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Spectrum.net 403 Forbidden error
I have an AC1900 C7000v2 Modem/Router. I use Spectrum internet. For some reason, any time I try to connect to Spectrum.net (but not Spectrum.com or other websites), I get a 403 forbidden error. I con...
Charter-Spectrum support will always blame your hardware first. I have had an intermittent "403 Forbidden" error affecting spectrum.net and home.mycloud.com since October 2021. The issue will suddenly appear, persist for several days to over a week, then resolve itself. When I first reported the problem to Charter-Spectrum they blamed my Netgear Nighthawk. I replaced the Netgear with a TP-Link Archer A7. The problem disappeared but re-appeared months later, so I have reason to doubt any connection to any hardware or configuration on my end and to suspect Charter-Spectrum strongly. For example, running TRACERT shows the first upstream router has this hostname: mta-75-190-64-1.carolina.rr.com. RR.COM is a domain formerly owned by Time-Warner Cable, which means my segment of the Charter-Spectrum network may be very old. I discovered proof that the 403 problem belongs to my ISP and not to anything on my side of the demark when I tried accessing spectrum.net using my NordVPN. When my external IP is assigned by Charter-Spectrum both spectrum.net and home.mycloud.com display "403 Forbidden". When my IP is assigned by any NordVPN router in any country I've tried those two sites work perfectly.
Here's how I solved it. I traded my original Charter-Spectrum modem for a "new" one, probably a refurb, but new in the sense that the MAC is different. Most ISPs will only assign static addresses to commercial accounts, residential accounts get dynamic addresses assigned through DHCP. In the case of Charter-Spectrum the DHCP lease is 72 hours, however, since DHCP is coupled to the MAC address, changing the modem triggers a request. Since my original assigned external IP still had time remaining on its lease the new modem got a different IP, which FIXED IT! No more 403 Forbidden messages, hurrah!