Loyalty cannot be blueprinted. It cannot be produced on an assembly line. In fact, it cannot be manufactured at all, for its origin is the human heart -- the center of self-respect and human dignity. It is a force which leaps into being only when conditions are exactly right for it -- and it is a force very sensitive to betrayal.
- Maurice Franks
After a decade as a loyal OVH customer, I've finally reached my limit. Their core infrastructure and service performance have been solid, but the customer support experience has deteriorated so badly over the past 5+ years that I can no longer justify staying. I've migrated all my services to a new provider.
My Project: BreakBlocks
For the past 4 years, I've run BreakBlocks, a Minecraft server discovery and monitoring service. It collects real-time ping data from Minecraft servers worldwide—including latency, player counts, MOTD, version info, and more—and makes that data searchable via:
- A web browser interface
- A Discord bot
- A public programming API for third-party integrations
This relies on a distributed network of servers that continuously ping Minecraft instances (primarily on port 25565) to gather and index the data. Importantly: None of this activity violates OVH's terms of service. It is not malicious, it's not a DoS attempt, and it's not port scanning in the abusive sense—it's legitimate, low-intensity querying for a public service that benefits the Minecraft community.
The Core Problem: Abuse Handling
The frequent issue isn't the abuse reports themselves—those are inevitable when you're pinging hundreds of thousands of servers globally. Minecraft server owners sometimes misinterpret routine pings as threats and report them (often listing the activity on sites like AbuseIPDB).
The real problem is OVH's response process:
- No meaningful investigation — They frequently assume guilt immediately without checking context or contacting me first.
- Aggressive automation — Their automatic detection systems flag high-volume outbound connections to port 25565 and shut down servers (sometimes into rescue mode) with zero prior warning or communication. This has happened multiple times.
- Poor support follow-up — Recovering from these incidents requires lengthy, frustrating back-and-forth with support. Explanations are often ignored or misunderstood, leading to days of downtime while I fight to restore service.
To avoid these auto-flags, I've had to artificially throttle my pinging rate for years—reducing coverage, delaying updates, and degrading the quality of service I provide to BreakBlocks users. That's not sustainable.
A Recent (Post-Migration) Example
Here's an abuse notice I received just one day after I had already fully migrated away from OVH and powered down my servers there:
Good Day,
We have received reports that your IP or Server listed in the subject line above is issuing malicious traffic. As this is possibly a violation of our Terms of Service, we request that you address these reports immediately. Failure to respond to this notice may ultimately result in the suspension of your service(s).
Please see below for proof:
lot of other users seem to be getting port scans on port 25565 from one of your IP addresses (51.81.208.11).
It's also being reported on AbuseIPDB pretty much constantly: https://www.abuseipdb.com/check/51.81.208.11
If there is any chance you could look into this and ideally put a stop to it, that would be greatly appreciated.Please respond with acknowledgment of receipt of this notice and any information you may have regarding these reports, including any actions taken, or that will be taken, to halt the issuance of malicious traffic.
Thank you for your swift action and cooperation in the matter. If you have any further questions, comments or concerns, please respond directly to this notice.
Regards,
Final Thoughts
OVH's hardware and network have served me well for 10 years, but their abuse and support processes now actively harm legitimate users like me. When a provider prioritizes blind automation and profit over reasonable customer communication and investigation, it's time to move on.
I've already completed the migration, and BreakBlocks is now running smoother on better-suited infrastructure. If you're running monitoring, scraping, or high-outbound-traffic services with OVH, then I strongly recommend evaluating whether OVH still fits your needs.
If you are looking for a nice alternative I have found that AnonVM is pretty good.
It's too early to boast them up a whole bunch but so far my experience with customer support has been pretty good.
If you sign up using my affiliate link then it will help me cover the cost of server bills.
