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I_am_Richard's avatar
I_am_Richard
New Contributor III

Cox blocking content from AMC Theatres

A few weeks ago I noticed that the AMC Theatres website was not functioning correctly.  Specifically, a lot of the content on the site just does not appear.  For example, there is a section on the main page that says "Movies at AMC", and normally there would be a grid of movie posters listed.  However, nothing appears...it's just blank.  As another example, there's a banner on the main page that scrolls through various featured items they are hilighting (like new movies), and if you click on one of the banners it will take you to the relevant page...only on my system the page doesn't contain any of the expected content, but instead only contains the basic web page template (e.g., I can see all the normal navigation links, etc., but nothing relevant to the banner I clicked).  Additionally, when I try to login to my AMC account, the website acts like its submitting my login information but it doesn't seem to actually do anything.  Firefox, Chrome, and Edge all have the exact same behavior.  I see the same issue when I browse the AMC Theatres website in Safari on my iPhone.  Relatedly, whenever I tried to use the AMC Theatres app on my iPhone, every function within the app results in an error message stating "Network Issue Occurred.  Tap to retry."

So naturally I assumed that the issue was with AMC's website.  That was, until I disabled the wifi on my phone (thereby switching the phone to cellular data) and discovered that all of a sudden the AMC app works again, as does their website.  As soon as I switch the phone back to wifi, it all stops working again.  So then I thought maybe there is a problem with my router.  So I bypassed the router (i.e., I ran the ethernet cable from my modem directly to my PC.)  That did not fix the problem.  So then I switched the wiring back, and established a VPN connection to my work (Cox Business, with all traffic routed through the work network), and all of a sudden the website started working on my home PC.  As soon as I disable the VPN connection, it went back to not working again.

At this point it appears that Cox is blocking access to some--but not all--of AMC Theatre's content, and apparently only on home connections, not business connections.  Can someone please fix this?

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  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    As heavy as Cox is pushing HBO Max, I wouldn't be surprise if they agreed to restrict any of its streaming competition.  They'd stab any subscriber in the back for a greasy dollar.

  • I_am_Richard's avatar
    I_am_Richard
    New Contributor III

    I reached out to Cox support as MariaL mentioned, and they had me connect my computer directly to the modem.  When I did that, my computer got an IP address of 68.225.XXX.XXX...very different from the 98.172.XXX.XXX IP address that my router was getting.  As if by magic, the AMC website started working again.  So I reconnected through the router, rebooted the modem and the router got its old IP address again.  I tried the AMC website again, and it went back to not working.  So I went into the router and performed an IP release renew, and this time Cox gave me an IP address of 68.225.XXX.XXY.  I tried the AMC website again, and it started working again.  The AMC app on my phone works again as well.

    So apparently this issue only occurs on certain IP addresses.

    • Andrew_Wees's avatar
      Andrew_Wees
      Contributor III

      Sounds like your router was the issue most cox ip’s without router start with 68. Not sure if Cox also uses 98. Addresses

      • I_am_Richard's avatar
        I_am_Richard
        New Contributor III

        I had the same issue when I bypassed the router a few days ago.  I'm not sure what IP address the computer was getting when it was directly connected to the modem.

    • NicL's avatar
      NicL
      New Contributor

      How do you do this through the router. I connected my laptop via ethernet and had the same issue. Cox is saying I have get the IP address removed from the blacklist...no idea why it’s on the list...but they assign me the IP and nothing I use the internet for should have me bkacklisted. This is getting over my head...ugh. I just want to go to the movies....

  • DavidA2's avatar
    DavidA2
    Former Moderator
    Hi I_am_Richard,

    I am sorry to hear that you've been having trouble with the AMC website. Have you tried connecting to the site using another network to see if the issue is the same? If not, I would suggest trying that.

    David
    Cox Support Forums Moderator
    • I_am_Richard's avatar
      I_am_Richard
      New Contributor III

      The website works perfectly on my cellular network (AT&T) and also on my work network (Cox Business).

  • Superbigwaff's avatar
    Superbigwaff
    Contributor

    I have Cox internet and the AMC site works fine for me. Your router might have ad or malware blocking features which are preventing the site from working properly. You may need to whitelist the AMC site.

    • I_am_Richard's avatar
      I_am_Richard
      New Contributor III

      I considered that, but the behavior did not change when I completely bypassed the router by wiring the modem directly to my PC.

  • jjayguy23's avatar
    jjayguy23
    New Contributor

    I'm having the same issue! I'm in McLean, Virginia area and I haven't been able to fully access AMC's page for almost 2 weeks. It doesn't fully resolve. I can't use it! The bypass was using a VPN or switching to cellular data on my iPhone. So strange!!!!

    • Allan's avatar
      Allan
      Moderator
      @Jjayguy23, I recommend starting with clearing your browser data (cookies/cache) and see if that helps. Also, I recommend checking for any updates for you device and running any virus scanners that you may have. -Allan, Cox Support Forums Moderator.
  • markymags's avatar
    markymags
    New Contributor

    Same problem on my end as well. I thought the issue was with AMC. I get errors on the AMC app saying "Network Issue Occurred. Tap to Retry" and do not have full functionality of the AMC website on any browser (cannot sign in, errors trying to access certain web pages on the site, etc). Tried accessing the website and app on multiple phones, tablets, and laptops on my wifi and got the same error on all of them.

    It wasn't until 3 days later when I tried the AMC app using cellular that the app worked perfectly fine. I'm glad I'm not the only one with this really odd issue.

    • MariaL's avatar
      MariaL
      Moderator
      Hi markymags,

      I would like to investigate further investigate this issue for you. Please email our team at cox.help@cox.com with this post, your full name, and your complete address. You can also reach out to us on Twitter and Facebook through the links below:

      www.facebook.com/.../
      https://twitter.com/CoxHelp

      Maria
      Cox Support Forum Moderator
      • NicL's avatar
        NicL
        New Contributor

        I live in Falls Church, VA. I am having the same issue. The AMC App works fine on cellular data and a FIOS WIFI. Is there any update on this issue. 

  • NicL's avatar
    NicL
    New Contributor

    I am having this same issue. Did you get it resolved?

  • OpenBSD's avatar
    OpenBSD
    Contributor II

    1. AMC Threatres currently knows their app is experiencing difficulties. AMC APP Problems

    2. AMC announced they were selling around 500 million shares of stock which probably has contributed to saturated website traffic. I'm sure this also depends on which routes your internet packets are taking while their website it hit with heavy traffic.

    3. I live in Arizona. I have no problems with the AMCThreatres.com website.

  • Freejack's avatar
    Freejack
    New Contributor

    Same exact problem here. Has been happening to me for a while now (months? hard to say) but I assumed the problem was with AMC. I like to think of Cox as one of the "good guy" ISPs compared to the other giants, but this theory makes a lot of sense. Perhaps an FCC or consumer advocate inquiry would help speed up Cox's research into the matter...

    Whoever/whatever is the culprit, I think it could be argued that a lot of potential ticket sales have been lost from this.  I know I personally have given up on going to see a movie multiple times after running into this issue and losing interest.

    Confirming:

    - Up-to-date AMC mobile app for Android will not load content.

    - AMCTheaters.com website has the same behavior on both mobile and desktop browsers. Website and navigation work, but no movie content (i.e. showtimes, currently showing films, etc.) will load.

    - Using modern, mainstream, unmodified networking hardware to access mid-tier Cox residential internet via coax. No VPN, proxy, or DNS changes configured.

    - App and website work fine over mobile carrier data plan.

    - My Cox IP is 98 block and not on any blacklists.

    • BenS1's avatar
      BenS1
      Former Moderator
      Hi @Freejack

      Have you bypassed the router, if you have one, and plugged your computer directly into the modem? Are you using one of our modems or do you have a 3rd-party modem?

      Ben S.
      Cox Support Forums Moderator
      • NicL's avatar
        NicL
        New Contributor

        I am having the same problem. I have bypassed the router with the same problem. I have used 2 different routers that generated 2 different IP addresses from Cox. Both have the same problem. They are black listed on dnsbl.spfbl.net. The error has something to do with a mail server. Since this is a residential account, I am not running a mail server. Since this is impacting multiple Cox customers on multiple cox IP addresses, can’t Cox investigate and fix?

    • NicL's avatar
      NicL
      New Contributor

      I am having the same issue. I am considering tweeting the CEO of AMC...sometimes you just have to go to the top. 

      I was able to generate 2 different IPs with two different routers. Both in the 98 block, and both blacklisted on dnsbl.spfbl.net. This is clearly a COX issue. Not sure why they can’t resolve. 

    • Freejack's avatar
      Freejack
      New Contributor

      I checked my IP against multiple public blacklists and it wasn't listed on any, so I sincerely doubt that's part of the problem.  If they were using reputation-based filtering it would be extremely strange for it to work this way (to silently filter out only specific content).

      I just asked another friend to check from his house (also on Cox copper) and he had no issues with the site using both mobile and desktop browsers.  His IP is in the 70 block, though.

      Anyway, I don't care enough to spend more time diagnosing or fixing the issue, whatever it is.  I'm just concerned that it might be happening to thousands of other people right now and impacting AMC's ticket sales.

  • Superbigwaff's avatar
    Superbigwaff
    Contributor

    The process for Cox to have blocks of IP addresses removed from a blacklist (perhaps even multiple blacklists) may take some time...  and might even cost Cox money to do so. Some of these blacklist "services" are not particularly stringent about the criteria for blacklisting IP addresses. Web site and email operators subscribe to these services to minimize spam and other malicious ip addresses. In addition, some blacklist service providers are more legit than others (and more expensive for the web site or email service operator to subscribe).

    There is not a lot an individual subscriber can do as typically only the owner of the blacklisted ip address (i.e. Cox) can request the removal from a blacklist. In the meantime, one could subscribe to a VPN service. Using a VPN would effectively provide you a different public IP address... one that is not blacklisted. Be sure to choose reputable VPN service.

    • NicL's avatar
      NicL
      New Contributor

      We can move to another service. I am call FIOS tomorrow!