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EE 4G why won't Santander online banking work?

rik130

Regular Member
Hi folks.

My EE 4G sim in my B525 has worked superbly since the start (mid last year), however for reasons unknown to me, Santander online banking refuses to work. Do any of you EE 4G users have the same problem? This is via Windows on a desktop, not via the mobile app. I have tried it with Chrome, Firefox and IE and every time I click the 'log on' button it just sits there with a blank screen trying to load before eventually timing out with 'retail.santander.co.uk took too long to respond'. I have disabled all ad blockers and externsions to see if one of those was the cause, but alas, no change.

However if I activate a VPN, regardless of location, the page then loads without issue and I can do what I need to do, but this only works up until the point when a OTP needs to be sent out to authorise a transaction and then I find that the OTP page layout doesn't load correctly and won't allow the code to be keyed in. I've complained about it to Santander through their twitter but predictably "we were unable to replicate the issue". I've been informed by someone who is generally clued up on internet matters that it's because EE 4G use ipv6 and when I activate the VPN it will be changing to an ipv4 address when then allows it to work, but I have no clue about such things so it could be a crock of siht.

Could you EE 4G users try it and report back please?
 
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Its not down, and works for me on three, so it looks like an EE routing issue. You could try a different DNS server.
 
You could also try the DoH (DNS over HTTPS) feature in Firefox to see if that gets around it.
 
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Works fine for me, even going through two routers (EE phone SIM in Archer/TP-Link MR600 located in remote building connected to WAN port of cable router in house via point-to-point radio link). Barclays, Halifax, Paypal etc all work normally without issues.
 
And Santander - that might not have been clear from my reply. I do get occasional issues with credit card payments on the iPad, or with Kaspersky running on PC, but never any problems with the banks’ own sites.
 
You could also try the DoH (DNS over HTTPS) feature in Firefox to see if that gets around it.

Santander's website won't load at all with DoH set to on. Edit: it took literally FIVE MINUTES to load. My speed is fine, 125 Mbps and all other websites working fine. The retail.santander.co.uk login page once again fails.

I may have to ask on EE forums if no-one here knows why it won't work without a VPN.
 
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Try winscribe vpn free account. if it works EE must be filtering it.

Tried their UK VPN server, Santander log-in page works instantly. As soon as I disconnect and go back to EE it fails to load, so either EE are blocking Santander's retail log-in page or Santander are blocking EE.
 
Do you have IPv6 enabled? I've seen similar problems when IPv6 is used but something along the way doesn't quite handle it correctly. I use EE 4G and have no problems, but I have IPv6 disabled.
 
I'd contact EE and tell them to add Santander to their filtering whitelist.

I did do back on 8th January. EE "tier 2 support" told me that only their "safeguarding" department could look in to it, and they don't talk to people directly, they can only be contacted by email. I tried on the EE Community forum and got the same response. So I emailed them, told them what the problem was, how I was only able to access the log-in by using a VPN and provided screenshots but nearly 3 months later now I'm still waiting for a reply...
 
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The Santander site works just fine over EE 4G - using IPv4

How are you using ipv4? When I asked EE to switch me to it then said nope, they only use ipv6 now. And have you tried the actual log-in page? The main site works fine for me too, it's the retail account log-in page which won't load.
 
How are you using ipv4? When I asked EE to switch me to it then said nope, they only use ipv6 now. And have you tried the actual log-in page? The main site works fine for me too, it's the retail account log-in page which won't load.
The EE 4G uses both IPv4 (using CGNAT) and IPv6. A common problem is that Apple devices use IPv6 whenever it is available. That is fine, but sometimes there is something somewhere that isn't quite right with IPv6, and you get the sort of problem you are seeing. You should be able to get your device to use just IPv4, or perhaps change the router settings (not sure exactly how to do that with your devices but it should be possible), or perhaps easiest is to switch IPv6 off for Chrome and Firefox (I do know how to do that if you need help, but a quick google should tell you).
 
The EE 4G uses both IPv4 (using CGNAT) and IPv6. A common problem is that Apple devices use IPv6 whenever it is available. That is fine, but sometimes there is something somewhere that isn't quite right with IPv6, and you get the sort of problem you are seeing. You should be able to get your device to use just IPv4, or perhaps change the router settings (not sure exactly how to do that with your devices but it should be possible), or perhaps easiest is to switch IPv6 off for Chrome and Firefox (I do know how to do that if you need help, but a quick google should tell you).

Some googling reveals that Chrome stopped letting you do that nearly a decade ago it seems. There is no such option in the flags. If I force in network settings by disabling ipv6 there it breaks the entire internet with "DNS_PROBE_STARTED" errors. Also tried disabling it in Firefox to see if that makes any difference but that also stops the internet from working.
 
I think if your device is IPv6 capable the network will set it to IPv6 only and use a IPv6 proxy to route IPv4 sites so it’s wholly IPv6 on your end.
IPv4 only addresses get a ‘fake’ IPv6 address which EE proxies on their end so it might have something to do with your issue.
 
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I did do back on 8th January. EE "tier 2 support" told me that only their "safeguarding" department could look in to it, and they don't talk to people directly, they can only be contacted by email. I tried on the EE Community forum and got the same response. So I emailed them, told them what the problem was, how I was only able to access the log-in by using a VPN and provided screenshots but nearly 3 months later now I'm still waiting for a reply...

By safeguarding, could it mean EE bundle banking in with the child filters? If so asking them to remove the content block from your account may also remedy the situation.
 
Hi, that was what I was thinking too, but the content block was already removed from my account from its inception.
 
Also tried disabling it in Firefox to see if that makes any difference but that also stops the internet from working.
Well, I have IPv6 disabled in Firefox because I had just the sort of problem you report, and I use EE 4G, and the Santander site works fine. Some time ago (but a lot less than a decade!) I did the same in Chrome, but maybe they have removed that option now.
In Firefox did you set both "Ipv6" and "network.dns.disableIPv6" to "true"?
 
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