AT&T denies blocking access to Bitcoin ports

On Tuesday, internet was flooded with the news that some bitcoin users were experiencing issues while attempting to connect to bitcoin clients across port 8333.

It all began with a post to the Bitcoin developer mailing list, in which a user proclaimed AT&T confessed to "secret firewalls" buried in AT&T U-Verse DVRs:

"After hours of phone calls and messaging AT&T finally told me the truth of what was going on, and only because I noticed it myself and demanded an answer. The internet is being routed through a DVR/cable box, and they confirmed the DVR also has a firewall. To make this even more absurd they refused to turn the firewall off because it is their equipment. So effectively they can firewall any port they want even if the customer asks them not to, in the unlikely event the customer figures it out."

According to latest development in the matter, AT&T has denied intentionally blocking customers from using their bitcoin nodes.

"We do not block port 8333/tcp or attempt to block bitcoin nodes for our customers," AT&T tells DSLReports. "Any customer experiencing a problem should contact AT&T customer care." 

DSLReports further said that users facing this problem need to simply correctly configure their U-Verse gateway firewall to ensure traffic is flowing.