Google Play voucher on Afrihost

MonkeysUncle

MonkeysUncle

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Short version: I found out we cannot redeem Google Play vouchers/card when on Afrihost. Get error "This code can only be used in South Africa"

Long version:
My son won some Google Play vouchers in a competition they had at school. His friend phones him yesterday saying he can't redeem due to error above (Also won at same competition). So we tried all at home with same error. I even bought a R50 voucher using bank app. Get same error.

So, send the R50 code to my brother and he had no problem. After some searching online we assume it must be DNS error. So, the reason he had no problem, was because he was on Metrofibre. We are on Afrihost; so is son's friend. When we switched to mobile he (and his friend) could redeem vouchers without problem.

Anyone else ever came across this? If this is just a problem on Afrihost, would love to know why. Maybe Mybroadband can look into this if true.

PS: Found this during our searching from egifts24 website's help section: "Please note that Afrihost customers are particularly prone to this error as Google sees the ISP as a proxy. Please use another network (point #2 above) to get around this error until Google fixes this."
 
MonkeysUncle said:
Short version: I found out we cannot redeem Google Play vouchers/card when on Afrihost. Get error "This code can only be used in South Africa"

Long version:
My son won some Google Play vouchers in a competition they had at school. His friend phones him yesterday saying he can't redeem due to error above (Also won at same competition). So we tried all at home with same error. I even bought a R50 voucher using bank app. Get same error.

So, send the R50 code to my brother and he had no problem. After some searching online we assume it must be DNS error. So, the reason he had no problem, was because he was on Metrofibre. We are on Afrihost; so is son's friend. When we switched to mobile he (and his friend) could redeem vouchers without problem.

Anyone else ever came across this? If this is just a problem on Afrihost, would love to know why. Maybe Mybroadband can look into this if true.

PS: Found this during our searching from egifts24 website's help section: "Please note that Afrihost customers are particularly prone to this error as Google sees the ISP as a proxy. Please use another network (point #2 above) to get around this error until Google fixes this."
Click to expand...

Just get a free VPN in the time being, use tunnelbear.
 
MonkeysUncle said:
Short version: I found out we cannot redeem Google Play vouchers/card when on Afrihost. Get error "This code can only be used in South Africa"

Long version:
My son won some Google Play vouchers in a competition they had at school. His friend phones him yesterday saying he can't redeem due to error above (Also won at same competition). So we tried all at home with same error. I even bought a R50 voucher using bank app. Get same error.

So, send the R50 code to my brother and he had no problem. After some searching online we assume it must be DNS error. So, the reason he had no problem, was because he was on Metrofibre. We are on Afrihost; so is son's friend. When we switched to mobile he (and his friend) could redeem vouchers without problem.

Anyone else ever came across this? If this is just a problem on Afrihost, would love to know why. Maybe Mybroadband can look into this if true.

PS: Found this during our searching from egifts24 website's help section: "Please note that Afrihost customers are particularly prone to this error as Google sees the ISP as a proxy. Please use another network (point #2 above) to get around this error until Google fixes this."
Click to expand...
Hello.

Please confirm if your Google Account Store is set to the South African Region.
 
This has been an ongoing issue for literally years now. We've escalated this numerous times with Google, but unfortunately they continue to flag Afrihost as a proxy/VPN. I think it's a legacy issue with one of their providers who flagged Afrihost as a data center and never updated.

Just a warning: using a VPN to get around this could result in the code being security locked and is a major mission to try get unlocked. Rather use a valid local mobile network or another fibre operator if you encounter the error.
 
MonkeysUncle said:
Yes, that was the first thing we checked. Like I said it immediately worked when I switched to mobile data. My brother also had no problem on MetroFibre
Click to expand...
Please drop me a PM with your account number or email address so we can check.
 
Just weird that this issue is not generally known to anyone. Maybe no one buys Google Play vouchers. And Afrihost still have not solved this. Does not work on Afrihost Mobile either.

I would love it if Mybroadband can maybe ask some questions.
 
Just a bump on this thread for more visibility for someone having same problem. Still nothing from Afrihost. Tried to get something from Google; no luck.
 
Again a bump, seeing as Afrihost does not really care about this issue. So just for info for anyone who Google this someday and wondering why you cannot redeem Google Play codes (bought in South Africa) on Afrihost's network
 
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