Dynamic IP

by 7 replies
8
I'm not sure if I'm in the correct forum for this, but here goes:

I belong to a membership site that has some kind of security on it whereby whenever I try to access the site from a coffee shop (think Starbucks), my membership gets deactivated...I get a message implying that I've been sharing my account, which I have not.

Someone in Support said that it is because coffee shops, like Starbucks, use a dynamic IP address that confuses their system.

But the reason that I go to coffee shops is because the membership site is video-intensive and my internet speed at home is not fast enough to handle the videos.

Is there a way that I could somehow access the membership site from a coffee shop (or library, etc.) yet show the membership site another IP address; a static one?

Like maybe by using a site like hidemyass.com?

I'm asking here because I don't want to try it and get blocked again.

P.S. I am a fully paid member of the site in particular...honest!
#programming #dynamic
  • Hi.

    You could use a VPN provider, but I would suggest to contact the site admin(s), report the issue and ask for solution. If that is a popular site then you shouldn't be the only one with this problem.
  • Yes, contact the site admins and explain to them that this is the 21st century and people are MOBIL with their Internet Access.

    Also, users on dial-up (yes they still exist) and DSL could have the same problem even staying at home.

    Suggest to them that they update their 1995 software to something modern. If they are intent on limiting access they have a number of better choices:

    - Build the system to not allow simultaneous logins from the same account - PayPal does that. You'd hardly be tempted to share your account if you knew that you'd get logged off when another person logs in under your ID.

    - Build the system to issue a challenge question when it sees a login from a new IP address - Google does that.

    - Build the system to drop a cookie on the users machine, or use its MAC address instead of its IP address. You would be restricted to using the site on only one machine (unless you could register multiple ones), but could use it from any IP address.

    Otherwise I'd demand a refund.

    Bill
    • [1] reply
    • Due to the way that things work, you wouldn't be able to get a persons MAC address unless you were on the same LAN as them. A web server has no way of knowing what a clients MAC address is. It's just the way that IPV4 works.
  • Maybe the easiest solution for you: Download all the videos and watch them locally on your PC?

    Apart from that, I agree with the previous posters - talk to support about that. I understand IP blocking viia max. IP from a business point of view, but it can be annoying. They should be able to change this.

    Cheers,
    Rob
    • [1] reply
  • It could also be that someone sitting just down from you in the coffee shop has some kind of packet sniffer going and is picking up your username and password and sharing it.

    See if your membership site has an https version of the site where your login details are not being sent unencrypted in a crowded space.

    Same goes for hotel lobbies. If your broadcasting your username / password to anybody listening, its quite possible that the membership site is correct in shutting down your account.
    • [1] reply
    • Hmm...you guys have given me quite a bit of "food for thought". I could try changing my password and see if that helps...also, I don't know how active the site administrators are with maintaining the site at this point...I'm thinking that since I've been blocked several times already, that if they were really interested in providing a solution for me, they would have done so by now...I have no way of knowing if other members have had the same problems...you know a lot of these WSO's come out, the marketers make their money, then move on...they usually don't want to bother with much maintenance after that.
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    Dynamic IP

    I'm not sure if I'm in the correct forum for this, but here goes: I belong to a membership site that has some kind of security on it whereby whenever I try to access the site from a coffee shop (think Starbucks), my membership gets deactivated...I get a message implying that I've been sharing my account, which I have not.