[FAQ] Unable to download <parquet link> using wget from the TLC Trip Record Data website.

[Kimchi21]

Course

data-engineering-zoomcamp

Question

Why does running either !wget https://d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net/trip-data/yellow_tripdata_2025-11.parquet or !wget --no-check-certificate https://d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net/trip-data/yellow_tripdata_2025-11.parquet still fail when downloading the parquet file?

Answer

Even when using --no-check-certificate, the download may still fail because the issue is not related to SSL verification but network-level blocking of Amazon CloudFront domains.

In some networks, requests to the dataset URL may be redirected to a block page such as https://blocked.sbmd.cicc.gov.ph/

Solution 1 - Skip Certificate Check (highlighted in this FAQ)

Try downloading the file with SSL verification disabled:

!wget --no-check-certificate https://d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net/trip-data/yellow_tripdata_2025-11.parquet

Solution 2 - If your network is blocking CloudFront entirely, connect to a VPN and run the original command again:

!wget https://d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net/trip-data/yellow_tripdata_2025-11.parquet

Using a VPN successfully bypassed the network block.

Checklist

• I have searched existing FAQs and this question is not already answered
• The answer provides accurate, helpful information
• I have included any relevant code examples or links

[github-actions]

✅ FAQ NEW proposal created in PR #251

Please review and approve the changes.