Access denied....Steam explore not working etc.

[Shady]

Steam is blocking my IP on their website, and also in my game client which prevents me from downloading steam without a VPN, and it also prevents me from purchasing games without a VPN. I have no idea why this is happening. As soon as I hop on a VPN, I can visit the website and also use the game client to visit the store.

Just for reference, this has absolutely nothing to do with the "game ban" I received a year ago. This problem started yesterday. The "game ban" was for "phone sharing". I bought counter strike GO for a friend in New Zealand as a gift, and when I set up the account I had used my phone number for 2 step authentication. This is apparently against the rules. That's fine, I don't really care because I've played counter strike for a whole hour , and never planned to return. I'm only prefacing this post because (unfortunately) it doesn't actually display what the game ban is for, thus requiring me to explain it.

I have no idea why my IP is being blocked on the website and on the steam store, but I would really like to find out what's going on. Who can I contact to resolve this?

[AAlaN2K]

idk srry :(

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Shady:

The "game ban" was for "phone sharing". I bought counter strike GO for a friend in New Zealand as a gift, and when I set up the account I had used my phone number for 2 step authentication. This is apparently against the rules.

Even if this was not relevant to your issue, it is still incorrect. He cheated while you let him use your number. You didn't have to explain this at all.

Originally posted by Shady:

Steam is blocking my IP on their website, and also in my game client which prevents me from downloading steam without a VPN, and it also prevents me from purchasing games without a VPN. I have no idea why this is happening. As soon as I hop on a VPN, I can visit the website and also use the game client to visit the store.

I have no idea why my IP is being blocked on the website and on the steam store, but I would really like to find out what's going on. Who can I contact to resolve this?

What steps have you tried? List them all.

[wuddih]

do not use:
- browser extensions
- userscripts
- bot software
- other stuff which does automated things.

that is to prevent from getting ip blocked.

if you share the internet connection with other people, the same for them. there are ISPs that use DSlite and bond multiple clients together on the same IPv4, you are sol if your provider doesn't give you the option to have an own ipv4.

regarding the story about your ban.
you did not get banned for using the same phone number on multiple accounts
you did get banned because Steam handles all accounts under the same phone number as one identity, one account gets VAC/game ban = all accounts get VAC/game ban.

it is not against the rules, it was just stupid to do it with an account you do not actually control yourself.

[Shady]

"Even if this was not relevant to your issue, it is still incorrect. He cheated while you let him use your number. You didn't have to explain this at all." Maybe? I have no idea. I didn't "let him use my number". Please don't assume or make implications based on your previous encounters with cheaters. I do not cheat, nor do I condone it, so you don't have play this little game where you're trying to pin me in some corner where "you got me!". This is exactly why I prefaced the post in the first place. I made an account, i used 2 step authentication for security purposes, I bought the game, and I sent him the info. A couple days later I received a "game ban" , and it says the ban is for "phone sharing". It doesn't mention a word about cheating. I can send you a screenshot. I don't know if he cheated. Nor do I care. I have no idea why that matters. Lets assume he did cheat. Great, don't care. I was simply trying to prevent people from attributing the game ban to my IP being banned from Steam at this very moment. There's no correlation.

I have tried calling my ISP and sending a prevision to modem.
I have tried unplugging modem for 20 seconds and plugging back in
I have tried rebooting PC

The only thing that actually works is hopping on a VPN. Which means there's either some issue with DNS on Steam's behalf, or, they're actively blocking my IP. I actually don't believe they're blocking my IP, because it doesn't constantly block me. It might block me for a few hours, and then give me access for a few hours, and then block me again. It's random and annoying.

[Shady]

Originally posted by wuddih:

do not use:
- browser extensions
- userscripts
- bot software
- other stuff which does automated things.

that is to prevent from getting ip blocked.

if you share the internet connection with other people, the same for them. there are ISPs that use DSlite and bond multiple clients together on the same IPv4, you are sol if your provider doesn't give you the option to have an own ipv4.

regarding the story about your ban.
you did not get banned for using the same phone number on multiple accounts
you did get banned because Steam handles all accounts under the same phone number as one identity, one account gets VAC/game ban = all accounts get VAC/game ban.

it is not against the rules, it was just stupid to do it with an account you do not actually control yourself.

My game ban was for "phone sharing", that is the exact phraseology used by Valve. Word for word.

I don't know what you mean about browser plugins. You mean adblock? I use adblock. I'm not going to disable that. 90% of the world is using adblock. I've also used noscript from time to time, but I don't know why that would trigger an IP ban. I don't typically visit steam through a browser. The only time I've visited their website through a browser was today, and that was because I was attempting to re-download the client to fix this problem in the first place. I discovered this problem through the actual steam client itself. The market, community, explore are all blank black pages that do not load until I hop on a VPN.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Shady:

"Even if this was not relevant to your issue, it is still incorrect. He cheated while you let him use your number. You didn't have to explain this at all." Maybe? I have no idea. I didn't "let him use my number". Please don't assume or make implications based on your previous encounters with cheaters. I do not cheat, nor do I condone it, so you don't have play this little game where you're trying to pin me in some corner where "you got me!". This is exactly why I prefaced the post in the first place. I made an account, i used 2 step authentication for security purposes, I bought the game, and I sent him the info. A couple days later I received a "game ban" , and it says the ban is for "phone sharing". It doesn't mention a word about cheating. I can send you a screenshot. I don't know if he cheated. Nor do I care. I have no idea why that matters. Lets assume he did cheat. Great, don't care. I was simply trying to prevent people from attributing the game ban to my IP being banned from Steam at this very moment. There's no correlation.

Originally posted by Shady:

My game ban was for "phone sharing", that is the exact phraseology used by Valve. Word for word.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4044-qdhj-5691#phone

Applies to Game bans as well.

Originally posted by Shady:

don't know what you mean about browser plugins. You mean adblock? I use adblock. I'm not going to disable that. 90% of the world is using adblock. I've also used noscript from time to time, but I don't know why that would trigger an IP ban.

Don't use them for Steam.

[Shady]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by Shady:

"Even if this was not relevant to your issue, it is still incorrect. He cheated while you let him use your number. You didn't have to explain this at all." Maybe? I have no idea. I didn't "let him use my number". Please don't assume or make implications based on your previous encounters with cheaters. I do not cheat, nor do I condone it, so you don't have play this little game where you're trying to pin me in some corner where "you got me!". This is exactly why I prefaced the post in the first place. I made an account, i used 2 step authentication for security purposes, I bought the game, and I sent him the info. A couple days later I received a "game ban" , and it says the ban is for "phone sharing". It doesn't mention a word about cheating. I can send you a screenshot. I don't know if he cheated. Nor do I care. I have no idea why that matters. Lets assume he did cheat. Great, don't care. I was simply trying to prevent people from attributing the game ban to my IP being banned from Steam at this very moment. There's no correlation.

Originally posted by Shady:

My game ban was for "phone sharing", that is the exact phraseology used by Valve. Word for word.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4044-qdhj-5691#phone

Applies to Game bans as well.

Originally posted by Shady:

don't know what you mean about browser plugins. You mean adblock? I use adblock. I'm not going to disable that. 90% of the world is using adblock. I've also used noscript from time to time, but I don't know why that would trigger an IP ban.

Don't use them for Steam.

:qr:

How would one use browser plugins for steam? Steam is a separate piece of software. I wasn't even aware of browser plugins working for Steam. I don't use steam through a browser.

[Shady]

So is there an actual solution for this? Should I just change my IP every time Steam throws false positives at me?

[Shady]

It stopped doing it. Thanks for the reply