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Michael Onoja
Michael Onoja

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How I Fixed a Website That Wouldn’t Open on GLO (Nigeria).The Complete Guide Nobody Told Me.

#ai #cloudflarechallenge #webdev #programming

If you host websites as a Nigeria, especially on Namecheap with Cloudflare, you may eventually face the strange problem I faced:

Your website loads on MTN, Airtel, 9mobile, broadband, and VPN…

…but NOT on GLO.

Instead, you get:

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT
Network error occurred
This site can’t be reached
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But the craziest part?

  • cPanel works
  • Direct server IP works
  • VPN works
  • DNS is correct
  • SSL is fine
  • Server is online

Yet GLO refuses to open the domain.

This is exactly what happened to me, and after hours of deep testing, I found the true cause.

The Real Cause. Cloudflare’s Proxy + GLO Routing

Cloudflare has two modes:

🔶 Proxied (Orange Cloud)

Traffic passes through Cloudflare’s network → filtered → secured

⚪ DNS Only (Grey Cloud)

Traffic goes directly to your hosting server
No Cloudflare filtering or acceleration

Here’s the critical insight:

GLO’s network sometimes fails to reach Cloudflare’s orange-cloud proxy.

This means:

domain.com -> 🔶 Proxied  → fails on GLO
domain.com -> ⚪ DNS Only → works on GLO
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The moment I turned off proxy for the root domain and the www record,
GLO visitors could instantly access the site again.

The Fix (Instant, Clean, and 100% Working)

1. Turn OFF Cloudflare Proxy (Orange → Grey)

Go to:

Cloudflare → DNS → Records
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Change:

A Record: 

Name: yourdomain.com
Proxy: 🔶 Proxied → ⚪ DNS Only
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CNAME Record: 

Name: www
Target: yourdomain.com
Proxy: 🔶 Proxied → ⚪ DNS Only
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⏱ Wait 1–3 minutes
📶 Try again on GLO

💥 Solved.

2. Make Sure cPanel, Email & FTP Records Are DNS-Only

These must always be grey:

  • cpanel
  • webmail
  • whm
  • cpcontacts
  • cpcalendars
  • ftp
  • webdisk

If Cloudflare proxies them (orange):

  • Email fails
  • cPanel login fails
  • FTP fails
  • SSL fails
  • GLO access fails

Switch them to:

DNS Only (Grey Cloud)

How I Confirmed the Issue Was Cloudflare

VPN ON → Website opens

Direct IP → Opens

cPanel → Opens

GLO → Times out

This proved:

  • Server is fine
  • DNS is fine
  • Hosting is fine
  • SSL is fine
  • Only Cloudflare proxy was blocking GLO routing

Testing After the Fix

On GLO network (no VPN), visit:

https://yourdomain.com
https://www.yourdomain.com
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If both load:

You fixed it.

My Cloudflare Firewall Rules (Safe for Nigerian Traffic)

Here are useful rules that protect your site WITHOUT blocking real users.

Block suspicious AJAX bot requests 

(http.request.uri.path contains "/includes/ajax" 
and not http.user_agent contains "Mozilla")
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Challenge high-risk countries 

(ip.src.country in {"CN" "PK" "RU" "TR" "VN"})
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Slow down homepage bot floods 

(http.request.uri.path eq "/" and not cf.client.bot)
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These reduce load without affecting Nigeria’s ISPs.

Can I Still Use Cloudflare? Yes.

Even with DNS-only:

  • Your DNS is faster
  • Your SSL is still managed
  • Firewall rules still work
  • Turnstile CAPTCHA still works
  • Analytics still works

You only lose:
Cloudflare WAF + CDN caching
(which you can re-enable later with Cloudflare Pro)

Why Not Keep Cloudflare Proxied?

If you want Cloudflare Proxy and Nigeria reliability:

→ Upgrade to Cloudflare Pro

Pro has better routing for Nigerian ISPs.

Final Thoughts

If your site:

  • Loads on MTN / Airtel / WiFi
  • Loads on VPN
  • Loads on direct IP
  • Does NOT load on GLO

The solution is simple:

  • Turn OFF Cloudflare proxy (orange → grey)
  • Make sure www is also grey
  • Fix your cPanel/email DNS records

That’s it.

This simple fix saved me hours. I hope it saves you too.

About the Author

**A Senior Software Engineer, DevOps Specialist, and Co-founder of Ayema Networks.I builds and scales digital platforms, optimizes infrastructure, and publishes real-world DevOps/Cloudflare guides to help developers across Africa solve tough hosting problems quickly.

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