[Updated] T-Mobile allegedly loading code from random trackers into customer portal; likely causing F451 Service Unavailable error?

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on May 13, 2021) follows:

Several T-Mobile subscribers are bumping into the F451 Service Unavailable error when trying to access the customer portal, particularly when logging in, and they’re confused as to why.

After all, F451 is a clear reference to Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 – with 451 degrees Fahrenheit as being the temperature at which paper catches fire spontaneously.

Anyone recognize F451: Service Unavailable message? I tried T-Mobile customer service, and they cut a ticket, but had no idea what the message on the T-Mobile site means.
Source

Anyone experience this T Mobile error message that T Mobile can’t solve? F451 : Uh-oh, it looks like we have our wires crossed. Please try again later. I’ve lost PC account access to my T Mobile account for weeks. T Mobile ‘engineers’ have not provided any answer.
Source

But that doesn’t really explain anything. What the error 451 truly stands for is the unavailability of a web resource due to legal reasons.

Such resources are blocked usually due to government censorship. Still, T-Mobile’s customer portal obviously doesn’t come under the umbrella of government censorship, does it?

So what could be the actual reason? As it turns out, it’s that the T-Mobile site is allegedly loading code from the following third-party sites/trackers into their customer portal:

googletagmanager.com
facebook.net
pt.ispot.tv
cdnssl.clicktale.net
mboxedge35.tt.omtrdc.net
cdn.appdynamics.com
tmobile-dc.zeronaught.com
tmobilees.mpeasylink.com

To be clear, each one represents a security risk. If one of these third-parties were compromised, malicious code would be running in the context of your T-mobile session.
Source

It seems that the above sources are all a part of T-Mobile’s new side hustle of selling customer data to third-party advertisers.

What makes this bit shady though is the fact that T-Mobile didn’t technically proclaim about this proceeding and instead chose to reveal it to the world by quietly modifying their ToS.

Nonetheless, it appears that these trackers and 3rd-party advertisers are to be blamed for the F451 Service Unavailable error on the T-Mobile site. As it stands, blocking them somehow ‘breaks’ the website.

The easiest solution for this problem would be to thus disable all ad and tracker blockers. These may either be built-in in browsers like Firefox and Opera or may function through extensions.

However, this workaround doesn’t exactly seem to be a universal miracle solution as there have been a few user reports stating that disabling ad and tracker blockers made no difference.

In such a case your best bet would be to try some other browser to access the customer portal until T-Mobile sorts stuff out at their end.

05:38 pm (IST): T-Mobile Help on Twitter suggested to users that they should try loging out of the app and back in if they are getting service unavailable error.

Having that online account app at 100% is huge for being able to manage your account on the go. If you haven’t had the chance, fully log out of the app and log back in. Send us a DM if that doesn’t help, we’d love to take a closer look with you. ^MaxwellDavis (Source)

11:35 am (IST): Many T-Mobile customers are reporting that they are getting a ‘Service Unavailable’ error while trying to access the app or website.

The company is yet to acknowledge the issue.

@TMobileHelp having issues accessing my T-Mobile account or website the app keep getting error and service unavailable (Source)

@TMobileHelp was about to check-out on my @Apple iphone 14 pre-order and I couldn’t proceed after entering my payment info and now it says the service is unavailable. Is this a “me” problem or a “t-mobile” problem? (Source)

05:10 pm (IST): It looks like things have started coming back to normal as reports about the issue have diminished significantly.

03:42 pm (IST): One of our readers has suggested a workaround that might help you fix this issue. You can check it out below.

Using a PC and tried using Chrome, Firefox, Google to sign in to your T-Mobile account?
There IS a SOLUTION!
1. Using Safari (on a Mac) or your APPLE iphone, sign into your account .
2. Set-up and save security sign in with 3 challenge questions.
3. Go to a favorite source to download “Safari for Windows 11.”
Note: This is not really “Safari” , but it should take you to “WAVE”
4. Allow WAVE to install and configure.
5. Open WAVE and go to T-mobile.com
6. Follow the sign-in instructions.
7. I can now access my T-Mobile account on my Lenovo (Win11)!
8. Good luck!

Thanks for the tip: Annie Jacobson!

05:03 pm (IST): Some T-Mobile users are again facing (1, 2) issues with the website. Users report that they are getting F541 service unavailable error.

05:40 pm (IST): The recent issue with T-Mobile has now been resolved as we haven’t come across any fresh reports concerning the same.

03:15 pm (IST): A new T-Mobile server outage is preventing users from accessing their accounts through the website due to the ‘F451’ error (1, 2).

05:59 pm (IST): The outage appears to have been resolved, so users should now be able to seamlessly access the T-Mobile website.

10:59 pm (IST): One of our readers has offers a potential workaround to address this issue. According to them, it might be beneficial to attempt logging in from a different IP address in order to resolve the problem. To implement this workaround, you can start by disabling the Wi-Fi connection on your mobile device and then proceed to log in.

PiunikaWeb started purely as an investigative tech journalism website with a main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Fox News, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.