DNS issue with INNO gaming

[#1]

I'm on Plusnet 900Mb connection and using The standard Plusnet router with no modifications.

Over the last few days there has been a problem when trying to connect to INNO games (Forge of Empires).

Basically it appears to be a localized routing failure to InnoGames' asset servers (innogamescdn.com), essentially sending your data down a dead-end street.

I've managed to prove this by connecting through a VPN to access the internet to temporarily resolve the issue.

Current Router settings: 

Default gateway: 195.166.130.251

Primary DNS: 212.159.13.49

Secondary DNS: 212.159.6.9

How do I go about getting help from plusnet WITHOUT using the telephone please?

[#2]

I'm not convinced DNS is your culprit.

innogamescdn.com resolves to the same IP address (212.53.146.83) whether I query Plusnet's or e.g. Google's DNS servers.

How are you going about connecting to the game and what exactly happens when you try?

[#3]

Hi Bob

Thank you for your response.

I currently still use the provided Plusnet router with default settings out to the internet, however, to resolve the issue I have, I've set my (Windows 11 PC) to manual IPv4 addressing in order to manually set Google for DNS (8.8.8.8) which works fine.

When I set it back to use the router (& default DNS settings) it fails almost every time and when it doesn't fail it takes absolutely forever.

Also, I use CAT5 cable as well (To avoid wifi issues)

[#4]

@_Larry_ 

Did use of 8.8.8.8 allow you to bypass parental controls ?

There are few other logical explanations why a different DNS could help in any way.

[#5]

@_Larry_ 

I have checked this IP address with 11 geolocation data bases. !0 have you correctly located in the UK, the 11th, IPBase incorrectly reports that you are located in the USA.

Whether this is your problem? You could try dropping the connection for a few hours and see if on restarting you pick up a different IP address. Addresses are quite sticky these days so it might not work.

Alternatively, you need a knowledgeable Plusnet agent to come along and pick this up.

[#6]

It's not a Plusnet issue, but the routing to 212.53.146.83 isn't what I might expect for a European server.

[#7]

@bobpullen 

My sincere apologies for my earlier comment Bob, I hadn't noticed that you were already on the case.

Having noticed the anomaly in the one geolocation database I assumed that this was a recurrence of earlier issues encountered with blocks of IPv4 addresses that had been transferred from the USA.

[#8]

---

@_Larry_ wrote:

I currently still use the provided Plusnet router with default settings out to the internet, however, to resolve the issue I have, I've set my (Windows 11 PC) to manual IPv4 addressing in order to manually set Google for DNS (8.8.8.8) which works fine.

When I set it back to use the router (& default DNS settings) it fails almost every time and when it doesn't fail it takes absolutely forever.

---

For me, using either the router or 8.8.8.8 results in the exact same IP resolution 🤷

~$ dig innogamescdn.com @192.168.1.254

; <<>> DiG 9.18.39-0ubuntu0.22.04.4-Ubuntu <<>> innogamescdn.com @192.168.1.254
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 48222
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1232
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;innogamescdn.com.              IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
innogamescdn.com.       551     IN      A       212.53.146.83

I would typically point the finger at parental controls at this stage but your router doesn't look to be using the parental control DNS IPs.

[#9]

---

@_Larry_ wrote:

... manually set Google for DNS (8.8.8.8) which works fine.

When I set it back to use the router (& default DNS settings) it fails almost every time and when it doesn't fail it takes absolutely forever.

@_Larry_ 

It would be interesting to see your MTR or traceroute, for both cases, to see whether the destination and traffic routing is different.  This might give a clue as to what is going on.

This is my IPv4 MTR trace to innogamescdn.com -

                                               Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- My-Home-Router                          0.0%   100    0.2   0.2   0.1   0.4   0.0
  2.|-- ???                                     0.0%   100    5.6   5.6   5.2   6.1   0.2
  3.|-- ???                                     0.0%   100    6.0   5.8   5.5   6.1   0.1
  4.|-- ldn-b2-link.ip.twelve99.net             0.0%   100    6.7   6.3   5.7  10.4   0.6
  5.|-- ldn-bb1-link.ip.twelve99.net            0.0%   100   33.2  33.1  32.6  33.5   0.2
  6.|-- adm-bb1-link.ip.twelve99.net            0.0%   100   32.8  33.0  32.6  33.5   0.2
  7.|-- adm-b3-link.ip.twelve99.net             0.0%   100   12.8  12.7  11.9  26.5   1.4
  8.|-- radware-ic-366715.ip.twelve99-cust.net  0.0%   100   12.8  14.1  12.2  43.6   5.5
  9.|-- ???                                    100.0   100    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
 10.|-- ???                                    100.0   100    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
 11.|-- ???                                    100.0   100    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
 12.|-- 237.61.92-binat-smaug.in-addr.arpa      0.0%   100   22.1  22.0  21.6  22.5   0.2
 13.|-- 212.53.204.11                           0.0%   100   22.1  22.2  21.7  23.5   0.2
 14.|-- 212.53.146.83                           0.0%   100   22.2  22.4  21.8  24.6   0.5

@_Larry_ 

Are you on the Plusnet IPv6 trial ?  If so, I'm wondering whether when going via your router's DNS that your connection is 'preferring' an IPv6 route to innogamescdn.com, but when Window's DNS is manually set to 8.8.8.8 maybe it is going via IPv4 ?.

Certainly on my dual stack (IPv4 & IPv6) connection the 'preferred' connection to innogamescdn.com is via IPv6 -

                                               Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- My-Home-Router                          0.0%   100    0.2   0.2   0.2   0.3   0.0
  2.|-- ???                                     0.0%   100    5.7   5.6   5.3   6.1   0.2
  3.|-- ???                                     0.0%   100    5.7   5.8   5.5   6.2   0.1
  4.|-- ldn-b2-link.ip.twelve99.net             0.0%   100    6.4   6.4   6.0   7.0   0.2
  5.|-- ldn-bb2-link.ip.twelve99.net            0.0%   100   31.5  31.4  31.0  32.1   0.2
  6.|-- ldn-b3-link.ip.twelve99.net             0.0%   100    6.4   6.4   5.8  10.0   0.4
  7.|-- zayo.ae16.mcs1.lhr15.uk.eth.zayo.com    0.0%   100    6.1   9.4   5.7  66.4  10.4
  8.|-- 2001:438:ffff::407d:1d80                0.0%   100   25.1  24.8  24.2  25.4   0.3
  9.|-- 2001:438:ffff::407d:18bc                0.0%   100   24.6  24.9  24.3  25.3   0.2
 10.|-- 2001:438:ffff::407d:17b9                0.0%   100   24.9  24.9  24.3  25.4   0.2
 11.|-- ae1.cr1.fra6.de.zip.zayo.com            0.0%   100   25.5  24.8  24.3  28.9   0.5
 12.|-- ae9.er1.ham1.de.zip.zayo.com            0.0%   100   25.3  24.8  24.3  40.7   1.6
 13.|-- 2a00:16f8:11::b82                       0.0%   100   24.7  25.1  24.3  34.9   1.4
 14.|-- coreswitch-aw-1b4-1.cu1uplink-aw-pub.ndco.innogames.net  
                                                1.0%   100   25.2  25.0  24.6  25.3   0.2
 15.|-- 2a13:5a40:11f0:7001::d435:9253          0.0%   100   24.9  24.6  24.0  25.6   0.3