ALTER.NET is in there. Verizon and ALTER.NET seem to have some issue them (although as I understand it, Verizon owns ALTER.NET [or did]). Google the terms: verizon alter.net fios for details.

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Re: Can't login to progressive.com unless using vpn
tns2
Community Leader
Community Leader

Alter.net is Verizon "backbone"  They have no issue (normally) accessing it.  However the jump from alter.net to other networks sometimes is a real problem.  And alter.net and Verizon servers are set to respond to the pings used in trace at a lower priority, which sometimes leads people to think their are delays when there are not.  Total time out as shown are absolutely not important if later servers respond.

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Re: Can't login to progressive.com unless using vpn
Capricorn1
Community Leader
Community Leader

@tns2 wrote:

Alter.net is Verizon "backbone"  They have no issue (normally) accessing it.  However the jump from alter.net to other networks sometimes is a real problem.  And alter.net and Verizon servers are set to respond to the pings used in trace at a lower priority, which sometimes leads people to think their are delays when there are not.  Total time out as shown are absolutely not important if later servers respond.


The links on Google must be red herrings then.

Still, ronzie's traces aren't completing where mine did in both cases, which is what I was pointing out. If he can get their via a VPN service (or a TOR browser), that sounds like something along the way is actively blocking the site. I checked at Blacklist Check and neiher of the Progressive server's IPs were blacklisted.

Verizon's response to pings is not uniform. My ping times to both Progressive servers show about a 17 ms jump when the hit the alter.net hop. If I ping www.google.com or www.ebay.com, I see only a 3 ms jump at that same hop (and Google and Ebay . A 25 ms round trip to Progressive vs a 4 or 7 ms round trip to Google or Ebay doesn't mean much. Those are all good enough.

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