cannot access okcupid on wifi

October 3, 2017 6:36 PM

Why can't I access my okcupid account on wifi, but can on my phone's data?

On my home's wifi, the site loads but says but tells me something is wrong when I enter my password. When I do it using my phone's data, it works fine. If I switch from data back to wifi while on the site, the site still loads but has a message like, "This isn't supported on the mobile site" and when I try the regular site on wifi, it loads but presents another message about not being usable. If I try to create a new account it tells me my zip code and password is invalid (both on my laptop and on the phone, on wifi).

I recently moved and I am using the wifi provided by my landlord; is it possible the IP address was blocked by okcupid? (I've emailed them, but not sure if I'll hear back). I also tried access the site at a coffee shop today, on their wifi and on my phone, and it also didn't work (not entirely sure if that was the wifi connection there or the site; the page didn't load at all.

Any thoughts? It'll be pretty annoying to only be able to access the site using my phone's data, and I actually wanted to start using it again...

Thanks.

posted by bearette to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Response by poster: PS- just tried a different wifi network (using xfinity one hour complimentary pass at home) and I can access the site with that.
posted by bearette at 6:43 PM on October 3, 2017

If you don't get an answer here, I've sent login problems to OKC's help desk before, and got it resolved in a couple of days. In my case, the mobile site didn't like my VPN, but it sounds like it might be something different for you.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:14 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Are you running a free vpn app on your home network, or is someone else?
posted by zippy at 7:42 PM on October 3, 2017

Response by poster: @zippy- I'm not...not sure if anyone else is. I live alone but in a building with a few other units. I don't think we're all on the same wifi network but I share with at least one other person.
posted by bearette at 7:44 PM on October 3, 2017

... also try this: open your browser in private / incognito mode and see if that works.
posted by zippy at 7:45 PM on October 3, 2017

Response by poster: sorry to threadsit; I have tried in incognito mode and it still doesn't work.

Is it possible that okcupid banned someone else who uses/used this same IP address? I read somewhere that they do that sometimes...
posted by bearette at 7:50 PM on October 3, 2017

Best answer: Your landlord's wifi may be set up with a DNS server that has bad or incomplete IP addresses for match or some of it's internal servers. These servers are usually defaulted to your internet providers own servers and they translate the written domain name (match.com) to the IP address (4 sets of numbers between 0 and 255) needed to access the site. If you have access to the router, you can usually change these to google's DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and things may work. If not, you may be able to configure this in your device as well.
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 8:43 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I used to have this problem, and it was just my crappy wifi. The signal wasn't strong enough. I think OK Cupid is a data-eater, maybe even more so than Facebook.
posted by MexicanYenta at 12:33 AM on October 4, 2017

Response by poster: I finally got a reply from Okcupid. They said that the IP address had been banned by a user who violated their TOS (I recently moved to this apartment building and the wifi is provided by landlord and shared with other residents I don't know). Okcupid unbanned the wifi but said they may have to ban it again if TOS are violated again.
posted by bearette at 6:54 PM on October 10, 2017