Custom domain times out only from Oman while Vercel deployment URL works

Hi Vercel Team,

I’m experiencing a region-specific issue with my Vercel deployment and would appreciate your help investigating it.

Environment

  • Framework: Next.js

  • Hosting: Vercel

  • DNS Provider: Hostinger

Deployment URL

https://wattintelligence.vercel.app

Custom Domain

https://www.watt-intelligence.com
https://watt-intelligence.com


Problem

The application works perfectly from India and other locations we’ve tested.

However, users in Oman consistently receive:

ERR_TIMED_OUT

when accessing the custom domain.

The important observation is:

:white_check_mark: https://wattintelligence.vercel.app works from Oman.

:cross_mark: https://www.watt-intelligence.com times out from Oman.

This issue has persisted for more than two weeks.


DNS Configuration

Hostinger DNS:

A
@
216.198.79.1

CNAME
www
20d16cfa170e201c.vercel-dns-017.com

There are no AAAA records configured.

These records match Vercel’s current DNS recommendations.


DNS Resolution (India)

ISP DNS

nslookup watt-intelligence.com

216.198.79.1

nslookup www.watt-intelligence.com

20d16cfa170e201c.vercel-dns-017.com

216.198.79.1
64.29.17.1

Google DNS

nslookup watt-intelligence.com 8.8.8.8

216.198.79.1

nslookup www.watt-intelligence.com 8.8.8.8

20d16cfa170e201c.vercel-dns-017.com

216.198.79.65
64.29.17.65

The results are consistent across different DNS resolvers.


Connectivity Tests (India)

Ping succeeds for both domains.

ping watt-intelligence.com

0% packet loss

ping www.watt-intelligence.com

0% packet loss

Traceroute successfully reaches the destination.

tracert watt-intelligence.com

...
216.198.79.1

Trace complete.

tracert www.watt-intelligence.com

...
216.198.79.65

Trace complete.

Intermediate hops timing out appears to be normal, as the destination is reached successfully.


SSL

The SSL certificate is valid.

HTTPS works normally from India.


What we’ve already ruled out

  • Incorrect DNS configuration

  • SSL certificate issues

  • Deployment failures

  • Application code

  • DNS propagation (issue has persisted for over two weeks)


Current Behaviour

Location Custom Domain Deployment URL
India :white_check_mark: Works :white_check_mark: Works
Oman :cross_mark: ERR_TIMED_OUT :white_check_mark: Works

Since the deployment URL is reachable from Oman while only the custom domain times out, it doesn’t appear to be an application issue.


Additional Context

A few weeks ago, Vercel recommended updating the apex A record from 76.76.21.21 to 216.198.79.1 as part of infrastructure changes. The DNS was updated accordingly, and the domain works correctly from India.

Could this issue be related to regional routing, edge network selection, Anycast routing, or another networking issue affecting custom domains from Oman?


Request

Could someone from the networking or edge infrastructure team help investigate whether requests from Oman to this custom domain are being routed differently from the default vercel.app deployment?

If there are any additional diagnostics, request IDs, logs, or headers that would help, I’d be happy to provide them.

Thank you.

The domain troubleshooting guide can help with most custom domain configuration issues. You might be able to use that guide to solve it before a human is available to help you. Then you can come back here and share the answer for bonus points.