How it started

Ok - the basics, I am a UK citizen, I was born in England and, aside from a few holidays, live my entire life in England.
I use an English ISP and Open DNS - pretty basic huh?

Well, for some time I had been getting a warning message when accessing the UK National Lottery website (http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/) which stated that they thought I was outside the UK, but I could press accept and carry on.

I thought I would query this since it seemed a silly message to be getting - this is the start!

date:    14 April 2012 21:22
subject:         Why do you think I'm outside the UK?
mailed-by:       gmail.com


Good evening,

I keep on getting the 'we think you are outside the UK' message every
time I log in.

Is it because I choose to use OpenDNS for my DNS provider? It's the
only think I can think of since everything else is down to Virgin
media.

Needless to say I am in the UK - do I need to revert to using Virgins
DNS servers? or can I verify my location somehow and stop these
unnecessary messages?

Regards


And I got a not too helpful reply:


Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your Email dated 14 April 2012.

If you play National Lottery games via a mobile network and/or dongle
you may receive this ‘warning’ message even if you are physically
located in the UK or Isle of Man – as our location software determines
your network connection as unknown. From 23 April, you may continue to
see this warning if you are playing via a mobile network and/or
dongle. However, if you are physically located in the UK or Isle of
Man, please click the ‘Accept’ button and you will be able to continue
to play.

We remind our online and text players that they should only play if
they are physically located in the UK or Isle of Man when they sign
into their accounts or buy tickets, as well as when they initially set
up or purchase their Direct Debit. Our location software identifies if
a player appears to be trying to access the National Lottery website
from outside the UK or Isle of Man or from an unknown connection. If
this is the case, a ‘warning’ message will pop-up reminding players of
their obligations under the Terms and Conditions, which include the
requirement to be physically located in the UK or Isle of Man – and
that if they do not meet these requirement a prize might not be paid.

We hope the above detail has been of assistance.  However if you have
any further queries you can view more information by copying and
pasting the following web address in to your browser:

http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/faqs.ftl

Yours faithfully

So all well and good - no issues since I'm in the UK, so all will be well? of course not, around the 25th I was unable to log into the website.