Verizon Fios Blocks Inbound Port 80
Verizon doesn’t like people to run home web servers, so they decided to block Port 80.
Yes, it’s true. In all my excitement I failed to test my inbound port 80 for a few days after getting my new Verizon Internet connection installed. But alas it’s true. Verizon doesn’t like people to run home web servers, so they decided to block Port 80.
After speaking with Verizon for ~5 hours and talking with dozens of techs and managers (half of whom didn’t even know what a computer was), I discovered that IF you want incoming Port 80 opened, you need to buy a static IP on a Business account. For me, that would have been ~ $135.00 a month. Being that I only use my home web servers for Family Galleries (lots and lots of photos and movies which I don’t want to pay hosting fees for), I definitely didn’t need it. So after about 15 minutes of DNS and Apache reconfiguration, my family site was once again back on the air, thanks to DNS redirection and port 8080. The G-Parents could once again get to the Family site.
All in all, very annoying. So, if anyone out there is running a site from home using DSL or Cable, you better think long and hard before cutting over to FIOS! You will need to either use a new port for your site (Search Engines don’t index anything other than port 80) or find a hosting provider to host your site.
26 Comments
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
John Rust
May 6, 2011 at 2:12 pm
I’d like to know how you did this – I’m trying to do a similar setup with Apache and FiOS. Can you provide the method you used to configure Apache and your DNS server?
Thanks!
Rick
May 6, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Is this the behavior you’re seeing? I”m pretty certain on my router they are not blocking port 80 rather they are doing protocol filtering which is even more annoying. I switched over, signed their contract of indentured servitude, now I find I cannot even put a server on an alternate port. This is extremely annoying as I do freelance web development to supplement my new American depression of 2008 and beyond wages. Now I cannot demo sites to my clients before publishing them. I can’t say for sure sure what the intention of the term of service that states you cannot run a webserver from your fios account was, but I’m fairly certain it meant to prevent shady sites and those that might use a large amount of bandwidth. Not the 10 or so megabytes I use demoing a site every few weeks. Yes, and I’ve used about 10 hours of non-billable time ****ing with this thing thinking I was loosing my mind. The best part is, one might think everything is working fine. If you connect with netcat from within your subnet, do a HTTP request, you get a response, everything is fine. I noticed when I went to update one of my sites from the subversion repository (running on my home development server) and could not get updates. Then I did a test. I ran netcat from my production server and sent GET / HTTP/1.1. This time, no reponse. Interesting, ran that again from my workstation. Response. I am able to connect to an apache server listing on port 80 or any other port, and if I view the logs, apache is responding, so I conclude that the FIOS is filtering HTTP responses somewhere along the way.
So… what, my friends, will they block next? any packets containing politically sensitive keywords?
I mean, they’re doing that in their text messages http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/us/27verizon.html
I think I may have to break contract and go back amongst the proles still using cable
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Yeah, I can feel your pain. I’m VERY certain however that they were only blocking port 80. When I moved the site to 81 or 8080 everything worked fine. SSL also worked without problems on 443.
Today I actually upgraded to the business account. Decided to take the plunge since I’m doing a lot of testing and private stuff from the house with the family.
If you need help, plz post any questions in the FORUM so I don’t lose sight of the question. WordPress is great for comments about an article but the thread gets pretty long with a few good questions. That’s what the forum is for
Eric
May 6, 2011 at 2:13 pm
This is bullsh!t. Learned this the hard way. Those morons tried bs me with some crap that they don’t block any ports and that I need static ip to have any server or the connection will not be real time?!! After talking to 8 different people they admit that they do block ports 80 and 8080. I’m pissed off.
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:14 pm
@Eric – … VERY short sighted on verizon’s part. I share your annoyance.
Port 8080 is also being blocked for you? 8080 is open here in Seattle but that doesn’t really help you…. I mean COME ON VERIZON!!! It’s not like we want to run facebook from our house!
Sorry man
rooroo9
May 6, 2011 at 2:14 pm
just found our the same issue with my recent fios install the hard way. can you detail how you got to work on port 8080? I’m a very basic level of networking knowledge.
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:14 pm
@rooroo9 – hey there. I “highly” suggest you call verizon tech support because I just spoke with them and they said that they are not going to be opening up Verizon FIOS Port 80 / http for all home users now. VERY good news.
Give them a call and let me know what they say. I live in Seattle and that’s the story I’m getting from my Verizon Tech.
Joe
May 6, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Verizon has inbound(80) open for me on a home fios account.
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:16 pm
@joe,
I’ve actually recently heard that Verizon is willing to start opening up FIOS for home users so this is great confirmation. What state/city do you live?
Dan Minear
May 6, 2011 at 2:16 pm
It appears that the port 80 block is not there as of right now (Sep 8, 2009) for me in the Orange County / LA area. It has been for years.
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:16 pm
@Dan Minear,
You know what, I was talking to a friend who works at Verizon just a few weeks ago and he said Verizon WAS looking into removing the block for residential FIOS subscribers however it wasn’t 100% yet. Perhaps they are testing out the new policy in Orange County…?
Thanks for the feedback! Anyone else out there have their blocks getting removed?
Dan Minear
May 6, 2011 at 2:17 pm
@MrGroove,
I’ve always thought the block a little lame. I was assured that was not the case when they pitched FiOS to me. Having a 25 line BBS in the early 90′s really gave me insight into Verizon operations. As you might guess, it’s a BIG company, and lots of time the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. But with persistance and patience (and convincing the support department you know what you’re doing), you can usually get to a tech who really knows the situation. Glad to hear your story!
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:17 pm
@Dan Minear,
We will have to chat offline sometime. I also ran a 10 line BBS back in the 90′s. Ripwave was the name back in the day. Perhaps we crossed paths?
Ckaz
May 6, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Well…long story short Verizon has done the same to me as everyone else. I was running a nice little site for my software development company and after switching to FiOS I found out that port 80 is (sorta) blocked and HTTP/HTTPS/FTP requests are filtered. No way around it except to pay them more money for a set of static IP addresses.
I guess the most annoying part about this whole port blocking issue is that (1): it will not hurt anything on either side of the deal. If a user abuses the privilege with a large use of bandwidth, then just slap him and give ‘em warning (or remove the privilege) and (2): WTF? When I asked about running a server, the techs at my house said nothing about having to pay extra cash or anything…in fact he flat out said “Oh sure. You can run a home server for anything…personal web-page or just for files.” .
*sigh*…
I hate money egotistic companies like this…they turn something great into something shitty…reminds me of Micro$oft…
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:18 pm
@ckaz, I feel your pain
jeff
May 6, 2011 at 2:19 pm
The answer is let the FCC and senate and congress know, we need MORE competition. Having a choice of two high speed providers is not enough. They simple do an intricate dance to avoid signs of collusion.
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Sure but, it’s an expensive business to get into and if you cant gouge customers, why enter into the market. To much infrastructure costs…
Joel
May 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Just ran into the same problem in the DFW, TX area. Port 80 is blocked outgoing for home accounts. Took several hours of tech support calls: very frustrating. For the first time since switching to FIOS, I’m considering switching back to Charter.
Jack the Dripper
May 6, 2011 at 2:21 pm
I ran on verizon’s port 80 with a home account about three months ago (~Dec. 2009) and everything was fine. I was done so I shut down the port/service. I just tried a small experiment again, with port 80 and 443 set up for forwarding, and guess what? Neither one works now (it’s April 2010). Looks to me like they watch you… then screw you.
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:21 pm
@Jack The Dripper, I talked to verizon a few weeks ago and they said they are enabling Home services with inbound port 80. This is in Seattle granted and he didn’t have a timeline…. so who knows…??
Brandon
May 6, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Hello,
Verizon used to be port 80 blocked, just checked it out here. As of today, verizon has unblocked Port 80 in Merrimac Valley, Massachusetts for me at least. Let’s hope it stays this way .
-Brandon
MrGroove
May 6, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Well that’s a start anyway. Good to hear it.
Kyle
May 6, 2011 at 2:22 pm
I’ve been on FiOS in the DFW area since 2005. Port 80 was open at first and I was able to host my own personal site. After about a year or so, it was blocked. Changing ports would work for a couple days before blocking http traffic requiring another change. I finally gave up. Overall, this is the only complaint I’ve had with FiOS as it has been a rock-solid connection…but it is a big complaint.
socbrian
May 9, 2011 at 7:57 pm
80 is open here North NJ market, has not been from a long time but tried it today and worked!
m1
March 3, 2012 at 1:27 am
if u need help with this just hit me up. pretty simple to setup with a few port forwards…
Bob
February 3, 2014 at 10:45 am
Port 80 is open in Central Massachusetts, though port 22 (ssh) seems to be blocked.