Verizon Ping issues

Discussion in 'Server & Client Support' started by Dalavar, Feb 3, 2015.

  1. Dalavar

    Dalavar Well-Known Member
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    I have been having some ping issues lately. Here's my tracert. Does that show any kind of problem? I have no idea what else it could be; computer hasn't changed, router hasn't changed, etc. Verizon sent me an email a couple weeks ago saying they were "upgrading" my internet connection to faster service for free. Of course I didn't ask for this, and of course they're probably full of sh1t, but wonder if it's related...

    [​IMG]
  2. fooka03

    fooka03 Well-Known Member
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    There have been reports of people being "upgraded" and while receiving better bandwidth, their response times suffer. Unfortunately you need to demonstrate >3% high ping/packet loss before they'll admit to any issues.

    Looking at your tracert tho, it's possible that your wireless adapter and/or router are on their way to dirtnappin. Have you tried plugging in directly to the router with an ethernet cable or even plugging directly into the modem?
  3. Dalavar

    Dalavar Well-Known Member
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    Here it is this morning with a nice 89 avg ping:

    [​IMG]

    Looks like there is a major difference in that first line, which is what I think you were talking about.

    I'll try plugging in next time I am seeing issues and that should confirm. Thanks!
  4. Artex

    Artex Well-Known Member
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    UO seems to play smoother cabled (vs wireless). Is there any other devices using the wireless? I have to contend with the wife and kids streaming content and their other misc wireless connecting bandwith using leaches. Even with dual band wireless dedicated to the gaming machine and QOS for UO, still isn't as fast as cabling directly to the router. I can ping steady 68-80's one night then the next I'm 100-300's.
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2015
  5. Dalavar

    Dalavar Well-Known Member
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    Interesting. My experience seems similar. We do have an HD DVR and two receiver DVR type things, plus my wife's laptop. Cabling directly isn't possible, at least not on a regular basis, but I'll see if I can shut down some activity of these other machines at night (when I am usually trying to play). Thanks!
  6. Chris

    Chris Renaissance Staff
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    I spent some time this evening looking into this problem as we have 8-10 Verizon FIOS users who have all confirmed that they are having a similar problem.

    After doing some research I was able to determine that the problem is somewhere between our hosted server and the Verizon clients.

    Running a test from our server to a verizon client = 30-50% packet loss via tcp traffic.
    Running a test from a verizon client to our server = 30-50% packet loss via tcp traffic.

    This rules our server issues or client issues, however it could be our host peer1, alter.net, comcast, or verizon. Ping traffic, which does not travel over TCP seems unaffected in all testing. However any TCP traffic (which UO is based on) is experiencing 30-50% packet loss. Ergo the wild pings that razor is showing.

    What is telling as well is the pings in testing are fine, except for the packet loss. This indicates that the traffic when it makes it to the destination is fine, but something like high load or traffic shaping is taking place causing a large amount of the traffic to drop. I have opened a ticket with our hosting provider to make sure that it is not something they are doing on the edge of their network and I will post the findings here.

    This problem seems to start at exactly 7pm est and end at 11pm est. And a google search of those times + verizon shows a massive amount of simliar issues where people are reporting that during those times their internet service experiences issues. THis could be some sort of service that Verizon has in place to priorize certain traffic so that things like youtube and netflix do not experience interruptions during high loads. However due to the nature of Ultima Online, heavy packet loss makes the game unplayable.

    We have run tests on other service providers, cox, etc, and even another peer1 hosted UO server and they are not experiencing this problem. This leads us to believe that the problem might be close to Peer1, or a provider Verizon users cross to get to Peer1's San Antonio Location. It is very unlikely that Peer1 is blocking this traffic in any way, as their stated policy is to not selectively filter traffic to clients. More likely the problem is with Alter.Net or Telia.net. It could be as simple as one of the major Netflix servers is located very close to our UO server and our traffic is getting edged out to accommodate the high load of traffic required for everyone to watch TV online between 7-11pm est.

    Test Verizon Client to Server
    Code:
    Connected to 76.74.249.219: time=75.25ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connected to 76.74.249.219: time=85.10ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connection timed out
    Connection timed out
    Connected to 76.74.249.219: time=91.72ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connection timed out
    Connection timed out
    
    Connection statistics:
    	Attempted = 100, Connected = 49, Failed = 51 (51.00%)
    Approximate connection times:
    	Minimum = 0.00ms, Maximum = 91.73ms, Average = 40.57ms

    Test from Server to Verizon client running RunUO
    Code:
    Connected to 108.51.235.71: time=62.40ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connected to 108.51.235.71: time=78.00ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connection timed out
    Connected to 108.51.235.71: time=62.40ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connection timed out
    Connected to 108.51.235.71: time=62.40ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connected to 108.51.235.71: time=62.40ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connection timed out
    Connected to 108.51.235.71: time=62.40ms protocol=TCP port=2593
    Connection timed out
    
    Connection statistics:
    	Attempted = 25, Connected = 17, Failed = 8 (32.00%)
    Approximate connection times:
    	Minimum = 62.40ms, Maximum = 78.00ms, Average = 43.06ms
    Solutions
    At the moment the only option is during these times to look into alternate internet access methods, such as tethering with your cell provider. Several people online mentioned that if they switched to their cellular service, even verizons, the problems went away.

    Contact Verizon and see if they can find out if TCP traffic is being filtered anywhere on their network.

    I will post more details as they are available.


    Some Relevant Links
    http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r29797109-FIOS-7pm-11pm-over-saturation-75-75-turns-to-5-75
    http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r29...over-saturation-75-75-turns-to-5-75~start=180
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2015
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  7. Vlar

    Vlar Well-Known Member

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    I dunno if this'll help, but my ping is like 60-400-500+ it's wacky. But this is at 5:36AM.
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2015
  8. Pork Fried Rice

    Pork Fried Rice Well-Known Member

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    I have had exceptional lag the last week on UOR exclusively. I generally hit "unplayable" (I would not want to be on my PK) lag every so often, fairly consistently. I dabbled on a few UO shards the last week to scratch my UO itch and can say the lag was not happening elsewhere. I am happy to PM Chris my traceroute but I do not like to post that publicly on forums.
  9. Artex

    Artex Well-Known Member
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    I'm sure bandwidth throttling goes on at peak times to give priority to certain customers. Time Warner here in NY does so heavily. I had to up my level of connection to their "turbo package" as they state online gaming requires it and complaints regarding online gaming for any other level of service will not be addressed. My lag experience is mainly Friday nights around 11pm EST! Really it's very sporadic for me... trace route shows when my lags really bad I do have some occasional packet loss. I'm not really connectivity savvy.... Thanks for checking into it Chris.
  10. Chris

    Chris Renaissance Staff
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    I've got an open ticket with Peer1 regarding the issue and I provided them some various testing data from a few of our Verizon users.

    It is odd that it seems to be 1 service provider, and affecting our Peer1 location. The even more odd aspect is that it seems to only affect TCP traffic (UO, Internet) but not affect ping traffic (ICMP). This could be because pings are getting a pass through whatever filtering is happening, while TCP traffic is being "optimized" for some reason.

    I found another UO server operating on Peer1, but out of an east coast facility and they are not experiencing the same issues, I have forwarded this to tech support so they can try to look into the difference between the locations.

    Most likely this is some sort of Peering agreement between providers and probably something we will see more of in the future. Like Xegugg said, she had to upgrade her service package to the highest tier in order to have better performance.

    Personally to me it looks like Verizon is overselling the bandwidth available and the partners that provide their bandwidth are engaging in tricks to try to keep the service nominal, which could be prioritizing certain traffic.

    Its possible there is a Netflix Repo somewhere near our server, or even hosted with Peer1, so at high demand times our traffic is getting bumped out by a local netflix server. Which would explain how the problem is so localized.

    As soon as I get more information I will post it here.

    Note: No need to provide me you IP address, but everyone should post a trace or minimally their ISP for reference. (If you are having problems).

    Keep in mind this problem is different from normal latency, people are getting 30-50% packet loss while using verizon and trying to communicate with peer 1. So while this is happening, most likely on Verizon, the game becomes unplayable due to packet loss. Compared to just periods of lag, which can be attributed to local issues.
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2015
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  11. Chris

    Chris Renaissance Staff
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    Additional Research

    Our server
    1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Wireless_Broadband_Router.home [192.168.1.1]
    2 5 ms 4 ms 10 ms L100.WASHDC-VFTTP-112.verizon-gni.net [96.255.72.1]
    3 8 ms 13 ms 10 ms G1-5-4-7.WASHDC-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [130.81.218.118]
    4 8 ms 10 ms 13 ms ae22-0.RES-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81.174.204]
    5 * * * Request timed out.
    6 13 ms 13 ms 12 ms 0.ae2.GW11.IAD8.ALTER.NET [140.222.233.5]
    7 7 ms 11 ms 10 ms teliasonera-gw.customer.alter.net [204.148.11.138]
    8 34 ms 86 ms 8 ms ash-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.135.174]
    9 9 ms 13 ms 10 ms ash-bb4-link.telia.net [213.155.130.58]
    10 41 ms 39 ms 42 ms dls-b21-link.telia.net [213.155.137.53]
    11 50 ms 50 ms 52 ms peer1-ic-307696-dls-bb1.c.telia.net [213.155.129.102]
    12 57 ms 63 ms 64 ms 10ge.xe-3-0-1.sat-8500v-sbcor-1.peer1.net [216.187.88.112]
    13 63 ms 66 ms 59 ms 10ge.xe-0-0-1.sat-8500v-sbdis-1.peer1.net [216.187.124.66]
    14 61 ms 58 ms 65 ms 76.74.249.219

    Another Peer1 Server
    Tracing route to [64.34.215.106]
    over a maximum of 30 hops:

    1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Wireless_Broadband_Router.home [192.168.1.1]
    2 6 ms 5 ms 11 ms L100.WASHDC-VFTTP-112.verizon-gni.net [96.255.72.1]
    3 14 ms 11 ms 7 ms G1-8-4-5.WASHDC-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net [100.41.201.10]
    4 14 ms 39 ms 21 ms ae7-0.RES-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.174.208]
    5 10 ms 11 ms 11 ms 0.ae5.XL1.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.8.121]
    6 17 ms 13 ms 10 ms 0.xe-10-0-1.GW12.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.35.102]
    7 14 ms 11 ms 11 ms customer.alter.net.customer.alter.net [152.179.50.206]
    8 10 ms 17 ms 13 ms he-2-4-0-0-cr01.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.83.65]
    9 13 ms 13 ms 19 ms be-22-pe06.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.82.106]
    10 71 ms 73 ms 70 ms 173.167.58.22
    11 * * * Request timed out.
    12 76 ms 75 ms 71 ms [64.34.215.106]

    So far the problem is possibly the Telia connection as everyone I check seems to be crossing through them to get to UOR. Research is ongoing.
  12. SteelyDan

    SteelyDan Well-Known Member
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    [​IMG]

    Not sure if this helps. Unable to play because of extreme lockups after 3:00pm eastern.
  13. Faber

    Faber Well-Known Member
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    Does this data suggest that UOR's Peer1 server is the possibly the problem? I'm not sure if I'm understanding your data correctly.
  14. Chris

    Chris Renaissance Staff
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    No. There is a chance it is Peer1's network but that is extremely small. Since it is only a single providers customers that are affected. This would indicate it is a peering agreement or filtering.

    Here are a few threads on how Verizon does this to its customers.
    http://forums.verizon.com/t5/FiOS-I...ages-in-nyc-nj-baltimore-dc-dallas/m-p/733309
    http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/2getf9/breaking_news_fixing_verizons_league_of_lag/
    http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/2humd0/is_this_verizon_fios_lag_ever_going_to_be/

    Based on continued reading the problem seems to focus on Alter.net's network. I have run other tests to services running in the Texas area and have seen the same problems with some of them that we are seeing from our server.
  15. Chris

    Chris Renaissance Staff
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    We successfully tested the use of the WTFFast service tonight to resolve the problems for a few Verizon users.

    You can download and try this application here for free. https://www.wtfast.com/

    Close any active UO/Razor instance.

    Just install the application, selection trial account, let it ping the servers and pick a good quality one.

    Select Ultima Online Classic from the game list. And then log in. If done correctly you will see traffic stats in the WTFast application.

    Should you be wary of free VPN services (not a bad idea) I suspect any VPN service like Lowerping for instance would resolve the problem as well.

    Please report your results here.
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2015
  16. Artex

    Artex Well-Known Member
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    nm
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  17. Faber

    Faber Well-Known Member
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    Wow, I just logged in using this WTFast and it's insane! I've never been this lag free before. What does this program do exactly? Find me a faster connection route as I communicate with the UOR servers? Thanks Tela!
  18. Vlar

    Vlar Well-Known Member

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    Trying to use this WTF thing and I'm getting an error:

    "Unable to connect to IDC server."

    Any ideas?
  19. Vlar

    Vlar Well-Known Member

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    Just to be sure my crap connection to UOR wasn't on my end I just got off a Counter-Strike server. 30-40 ping solid for hours. Not a single ping above 100. Yet for some reason no matter what I do my UOR ping spikes over 300-500 every minute or so.
  20. Chris

    Chris Renaissance Staff
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    It's Verizon's network bottlenecks. Thats why a VPN program such as lowerping or WTFast solve the problem. They go outside and around most of Verizon's network to reach the server. If you have trouble connecting just try again, it usually works after a try or two and is easy to use. Everyone I have talked to so far said that resolved the problem.

    Should you try to play a game on a server located in the southern US, you will most likely have the same problems on Verizon.

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