Weird Problem - DuckDuckGo Blocked

[SashaSolitaire]

My setup:

Asus RT-BE88U as primary and two ZenWifi BD4 Ai-Mesh nodes (connected through ethernet backhaul)
AsusWRT-Merlin 3006.102.5
AdGuard Home Version: v0.107.69

My primary browser (DuckDuckGo) had the default search set as DuckDuckGo. Till yesterday, everything was working fine, but starting sometime yesterday evening, I cannot use DuckDuckGo search. AdGuard shows the following:

Enabling or disabling the SafeSearch option makes no difference to the behavior:

Tried to add the website https://www.duckduckgo.com to the allowable list, but get the following error:

However, disabling AdGuard on the router still does not allow the DuckDuckGo search engine. Tried this on multiple devices connected to my WiFi with the same issue. My phones can search using DuckDuckGo when NOT connected to WiFi, but do NOT when connected to WiFi. So this is something definitely happening on the router. Looking for help on what could potentially be the issue. Happy to provide additional information as needed

 

[degrub]

or your ISP.

 

[SashaSolitaire]

or your ISP.

I was thinking the same, @degrub but could not find a good reason for Verizon to block the DuckDuckGo site

 

[dave14305]

I was thinking the same, @degrub but could not find a good reason for Verizon to block the DuckDuckGo site

It may be DuckDuckGo blocking your IP or subnet due to someone else's abuse. Can you ping www.duckduckgo.com from the router?

 

[SashaSolitaire]

It may be DuckDuckGo blocking your IP or subnet due to someone else's abuse. Can you ping www.duckduckgo.com from the router?

Works, @dave14305

PING www.duckduckgo.com (52.149.246.39): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=0 ttl=116 time=10.165 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=1 ttl=116 time=11.540 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=2 ttl=116 time=10.030 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=3 ttl=116 time=10.752 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=4 ttl=116 time=10.925 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=5 ttl=116 time=12.392 ms
^C
--- www.duckduckgo.com ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 6 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 10.030/10.967/12.392 ms

 

[dave14305]

Works, @dave14305

PING www.duckduckgo.com (52.149.246.39): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=0 ttl=116 time=10.165 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=1 ttl=116 time=11.540 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=2 ttl=116 time=10.030 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=3 ttl=116 time=10.752 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=4 ttl=116 time=10.925 ms
64 bytes from 52.149.246.39: seq=5 ttl=116 time=12.392 ms
^C
--- www.duckduckgo.com ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 6 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 10.030/10.967/12.392 ms

Great. How about this one?

curl -vi https://duckduckgo.com/ -o /dev/null

 

[SashaSolitaire]

Great. How about this one?

curl -vi https://duckduckgo.com/ -o /dev/null

And therein lies the problem

SashaSolitaire@SashaSolitaire_RT_BE88U:/tmp/home/root# curl -vi https://duckduckgo.com/ -o /dev/null
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0*   Trying 52.149.246.39:443...
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:--  0:00:15 --:--:--     0* connect to 52.149.246.39 port 443 failed: Connection timed out
* Failed to connect to duckduckgo.com port 443 after 15355 ms: Couldn't connect to server
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:--  0:00:15 --:--:--     0
* Closing connection
curl: (28) Failed to connect to duckduckgo.com port 443 after 15355 ms: Couldn't connect to server

 

[dave14305]

And therein lies the problem

SashaSolitaire@SashaSolitaire_RT_BE88U:/tmp/home/root# curl -vi https://duckduckgo.com/ -o /dev/null
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--     0*   Trying 52.149.246.39:443...
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:--  0:00:15 --:--:--     0* connect to 52.149.246.39 port 443 failed: Connection timed out
* Failed to connect to duckduckgo.com port 443 after 15355 ms: Couldn't connect to server
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:--  0:00:15 --:--:--     0
* Closing connection
curl: (28) Failed to connect to duckduckgo.com port 443 after 15355 ms: Couldn't connect to server

I can reach that IP on port 443 from my location, so they may be blocking you temporarily. Can’t say.

 

[SashaSolitaire]

I can reach that IP on port 443 from my location, so they may be blocking you temporarily. Can’t say.

Thanks for your help, @dave14305

 

[SashaSolitaire]

Have no idea why, but starting yesterday evening, with no changes on my end, DuckDuckGo search started again. Confirmed everything was OK for a few hours and then updated the Merlin firmware to the latest, along with the latest binary from AdGuard. Will monitor this situation and provide upgrades as needed