# Rogers redirecting Firefox



## hhk (May 31, 2006)

I was trying to help a friend with this problem but gave up. He uses the latest Firefox. Every time he tries to go to Google.com, Firefox gets redirected to a Rogers portal page (Rogers is his ISP). There was nothing I could do to prevent this. Very strange. IE and Chrome work normally.

I did a Google search when I got home and I see he's not alone: 

Browser shows only http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal

Strangest bloody thing. It's not the run-of-the-mill page not found re-direct. Anyone know how they're pulling this off?


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

have your friend change his network settings from Roger's DNS server (automatic setting) to use the free Open DNS servers, OpenDNS | Internet Navigation And Security

this should solve the problem


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## hhk (May 31, 2006)

That's the first thing I tried but every time we touch his router, it stops connecting to the Internet. He needs a new router for sure. 

I'm just wondering, if this is a Rogers trick, how they are able to do it with just Firefox and not IE or Chrome. And why? If it was a simple re-direct, the browser would have nothing to do with it.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

They can redirect web traffic (outgoing on port 80) to their proxy server. The proxy server can they use the browser identification string to determine which browser (and version, OS, etc) and redirect accordingly. I am not sure why they would single out Firefox but there must be some inane reason for doing so.


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## hhk (May 31, 2006)

mikef said:


> They can redirect traffic from 80 to their proxy server. The proxy server can they use the browser identification string to determine which browser (and version, OS, etc) and redirect accordingly. I am not sure why they would single out Firefox but there must be some inane reason for doing so.


It's gotta be some kind of glitch or mistake on Rogers part.  Why would they single out Firefox and why would they only grab URLs like Google?


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

because they are jagoffs, that's why


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

broad said:


> because they are jagoffs, that's why


:lmao: So true...


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

broad said:


> because they are jagoffs, that's why


I'm with ya on that one... they shouldn't be intercepting any Internet traffic.


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## hhk (May 31, 2006)

I'll betcha someone in marketing said "hey, let's redirect Google to our own portal". The tech guys know it's a stupid idea but they're too meek to take a stand.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

But why just Firefox? It has to be a mistake or there's some ulterior motive.


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## IllusionX (Mar 10, 2009)

check the installed addons on firefox!

also, set the openDNS on the mac's network configurations..


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

IllusionX said:


> check the installed addons on firefox!


That was my first thought as well.



> also, set the openDNS on the mac's network configurations..


I've got it set on my router. I do not have this 'issue'.


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## knightwrangler (Jan 20, 2008)

I use Firefox daily and Rogers is my internet provider. I too am finding that occasionally when I do a search with Google it's coming back with the page can't be found, very frustrating!

It's perfectly find when I use Yahoo (Rogers) to search though...

Hmmmmmmm


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## Coleoptere (May 14, 2010)

I just ran into this problem, myself.

Installing Chrome is a good way to get around it, but the idea that my ISP might be intentionally blocking me from using Google and Facebook does not sit well with me. I implore everyone here to keep a very close eye on Rogers. We already know they throttle BitTorrent, if we can add anything to the list of their transgressions we might be able to rally a decent protest.

Until then, I'm sorry if anyone else signed a contract with them, and I feel your pain.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

I don't have a contract with Rogers, but it's the only broadband ISP available where I live  It's not like I have much choice.


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

Try DNS Server settings in network 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.2


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## zmttoxics (Oct 16, 2007)

They do the redirect as part of the activation process. I have seen it where FireFox is stupid and continues to redirect though. For me, clearing all the cookies etc out did the job.


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

This happens on Safari too. I simply don't believe they are targeting Firefox - I think they're screwing us all over equally. I'm very annoyed by this redirecting garbage. I'm paying for an Internet connection - that should include a properly functioning DNS. One that returns a valid error code when there is a lookup failure. Note a redirect to a search page.

OpenDNS does the same thing - it's not a solution. Google DNS is the only solution I know of, and well, I don't want to send them all my browsing history.


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## zmttoxics (Oct 16, 2007)

hayesk said:


> This happens on Safari too. I simply don't believe they are targeting Firefox - I think they're screwing us all over equally. I'm very annoyed by this redirecting garbage. I'm paying for an Internet connection - that should include a properly functioning DNS. One that returns a valid error code when there is a lookup failure. Note a redirect to a search page.
> 
> OpenDNS does the same thing - it's not a solution. Google DNS is the only solution I know of, and well, I don't want to send them all my browsing history.


Yup. I ditched the rogers connection because of this. Moving to a slower DSL connection typically (in Canada that is) means bigger caps (unlimited in many cases) and less big brother. I switched to Acanac.net and their support is less then stellar, but with unlimited bandwidth for $18 a month I am not complaining.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

FWIW, I don't use Rogers' DNS servers (I use OpenDNS on my router) and I've never seen this problem with Safari, Firefox or Chrome.


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## Guest (May 15, 2010)

hayesk said:


> This happens on Safari too. I simply don't believe they are targeting Firefox - I think they're screwing us all over equally. I'm very annoyed by this redirecting garbage. I'm paying for an Internet connection - that should include a properly functioning DNS. One that returns a valid error code when there is a lookup failure. Note a redirect to a search page.
> 
> OpenDNS does the same thing - it's not a solution. Google DNS is the only solution I know of, and well, I don't want to send them all my browsing history.


I run my own cacheing DNS server on my LAN. You are right that redirecting is not the proper way to do things. If something doesn't exist I want to see an error, not a search page.


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