Website Blocked in India or Just Down? How to Tell the Difference

A website that will not open on your connection is not always broken, and it is not always blocked. Sometimes the server is down. Sometimes your DNS resolver is faulty. Sometimes a network has restricted access to that site. The three look alike in a browser but leave different traces, and knowing which one you face saves hours of resetting routers.

This guide explains, in neutral and factual terms, how network-level restrictions usually appear, how they differ from outages, and how to collect evidence with our tools. It is not legal advice. We do not provide instructions for evading restrictions, and we are not affiliated with any ISP, regulator or government body.

How websites can be restricted at the network level

In India, internet service providers may be directed by authorities or courts to restrict access to certain websites or pages, and the ISPs implement that in their own networks. Because each ISP picks its own technical method, the result can differ between providers. Commonly described methods:

• DNS-level blocking. The ISP's resolver refuses to answer for the domain, returns a failure, or returns an address of a notice page or an unrelated address instead of the real one.
• IP-level blocking. Traffic to the server's IP address is dropped or redirected. This can also catch other sites that share the same address, such as many sites behind one CDN or shared host.
• HTTP or SNI-based filtering. The network inspects the unencrypted host name in a request, or the Server Name Indication (SNI) sent at the start of a TLS handshake, and interrupts the connection for specific names.
• Notice pages. Some networks serve a page saying that access has been restricted. Others simply reset or time out the connection.

None of these produce a universal pattern. A site may be reachable on one ISP and not on another, and the behavior can change over time.

Outage versus restriction: the key difference

An outage affects everyone, no matter where they connect from. A restriction usually affects one network, a group of networks, or a country, while the server itself is healthy. So the central test is comparison:

1. Same site, several locations.
2. Same site, several networks from the same location (home broadband, mobile data).
3. Same site, several resolvers.

If the site fails from everywhere, treat it as an outage. Our guide website down for everyone or just me covers that case. If it works elsewhere and fails only on one network, you need to find out why, and a restriction is only one of several possible reasons.

Step 1: Test from multiple locations

Run the address through Down From Where and the वेबसाइट हेल्थ चेक. These contact the site from our servers, outside your ISP.

• Reachable from our servers but not from you: the site is up, and the fault lies somewhere between you and it.
• Failing from our servers too: the site has an outage or it blocks the regions our probes use. Check its official status page or social account.

Step 2: Read the symptom

See DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN, ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED और this site can't be reached for the generic meanings of those errors.

Step 3: Compare what DNS says

Ask your default resolver and a different public resolver for the same name:

nslookup example.com
nslookup example.com 8.8.8.8
dig +short example.com A
dig +short example.com A @1.1.1.1

Then look at what our DNS चेकर reports from several places. Interpret the results this way:

• All resolvers return the same IP: DNS is probably not the cause. Look at routing or connection-level filtering.
• Your resolver returns an error or a different IP than everyone else: your resolver is either faulty or altering answers. Use IP लुकअप on the odd address to see who owns it. An address belonging to an unrelated network, or to a notice-page host, is a strong clue.
• Nobody can resolve the name: the domain may have expired, the nameservers may be down, or the record may be missing. Check WHOIS लुकअप और नेमसर्वर लुकअप.

A resolver difference by itself is a diagnosis of the network path, not a recommendation. Results can also differ because sites use geo-routing and CDNs that return different IPs by region, so a different address is not automatically proof of tampering.

Step 4: Check the connection and the certificate

If DNS looks normal but the site still fails, inspect the connection:

curl -sv https://example.com/ -o /dev/null --max-time 20

Read the verbose output in order. Name resolution, TCP connect, TLS handshake, then HTTP response.

• Stops at "Trying ..." with no connect: packets are dropped, which points to IP-level filtering, a firewall or a routing issue.
• Connects but fails during the TLS handshake with a reset: a firewall, interception or an SNI-based filter are all possible.
• Completes TLS with a certificate you do not recognize: use the SSL Checker from outside your network to see the real certificate, and compare the issuer and names. See SSL/TLS certificate errors explained.
• Returns a short HTTP page you did not expect: look at the headers and body. A notice page is plain evidence of what the network did.

Use the HTTP स्टेटस चेकर for the response from our side, and compare. Also run curl -4 and curl -6 separately, since a broken IPv6 path can mimic a block. Our Jio or Airtel broadband guide walks through that.

Step 5: Rule out the ordinary causes

Most "blocked" complaints turn out to be mundane: an expired domain, a site firewall or CDN rule blocking your IP or your ISP's shared address (see CGNAT और What Is My IP), malware or a bad proxy setting on your device, router parental controls, rate limiting, or a temporary routing fault.

What to do with your conclusion

If the site is simply down: wait, or follow its official updates. If it is your own site, start with why is my website down.

If the evidence points to a restriction: that is a legal and policy matter, not a technical fault. Practical, lawful steps include:

• Ask your ISP, through its official support channel, whether the site is restricted on its network and why. Providers cannot always share details of orders, but they can say whether a restriction exists.
• If you own the site and think it was restricted in error, speak to a lawyer who practices technology law. Appeals and review processes exist, and the details depend on how the restriction was made.
• Contact your hosting provider, because shared IPs can sweep up innocent sites.
• Look for an official alternative from the site owner, such as an app or a mirror they themselves publish.

We do not advise ways to get around a restriction, and we will not help with that. Keep your evidence: time, network name, commands you ran, and their output.

अगले कदम

• Down From Where for a multi-location reachability test
• DNS चेकर to compare answers from several resolvers
• Change DNS on Indian ISPs and routers
• Website down for everyone or just me
• अपटाइम मॉनिटर to track availability from outside your network

सामान्य प्रश्न

How can I tell if my ISP is blocking a website?

You cannot be sure from one test. If the site works from other networks and locations, and your ISP's resolver or connection behaves differently from the others, a network-level restriction is possible. Confirm with your ISP.

Does a DNS change prove a site is blocked?

No. A different answer can come from a faulty resolver, geo-routing, a CDN or a stale cache. It is a clue to compare, not a verdict.

Why does a site open on mobile data but not on Wi-Fi?

The two networks have different resolvers, routes and policies. Causes include DNS trouble, IPv6, router filters and, in some cases, ISP-level restrictions.

Can a blocked IP address affect other websites?

Yes. When many sites share one IP address, an IP-level restriction can make unrelated sites unreachable. Site owners on shared hosting should raise it with their host.

Will SiteDownCheck tell me if a site is legally blocked?

No. Our tools show what we observe from our servers and help you compare. They cannot tell you whether a restriction exists on your ISP or why.

यह पेज सामान्य जानकारी है, जिसे हमारी संपादकीय टीम ने लिखा है और दस्तावेज़ीकरण बदलने पर अपडेट किया जाता है। सर्वर और प्रदाता अलग-अलग होते हैं, इसलिए बदलाव पहले सुरक्षित तरीके से जाँचें। देखें: संपादकीय नीति और अस्वीकरण.