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Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Shuppy
Hooked
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎18-01-2019

Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Hi,

In the last 2 weeks I've noticed some pretty unbearable lag/packet loss that I only experience while playing FFXIV, at first I put it down to the servers being overwhelmed, but none of my friends in Europe have the same problems while playing on the same server. Menu's are delayed sometimes and take a few extra seconds to open, a lot of characters are stopping and then moving extremely fast to a new location (packet loss) and worst of all is the raids/trials/dungeons become annoying to do when the AoE casts are delayed, sometimes I get caught in them even when I'm standing outside of them.

I've tried getting a static IP which alleviated the problem ever so slightly, however, the routing to the server remained the same and with it the same problems.

I've experienced this same problem with BT in 2015 with WoW, and 2013 with TERA. The only similarity is the routing, which goes through "Telia" before hitting German servers. The moment the connection hits this server the ping rises and becomes sporadic and with it, packet loss. If you look up "Telia" you'll quickly notice a trend of their servers being responsible for this kind of annoyance, especially among MMO's.

I've attached some PingPlots of my connection without a VPN (Dynamic & Static IP) and my connection with a VPN (Static IP)

With a VPN my ping to the game server is around 20-25ms and eliminated ALL problems that I'm currently experiencing, without a VPN my ping is 35-45ms (only increased to this in the past 1-2 weeks, used to be 25ms)

With a VPN I only have 11 hops, as opposed to 16/17 hops wihout a VPN (what?) and even though the VPN route hits 2 Telia servers, they seem to be stable.

 

Didn't want to make this too long but I wanted to give as much info as possible. As a last note, I've just created a ping graph on ThinkBroadband, I'm going to update the post in 12-24 hours once the graph is flush. Smiley

7 REPLIES 7
Shuppy
Hooked
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎18-01-2019

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Update: Ping is back down to 23ms to the game server. "ldn-bb3-link.telia.net" still has some packet loss and deviation which does still cause some delays and spikes, but not as bad as it was. I still get a better experience with a VPN while playing the game which is bizarre to me, especially when you consider encryption etc. I guess the default route through Telia really is just that bad.

Here's my TBB graph as promisedAyZwP6d. High speeds and low latency for everything, just not FFXIV Sad

LaurenB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 2,577
Thanks: 508
Fixes: 131
Registered: ‎07-12-2017

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Hi @Shuppy, thanks for getting in touch. I'm sorry that you've been experiencing some issues with gaming.

 

I've tested the line and this shows your speed to be in sync at 64.7mb and no faults are being detected.

 

Looking at your trace routes provided on your first post, there doesn't look to be any concerns in either our, or our suppliers network as the hops all look to be in a timely manner and packet loss captured on one of them points toward an issue wherever you're trace routing to.

 

Having said that, it could be that there is an underlying intermittent issue with your connection as I can see your speeds over the last week or so have dropped around 7mb and error protection on your line profile looks to be active. Please be advised that our tests aren't detecting what could cause this and therefore would advise having a run through our troubleshooting here and getting your router connected into the test socket for the time being. Once set up this way, I'd advise monitoring your connection to see if the anything changes and letting us know how you get on.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Lauren Barry
 Plusnet Help Team
LaurenB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 2,577
Thanks: 508
Fixes: 131
Registered: ‎07-12-2017

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Here's the GEA test for reference:

Test Outcome Pass
Test Outcome Code GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_0000
Description GEA service test completed and no fault found .
Main Fault Location OK
Sync Status In Sync
Downstream Speed 64.7 Mbps
Upstream Speed 14.5 Mbps
Appointment Required N
Fault Report Advised N
NTE Power Status PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result Pass
Bridge Tap Not Detected
Radio Frequency Ingress Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise Not Detected
Cross Talk Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres 601.7
Upstream Rate Assessment Good
Downstream Rate Assessment Very Good
Interference Pattern Regular Interference Observed Daily
Service Impact No Impact Observed
Interference Duration Longest Occurrence ;00:00to23:45
Interference Location Customer Premise
Interference Observed In Days 14
Home Wiring Problem Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate 0.0
Customer Traffic Level Upstream and Downstream Traffic Detected
Technology VDSL
Profile Name 0.128M-80M Downstream 3dB, Retransmission High - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp 2019-08-03T16:15:00
Parameters MIN MAX AVG
Down Stream Line Rate 68.1 Mbps 76.9 Mbps 75.7 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate 14.3 Mbps 16.1 Mbps 15.9 Mbps
Up Time 655.0 Sec 900.0 Sec 899.6 Sec
Retrains 0.0 1.0 0.0
Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins) Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp 2019-08-16T14:44:47Z 2019-08-16T14:59:47Z
Ingress Code Violation 1 5
Egress Code Violation 0 0
Errored Seconds 0 0
Severely Errored Seconds 0 0
Unavailable Seconds 0 0
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Lauren Barry
 Plusnet Help Team
Shuppy
Hooked
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎18-01-2019

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Hi,

I'm already connected to the test socket, have been since moving into the property. I'm also connected to my router via Cat6.

Like I've said, I have no issue with anything other than the connection to this game. I have no packet loss on Discord, I can watch videos and live streams with no interruption/buffering, I can do anything on my connection aside from playing this game.

If the problem isn't to do with your supplier then how do you explain the increase from 23ms to 43ms once the traffic hits Telia's servers? If the problem was on my end, why would the issue be fixed once I've connected to a VPN? Surely if it were to do with my line, there would be problems no matter whether I used a VPN to re-route traffic or not.

Telia is terrible, it has as bad a reputation in Europe as Level3 does in North America for traffic routed through their servers.

Here is my connection to the server yesterday:

yesterday.png

Here is my connection to the server today:today.png

Notice how hops 1-7 are consistent, but the hops from 8-17 are not only inconsistent but the latency decreases as the traffic leaves Telia's servers. That's a pretty clear indicator that something is congested/wrong through hops 8-13. Ping should increase linearly as distance increases, it shouldn't increase and then decrease before reaching it's destination.

TheMightyAJ
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,511
Fixes: 126
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Hi @Shuppy,

Just to go back to your first post, you've mentioned that you've experienced similar issues with Telia in the past. How were these issues resolved in the past or did they simply resolve over time?

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Alex H
 Plusnet Help Team
Shuppy
Hooked
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎18-01-2019

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

Hi,

When I had connection issues to WoW while on BT, enough people had kicked up a stink for them to "contact" or "raise an issue" about it and eventually it had been sorted out. I don't personally believe they actually did anything though, It's BT. Even after it had been "fixed" you could occasionally see connection hiccups occurring on Telia hops but it was bearable, not ideal.

My experience with TERA was far worse, the issue would come up every couple of weeks and with vengeance. Telia nodes in Germany were completely congested and it had been the first time I'd seen my ping go over 5000ms, my other European friends who were unlucky enough to have ISP's that route through Telia were experiencing the same issues. At that point we just stopped playing the game, as we knew that our ISP's weren't going to do anything about it.

RandallFlagg
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,915
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎11-01-2018

Re: Bad Routing for FFXIV?

 

Hi @Shuppy

 

As much as I sympathise with your plight as a fellow gamer, this does appear to be a well known and well documented issue with FFXIV that affects multiple data routes and multiple ISPS - more info here

 

At this stage, I can only suggest that you either continue to monitor and chase progress updates from Square or utilise a VPN in the short term if this provides better performance via a different route.

 

Best wishes

 

Dave