"Webtext isn’t available to use in your region"

[PGargan]

Hi,

My office, in Dublin, has recently changed network providers. My public IP now geolocates to either the US or the UK, depending on which database you use.

When I browse to the webtext portal I get an error page stating:

Service Unavailable

Sorry, Webtext isn’t available to use in your region. For further details, visit 3Community here.

The "here" link goes to an archived page, which was called out in 2020 but remains unfixed.

It doesn't make sense to region-lock webtext in the first place, since the ability to send texts when roaming abroad is one of the main benefits.

But in my case, I'm still in Ireland. Is there any way to get my IP whitelisted?

Thanks,

Paul.

[Three_Stacey]

@PGargan, Thanks for highlighting this to me. I certainly understand the frustration and confusion this could cause. I have reached out to the relevant team and they're now in the process of updating that error message. I can confirm that webtexts are only accessible with  Irish IPs.

[PGargan]

Thanks for the quick followup @Three_Stacey 

What's the logic behind restricting Webtext to only Irish users? If you're worried about abuse from overseas, you could deploy a Captcha or require 2FA via SMS for logins.

While fixing the error message is appreciated, the bigger problem here is that whichever geolocation database Three is using is misclassifying my IP address. How do we go about getting the entry corrected?

Thanks,

Paul.

[Three_Stacey]

@PGargan, This was a business decision, but thanks very much for the feedback and suggestions I will make sure that it is passed on to the relevant team.

[billbond4]

Not a great solution, but may use your phone/ another phone ( connected to mobile data ) to send webtext while your in the office

[PGargan]

Thanks @Three_Stacey 

Given that we can't reverse the business decision in the short term, let's look at updating the geolocation database to correctly list my IP as being based in Ireland. Which geolocation service does Three use?

Thanks,

Paul.

[Three_Shane1]

We don't have this information to hand so I'll need to contact the relevant team to query what the name of the service is, I'll get back to you as soon as I have the details. 

[Three_Shane1]

Our webtext team have advised that it won't be possible to provide the name of the geolocation service we use. They would like to take a closer look at your IP address if that's ok with you? If you're ok with us looking into this can you send me a PM with the IP address?

[PGargan]

Hi,

Thanks for looking into this. When I click the "Send me a PM" link above, I get an error:

Access Denied

You do not have sufficient privileges for this resource or its parent to perform this action.

Click your browser's Back button to continue.

Return to my original page