I have been having a little problem accessing my HostGator server via FTP. I just couldn’t communicate with the server using FileZilla FTP client.
Everything seemed to be just fine: my hostname, username and password were correct, but I just didn’t seem to reach my hosting server for some reason.
Contacting HostGator Tech Support
After tweaking my FileZilla settings and trying virtually every possible setup, I finally decided to contact my hosting company tech support.
I went to HostGator’s main page and selected the “Live Chat” option.
After entering my credentials (login, password, package type), I was able to talk to the the tech support staff. I exposed them my problem, explaining all the little details.
Everything OK, But Still Didn’t Work…
HostGator’s tech support staff began asking me all type of questions:
- Is your hostname right?
- What about the password and the username?
- What is your IP?
- Is your firewall active?
- Have you tried ports 21 and 22 on your FTP client?
We had been tweaking and testing every possible setting and option. Finally the tech support guy told me: “Just give me your FTP hostname, username and password and I’ll try to access your account to figure out what’s going on”.
So I gave him my credentials and after waiting a little bit I got the answer: everything was working correctly for them.
“The Problem Appears To Be Your ISP Company”
The tech support guy told me: “I can access your FTP account correctly, the problem appears to be with your ISP”.
After that, he told me: “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
I clearly understood that we’re not going to be able to resolve my FTP issue right now…
Contacting My ISP Company (Pepephone)
The next thing that I did was to contact my ISP company to figure out what’s going wrong.
BTW, I’m using a Spanish company which name is Pepephone.
So I grabbed my smartphone and called my ISP’s tech support.
I Briefly Described My FTP Situation To The Support Staff
The tech support guy instantly answered: “I’m going to disable your CGNAT”.
Apparently, the CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT) was the responsible for my FTP problem.
It Worked Like Magic!
This morning I’ve got an email from Pepephone (my ISP) telling me that the CGNAT is disabled now and they have assigned me a public IP. All I have to do now is to restart my router and the trick will be accomplished.
So I Restart My Router, And…
Everything worked out! Now I can correctly access my hosting server via FTP.
Thank you, Pepephone!