Unstable connection

[Tonktonk]

Hello. I play WoW and I've recently been having problems with my connection. I am experiencing intermittent lag and frequently get disconnected from the game.

I have my Windows Firewall and  Norton set up to allow the ports recommended by WOW for smooth playing, but no dice. If someone could please tell me what's wrong I'd appreciate it.

Attached below is a tracert to the game. I am particularly concerned that the first line on the tracert times out. Please help. I'd like to know where the problem lies so I can fix it.

Tracing route to 63.241.255.10 over a maximum of 30 hops



  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  2    24 ms    23 ms    24 ms  L100.TAMPFL-DSL-07.verizon-gni.net [71.101.112.1]

  3    24 ms    24 ms    24 ms  P2-1.TAMPFL-LCR-01.verizon-gni.net [130.81.34.168]

  4    25 ms    25 ms    26 ms  so-7-2-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.28.233]

  5    37 ms    37 ms    37 ms  so-7-3-0-0.ATL01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.19.30]

  6    38 ms    37 ms    37 ms  0.so-7-1-0.XT1.ATL4.ALTER.NET [152.63.86.69]

  7    38 ms    37 ms    37 ms  0.so-6-0-0.BR2.ATL4.ALTER.NET [152.63.81.145]

  8    42 ms    42 ms    42 ms  204.255.169.250

  9    58 ms    58 ms    58 ms  cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.87.62]

 10    57 ms    58 ms    58 ms  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.28.174]

 11    57 ms    57 ms    56 ms  gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.138.5]

 12    58 ms    58 ms    58 ms  12.122.255.226

 13    58 ms    58 ms    58 ms  mdf001c7613r0004-gig-12-1.dal1.attens.net [63.241.193.14]

 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.

 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.



Trace complete.

[bizzybee44]

It's kind of strange that the first hop wasn't returned.

Try downloading a free tool called pingplotter (google that name).  It will do a multithreaded ping test and return the results.  Sometimes I get results with that tool that I did not get by going through the command prompt.

The nice thing about pingplotter is that you can let it run for hours and days.  It will trend the latency and show packet loss in red.  It will tell you if your issue is latency, or drops.

Don't be surprised if it's your internet connection going down. 

[Tonktonk]

I'm not actually at all that computer literate and this whole process of tracerouting isn't that clear to me. All I know is that the lower the ms the better and that WOW *does* time you out as soon as you hit their servers because they're not set up to respond to tracerts.

I just want to know if the problem lies with my network card, my actiontec gateway router/modem, my dsl connection or whatever. I just want it fixed .

Anyway, here is the results for 10 mins of trying to connect to my game server. The graph shows a significant amount of packet loss and the first hop is still screwed up. What is going on? 

Host Information
1, -------------- ,192.168.1.1
2,L100.TAMPFL-DSL-07.verizon-gni.net,71.101.112.1
3,P2-1.TAMPFL-LCR-01.verizon-gni.net,130.81.34.168
4,so-7-2-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net,130.81.28.233
5,so-7-3-0-0.ATL01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net,130.81.19.30
6,0.so-7-1-0.XT1.ATL4.ALTER.NET,152.63.86.69
7,0.so-6-0-0.BR2.ATL4.ALTER.NET,152.63.81.145
8, -------------- ,204.255.169.250
9,cr1.attga.ip.att.net,12.122.87.62
10,cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net,12.122.28.174
11,gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net,12.122.138.5
12, -------------- ,12.122.255.226
13,mdf001c7613r0004-gig-12-1.dal1.attens.net,63.241.193.14
14,,-
--- Destination not reached in selected sample set ---

 

Message Edited by KaLin on 04-22-2009 08:34 AM

[dslr595148]

---

@Tonktonk wrote:

Hello. I play WoW and I've recently been having problems with my connection. I am experiencing intermittent lag and frequently get disconnected from the game.

I have my Windows Firewall and  Norton set up to allow the ports recommended by WOW for smooth playing, but no dice.

If you have Norton as your software firewall, please make sure to turn off the firewall in Windows.

[gamer32]

I am also having the same problem with Everquest 2...the tracer program is showing a erradic packet loss at a AT&T server in Atlanta, Georgia...how AT&T is connected with Verizon DSL is unknown to me, but there it is...

Target Name: thebazaar.everquest2.com
         IP: 199.108.11.97
  Date/Time: 4/23/2009 7:05:31 AM to 4/23/2009 7:06:41 AM

Hop Sent Err PL% Min Max Avg  Host Name / [IP]
 2    15   0 0.0  22 158  32  L100.TAMPFL-DSL-13.verizon-gni.net [71.100.0.1]
 3    15   0 0.0  23 129  30  P4-1.TAMPFL-LCR-02.verizon-gni.net [130.81.34.194]
 4    15   0 0.0  24  97  29  so-7-2-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81.28.237]
 5    15   0 0.0  43 206  55  ge-1-0-0-0.ATL01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81.17.48]
 6    15   0 0.0  44 174  52  0.so-2-2-0.XT2.ATL5.ALTER.NET [152.63.86.73]
 7    15   0 0.0  46 142  53  0.so-7-0-0.XT2.ATL4.ALTER.NET [152.63.86.109]
 8    15   0 0.0  46 154  58  [204.255.169.250]
 9    15   1 6.7  96 171 102  cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.82.98]
10    15   0 0.0  96 137  99  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.28.174]
11    15   0 0.0  97 108  98  cr1.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.1.209]
12    15   0 0.0  95  97  95  cr1.phmaz.ip.att.net [12.122.28.182]
13    15   0 0.0  96  98  97  cr1.sd2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.31.233]
14    15   0 0.0  95 277 115  gar3.sd2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.109.9]
15    15   1 6.7  96  97  96  [12.122.255.30]
16    15   0 0.0  95  96  95  mdf4-bi8k-2-eth-2-2.san2.attens.net [63.241.0.166]
17    15   0 0.0  95 202 102  vl20.sdkollsw-2.sonyonline.net [63.241.6.50]
18    15   0 0.0  95  96  95  thebazaar.everquest2.com [199.108.11.97]

At Hop 9, DNS Name cr1.attga.ip.att.net (IP 12.122.82.98), I suffered a irregular packet loss resulting in a error...this was copied at Hop 15 (IP 12.122.255.30)....and my game froze for 10 to 12 seconds.

I looked up DNS cr1.attga.ip.att.net...it is registered to AT&T.

I contacted AT&T Customer Service via phone...and was informed I could not be suffering packet loss from a AT&T server because I'm not a AT&T customer....right.

I contacted Verison DSL Customer Service via phone...where the representative wanted me to reset my Internet Explorer browser...unable to see a connection between a packet loss 9 hops away and my IE settings, I politely declined...but was successful in getting the rep to "share my screen"...where he could personally see the packet loss in real time, coming from a AT&T server.

He promised to look into it and would open a "ticket" on the matter...whatever that means.

Anybody got a clue?

When ever the tracer shows a packet loss...my game freezes...a very irritating situation...and it's consistently at this AT&T server.

Oh...and by the way...I've been playing EQ2 for over 5 years....this modem is less then a year old and this computer is under 2 years old...and the really odd thing...is this just started happening last Friday.

[Tonktonk]

Gamer32,

AT&T is your game server's internet provider. WoW is also an AT&T client and has been having issues with AT&T's servers for the past year or so, so that maybe what's causing your problem.

[Tonktonk]

I have disabled Windows firewall but it hasn't helped so far.

Is there no way to diagnose which of my hardware is causing me problems? I'm about to go and get something to replace this Actiontec Gateway GT704WG just to check if that's the one causing my problems (what *IS* a suitable substitute to it by the way??). 

Are there any tests I can perform to check whether it's my network card or modem/router or internet wall jack that's doing it?

[mszemeredy]

I'm having the same problems you are with WoW. The problem seems to be with Verizon's border routers in Tampa. My packet loss starts off of so-6-1-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net.

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                       MTR statistics                                      |
|                       Host              -    %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|-------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|          Wireless_Broadband_Router.home  -    0 |  710 |  710 |    0 |    1 |   79 |    0 |
|                             96.254.62.1  -    0 |  709 |  709 |    0 |    3 |  312 |    0 |
|  G1-3-779.TAMPFL-LCR-07.verizon-gni.net  -    0 |  709 |  709 |    0 |    5 |   31 |   16 |
|so-6-1-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net  -    3 |  709 |  691 |    0 |    6 |   47 |    0 |
|so-7-3-0-0.ATL01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net  -    3 |  709 |  691 |   15 |   20 |   94 |   15 |
|           0.so-7-1-0.XT1.ATL4.ALTER.NET  -    3 |  709 |  690 |   15 |   18 |   47 |   16 |
|           0.so-6-0-0.BR2.ATL4.ALTER.NET  -    0 |  709 |  709 |   15 |   23 |  110 |   16 |
|                         204.255.169.250  -    3 |  709 |  690 |   15 |   29 |  250 |   31 |
|                    cr1.attga.ip.att.net  -    3 |  709 |  690 |   31 |   40 |  157 |   32 |
|                    cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net  -    0 |  709 |  709 |   31 |   38 |  141 |   47 |
|                   gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net  -    1 |  709 |  706 |   31 |   47 |  453 |   47 |
|                          12.122.255.226  -    0 |  709 |  709 |   31 |   50 |  344 |   31 |
|mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.dal1.attens.net -    3 |  709 |  692 |   31 |   50 |  454 |   32 |
|__________________________________________ ______|______|______|______|______|______|______|

Message Edited by mszemeredy on 04-23-2009 12:43 PM

[Vanishsap]

I am having this issue on WoW as well.... It is now unplayable. =/ Please fix this ASAP... I don't know what else to do. Help!!

Here's my trace route:

Tracing route to 63.241.255.4 over a maximum of 30 hops



1 * * * Request timed out.

2 707 ms 838 ms 781 ms L100.TAMPFL-DSL-02.verizon-gni.net [71.98.160.1]

3 795 ms 782 ms 734 ms P2-3.TAMPFL-LCR-01.verizon-gni.net [130.81.34.148]

4 625 ms 631 ms 626 ms so-7-2-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.28.233]

5 597 ms 599 ms 624 ms so-7-3-0-0.ATL01-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.19.30]

6 638 ms 745 ms * 0.ge-1-2-0.XT1.ATL4.ALTER.NET [152.63.80.9]

7 564 ms 578 ms 596 ms 0.so-6-0-0.BR2.ATL4.ALTER.NET [152.63.81.145]

8 743 ms 777 ms 871 ms 204.255.169.250

9 939 ms 832 ms 677 ms cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.87.62]

10 694 ms 669 ms 670 ms cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.28.174]

11 598 ms 653 ms 642 ms gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.138.5]

12 650 ms 667 ms 669 ms 12.122.255.226

13 704 ms 671 ms 658 ms mdf001c7613r0003-gig-10-1.dal1.attens.net [63.241.193.10]

14 * * * Request timed out.

15 * * * Request timed out.

16 * * * Request timed out.

17 * * * Request timed out.

18 * * * Request timed out.

19 * * * Request timed out.

20 * * * Request timed out.

21 * 

I live in Holiday, Florida.

Message Edited by Vanishsap on 04-23-2009 02:09 PM

[gamer32]

Ok, update....

Contacted Verizon DSL Customer Support tonight.

First person I speak to informs me no ticket was issued...but a note was added that I look into port forwarding.

I responded that maybe a very good idea....IF the problem packet loss was at Hop 1.  Repeated that the packet loss was at a AT&T server in Georgia (Hop 9) and invited them to observe the data real-time by sharing my screen.

Was declined (!) and transfered to another department.

Second person I speak to informs me that this is a technical support issue and transfers me back...after also declining to look at the data.

Third person I speak to declines to look at the real-time data...I made clear I'm not going to give up until they fix the issue...

I'm listening to a disconnect signal...

Target Name: thebazaar.everquest2.com
         IP: 199.108.11.97
  Date/Time: 4/23/2009 7:56:41 PM to 4/23/2009 7:57:51 PM

Hop Sent Err  PL% Min Max Avg  Host Name / [IP]
 2    15   0  0.0  23  24  23  L100.TAMPFL-DSL-13.verizon-gni.net [71.100.0.1]
 3    15   0  0.0  23  24  23  P4-1.TAMPFL-LCR-02.verizon-gni.net [130.81.34.194]
 4    15   0  0.0  24  39  25  so-7-2-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81.28.237]
 5    15   0  0.0  43  45  44  ge-1-0-0-0.ATL01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81.17.48]
 6    15   0  0.0  44  47  44  0.so-2-2-0.XT2.ATL5.ALTER.NET [152.63.86.73]
 7    15   0  0.0  45  46  45  0.so-7-0-0.XT2.ATL4.ALTER.NET [152.63.86.109]
 8    15   0  0.0  46  61  47  [204.255.169.250]
 9    15   3 20.0  96  97  96  cr1.attga.ip.att.net [12.122.82.98]
10    15   0  0.0  97  98  97  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.28.174]
11    15   0  0.0  96  98  97  cr1.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.1.209]
12    15   0  0.0  96  96  96  cr1.phmaz.ip.att.net [12.122.28.182]
13    15   0  0.0  97  98  97  cr1.sd2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.31.233]
14    15   0  0.0  94 205 109  gar3.sd2ca.ip.att.net [12.122.109.9]
15    15   3 20.0  95  97  96  [12.122.255.30]
16    15   0  0.0  95 361 113  mdf4-bi8k-2-eth-2-2.san2.attens.net [63.241.0.166]
17    15   0  0.0  95 190 101  vl20.sdkollsw-2.sonyonline.net [63.241.6.50]
18    15   0  0.0  94  99  95  thebazaar.everquest2.com [199.108.11.97]

Problem still exists...and when brought to Verizon's attention....they hang up on you.

20% packet loss at Hop 9 cr1.attga.ip.att.net (IP 12.122.82.98)....the number's don't lie.

Next step is start firing off e-mails to Verizon, AT&T, PSC, and whatever other acronym I can think of...