i live in Tahiti french Polynesia and am a subscriber to mlb.com.
this season to renew my subscription i updated my profile with my new credit card and logged into a game but was blacked out.
as an international subscriber blackouts do not apply so i made my first of 18 calls to their online support to find a solution.
they said that they could not resolve my IP to my zip code as it kept changing and said the best would be a static IP. i called the ISP and they cannot give me one.my layman's understanding is that by resolving my IP to my zip code it proves that i am an international user and therefore blackout exempt.
what frustrated me most is i have been a subscriber for 18 years and had never had such a problem why now.they could give me no explanation other than they could not resolve my IP and zip code.
the only solution is that when i want to watch a game i have to make a long distance call and ask the operator to give me a blackout override which works perfectly but is only good until the next IP change.
i downloaded a small IP notifier and saw yesterday for example my IP changed 8 times in about 12 hours.so yesterday i had to call three times during one game i cannot continue to do that.
i have very limited knowledge in this area and i have been doing some research and i wanted to ask your opinion if a dynamic DNS service could work and/or be the solution or maybe a VPN but thought i would ask. i am at my wits end does anyone have any ideas as to how i can get around this.
many thanks
lionelk
This seems to be a mlb.com problem. You are not in the United States, so of course your IP address does not resolve to a (United States Postal System) ZIP code! The IP location service used by this forum resolves your IP to French Polynesia. I don't have any idea how you can explain to the MLB "help" people that they should report this issue to their technical people, who should be able to fix it pronto.
I don't understand why your IP address changes. What kind of internet service (DSL, cable, satellite, ...) do you have? Normally as long as your router (or computer if only have a modem) is connected the IP address stays constant. And if the router is off (not connected) for a short time ("short" generally meaning several hours up to 24 or more hours) it still usually maintains the same IP. Are you using any kind of proxy service? If doesn't seem to be the case (at least not for your above post).
many thanks for your kind reply.what is amazing about mlb.com is that all of there staff and management etc are all very carefully hidden. i have tried a number of times to ask the operators to give me a direct phone nbr or email or anything to get to someone higher as i am convinced that someone higher up could easily give me a permanent override but nothing.the operators are nice and helpful but are basically robots who are very limited in what they can help you with.
if i go to the website there is no way to find any contact for anyone other than the robot operators talk about frustrating.
i dont understand my self why my IP changes all the time. when i call my ISP it is like talking with the MLB operators only this time in french.
all i know is that since internet inception here in 1996 my ISP resets their system every 12 hours why i have no idea.
to give at least a semblance of a reply one of the MLB people who emailed me said in one of their messages is what they see in regards to my connection is a mix of cable and satellite more than that i cannot tell you . do u thing a Dynamic DNS could work? its just that i do not understand it all that much
bet regards
lionekl
If your IP changes that frequently than that's an ISP problem. I don't see this being an MLB issue, they have restrictions and if your IP changes that frequently then they system would see that as suspicious and may think multiple people are using it.
If you have DSL then you need to check the idle/auto disconnect option in the router settings, it needs to set to always stay connected. And if it already is then you need to figure out with your ISP why it keeps changing/disconnecting.
Alternatively you could switch ISP's, cable internet is generally much less prone to IP address changes. Or to a more reliable DSL/VDSL or fiber service. You could also check if they offer static IP which most ISP's should but some require you to have a business account rather than a residential service.
Dynamic DNS will not help, it's meant to assign a name to a changing IP.
Using IP's is not really an effective way to find location anymore, not with the shortage of IPv4 addresses. But your IP address is still showing you as in French Polynesia so yes that would be an issue with MLB. You are not using any VPN, Proxy, anonymous surfing software or anything of that sort? Did you get a message that the game was blacked out and if so did it say why(location, proxy, etc) or did you get a black screen?
Agree with the statements about IP geolocation strictly on public IP addresses are not useful any more other than identifying the country of service you're in.
Depending on how the ISP sets up their network and various gates defined by congestion and loading of the network, you actual IP can have you pop out of a different region of the country. Example would be you're located in Maine but your public IP has you situated somewhere in Texas. Where geolocation comes into play is when more investigation is done with the ISP to match up the public IP with how it's routed through the ISP's network.
This is why routing dynamic routing protocols are used in carrier networks (ie BGP).
I agree with everyone here regarding Dynamic DNS, Geolocation etc.
I'm wondering which explanation your current ISP gave for not being able to assigning you a static IP? It should be a simple thing for them to do based on your MAC address.
What you're referencing is a DHCP reservation and is not the same as being given a static IP. When a static IP is given as part of your service, it's an IP assigned to you no matter what device you associate with that IP. Usually for residential service in the US, static IPs are not even offered as an extra monthly charge. Only with business class service does static IPs get assigned to your service.
many thanks to everyone for their kind replies. my apologies for the delay in replying i was away for about 24 hours(had to fly over to Tahiti for a family reason).
i have no explanation as to why the local ISP cannot give me me a static they say the reason is because they re set their system every 12 hours.
what i have been unable to understand is i have subscribed to mlb for eighteen years and for the past five years since i retired i have lived where i am now an outer island of tahiti and up to and including last season (2015) everything worked fine.it is only this season that the problem began.
MLB say that they cannot permanently resolve my IP to my zip code i keep saying you have for eighteen years why now?....no explanation.
the worst part for me in this is as a very dedicated baseball fan these past forty years the thought that i can never again watch or listen to game a game is just inconceivable.i called mlb yesterday(long distance) and asked them for an override which they did but it all took about 15 and wouldn't you know it my iP changed during the game and had to get another override which took another 15 minutes.
i am really s to sound like i am whining but this situation is driving me bats.
i am very limited in my tech know,ledge as pertains to the internet and after a search for information i came up with the idea of maybe purchasing a VPN that has the capacity to offer a static IP.
i asked MLB their opinion and they just said "try that if you like": which is not very encouraging as i have to purchase one and if it doesn't work i am screwed again as well as out of pocket.
does anyone here think a static IP generated from a VPN is a viable choice i would very much appreciate your opinions .
Dunno if that'll work, it might but then again MLB might be blocking certain proxy services which is more of what these "VPN" services are as a way to prevent restricted users/areas from bypassing their filtering system.
Really your problem seems to be that your IP keeps changing. Have you called around to see what other ISP's are available.
I have my internet through cable, my address rarely changes, I can even reboot my modem and it'll keep the same IP address most times.
thanks but there is only one ISP where i live and with no explanation they are adamant there is no static IP available.
plus they cannot seem to be able to explain why it keeps changing.the only people i can get to talk to are the phone operators who are limited in what they can tell me.it seem a VPN static IP if mlb would accept it is about my only recourse at this point.thank you again
lionelk
On your router, see if you can look at the DHCP lease details. See what the lease expiration is set for.
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