Connection issues

[Lutia]

Details & Steps:
For the past week, I've had some connection issues that would result in R0/Reddotting and occasionally disconnecting from FFXI. Other people from Europe seem to have similar problems, last night in Dyna-D we lost 7 people, all from europe, at once.

Today, I cannot login at all, I'm getting connection issue errors: POL-1160, POL-0011, almost never get past those two.

The forums and account management are occasionally not available to connect to either. I needed several tries to post this. No problems with anything else.

Date & Time:
Right now

Frequency:
Always

PC Manufacturer & Model Number:
Homebuilt

Operating System:
Windows 10

Graphics Card:
PNY GTX1060

ISP:
Vodafone

Type of Internet Connection:
Cable

Character:
Ketsui on Sylph Server

[Shiamano]

Same here, also on Vodafone. I had those two errors + POL-2059 on the night of 28/5, by morning things were fine, but since last night I can't log in again.
In Germany as well.

[Travmac]

Same here.
POL-0011 / Not possible to login.
Based in Cologne, Germany.

[Lutia]

From networking view, it seems the problems start once the packets go into Cogent's network, resulting in 80-90% packet loss. Unfortunately, Cogent is not Vodafone's direct peering partner, so trying to open a ticket at Vodafone will be pointless.

Regardless, I've sent an E-Mail to Cogent Europe, asking to check their network in Amsterdam and whatever is beyond, as I can't see it. Ticket ID is HD11155648.

[Travmac]

Thanks Lutia!

I have no idea how to track the connection, but very clear that this only applies to FFXI and nothing else.
Wondering if some data protection rule kicked in as of June 1st in Europe?

[Lutia]

I don't think any data protection rule (I don't even know which one you're talking about) would take out certain peering between europe and asia - and happen completely unnoticed at the same time.

Just as few examples:
If I trace to yahoo.co.jp, which is also located in Tokyo, Vodafone's peering partner Cable & Wireless forwards it to IIJ (Internet Initiative Japan) and the connection is fine.
Tracing to Livedoor.com, also Tokyo, Cable & Wireless forwards to NTT, and its also fine.

Fortunately, after some search, I found another endpoint (www.nli-research.co.jp) that uses a Cogent path from europe - and that site is also "almost" unreachable. So I'm pretty sure the issue is at Cogent and nowhere else.

[mijime]

Just want to chime in on this.

I've been having the same issues with intermittent disconnects over the past week to the point where I just can not log in at all since this morning.
It's a continuous steam of POL-0011 and POL-1160 errors, and when I do manage to get through PlayOnline and try to sign into character, it just kicks me out straight after.

My ISP is Ziggo in NL, and when I trace to 202.67.54.52 the connection goes through a number of Vodafone servers (213.51.195.197 / 213.51.158.110 / 213.51.64.186) before connecting to cogentco hubs. After that it just turns sour and the average response time increases up to 326ms. I tried to connect and trace to the Mana datacenter for FFXIV and that's giving me the same problems.

I tried a tracert on yahoo.co.jp and that for me is almost as bad, with times starting around 100ms and then maintaining a 300ms average. Tracing livedoor.com completely times out for me.

This is pretty bad and infuriating ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Lutia]

ICMP Response Time is pretty irrelevant when you trace to Japan, so you shouldn't be looking at them, take a look at the packet loss instead. There's hops that block ICMP completely, resulting in 100% loss, those can be ignored. It only gets interesting when you get inconsistent answers to your ICMP packets, which is the case in Cogent's Network at the moment.

[Travmac]

Just wanted to know if any other has seen any improvement?
Here the story is the same still.. POL-0011, FFXI-3001 etc etc error codes.

Edit: It is rather frustrating - Especially since it seems like there is nowhere to go and ask for "official" help. I start to wonder if SE finally just gave up on Europe in general.

[Dennis]

Same here in NL. Sometimes I get as far as downloading data after character selection, but that's about it.

[Sladey]

I'm having exactly the same issue as the people in this thread mentioned. Been having R0's a few times for the past week and since today I can't log into POL (Connection Issue error).

Also from the Netherlands and with Ziggo as ISP.

[Lutia]

I'm not sure if SE is aware of the problem, even if they aren't, that wouldn't surprise me. The way I see it, these connection problems are just affecting those people who have to use Cogent nodes in Amsterdam on the way to the SE Servers Japan - and that really isn't SE's fault. I've tried VPN from UK and Switzerland and both are fine, so it's not the entirety of europe that is affected, just certain providers with certain peerings. And no, international connections do not really care if countries are part of the European Union or not. :D All in all there is really no reason to assume that SE stopped caring about Europe. Just so you know, FFXIV is affected as well.

[Travmac]

so, being from one of the countries affected *I assume the Netherlands and this part of Germany at least* there isn't really anything I as an End User can do?
Not the issue of my ISP here as far as I can see / and not an issue at SE's end in Japan.
Thanks for clearing it up Lutia - Lucky that someone like you are around - I would have lost.
I assume that the resolution then is to either hope that whatever unknown person somewhere notices or install a VPN program?

Edit: Spelling seems to be my enemy today.
Edit: Luckily my FFXIV chars are on the Light DC here in Europe ;)

[Lutia]

I do not know what this issue looks like on Japan's side. If SE hosts its servers at a provider that has Cogent as a direct peering partner, that provider should be notified of the issues. The provider can then approach Cogent directly.

As an end customer, it wouldn't make sense to approach the own provider. First issue you'd notice is that their service desk wont have any idea what you are talking about, as they are absolutely clueless what peering is in the first place. (Did you restart your Router? Did you flush the toilet?)

Even if a miracle happens and you somehow get through to their NOC, they'd have to notify their peering - and that peering has to notify their peering. Ain't gonna happen if you're an unimportant end customer.

I've tried approaching Cogent directly which also doesn't make much sense, but yeah, I've tried. SE as a big company that pays a lot of money for their hosting obviously has much better chances reaching out here.

[Athlir]

I have the same issue today,
furthermore, i have d/c issues for the last 2 weeks (Error-2059) but that's temporary fixed when i restart my router.

Based in Cologne, Germany
ISP: NetCologne

[Hooligan]

Finland is also suffering from this. Daily connection problems for a week or two and now unable even to connect. Luckily I was able to find this thread and after a couple of attempts it loaded up. After reading about the VPN solution, I was able to get the game working using a Switzerland based server. I much appreciate you shared all this information Lutia.

[Maleus79]

Hello Same issue here Since Yesterday i cant log into the game from POL getting nonstop error POL-1160.
Base in Bratislava, Slovakia
ISP: Orange

[Sirmarki]

No issues here.

United Kingdom.
ISP: VM

[Mikawaii]

Exactly same issues, from Belgium (Europe), with 2 different ISPs.

ISP 1 : VOO (Brutele)
ISP 2 : Orange

[VoiceMemo]

Try downloading one of the free VPN's and connect from another location. If this is stable it is your ISPs DNS. Likely something has changed and is still propagating though the isp.

[Lutia]

Yeah no. This has nothing to do with DNS at all.

[VoiceMemo]

Yeah no. This has nothing to do with DNS at all.

Did you try a VPN? Because I've had that happen before and VPN was able to connect which means it was something due to my ISP and not something on SE side.

[Lutia]

In this thread, I've already pointed out multiple times, what the problem probably is - and where the troubleshooting should start. VPN is a good workaround for everyone obviously, but it still has nothing to do with DNS.

To be clear: If I use the same DNS Servers on my VPN connection that I use on my ISP direct connection, the problem should stay if DNS was the issue. But it isn't staying. I can use the same DNS Servers on VPN and it's fine.

[Hatorio]

Hi all since 3 days i cant log into playonline, get the following message:

Error code pol-0011. Network busy no server reply?

anyone know how to solve this?

Allready contacted ziggo in NL but they cant do anything.

[VoiceMemo]

In this thread, I've already pointed out multiple times, what the problem probably is - and where the troubleshooting should start. VPN is a good workaround for everyone obviously, but it still has nothing to do with DNS.

To be clear: If I use the same DNS Servers on my VPN connection that I use on my ISP direct connection, the problem should stay if DNS was the issue. But it isn't staying. I can use the same DNS Servers on VPN and it's fine.

REGARDLESS IF VPN IS working then it narrows it down to your ISP. They have either changed something or something broke, so it's up to you to contact your ISP and have them do diagnostics to find what is the issue

Have you tried tracerouting it with and without VPN to SE's servers?

[Lutia]

Have you tried tracerouting it with and without VPN to SE's servers?
I would really recommend to read the rest of the thread.

[Lutia]

Update: The routing issues at Cogent between Amsterdam and London have been fixed. Traceroute is clean now. FFXI and FFXIV work normally.

[Travmac]

Update: The routing issues at Cogent between Amsterdam and London have been fixed. Traceroute is clean now. FFXI and FFXIV work normally.

Thanks Lutia. Confirmed here as well.

[Shiamano]

Is anyone here having issues now too?

[Diosax]

R0 forever and ever.... DC again, again, and again
Error code: FFXI-4001
Error code: FFXI-0008
If you can finally log-in will see a red dot festival.

[Travmac]

Here too... Really bad today.
Cologne, Germany.
ISP> Netcologne

[Shiamano]

R0 forever and ever.... DC again, again, and again
Error code: FFXI-4001
If you can finally log-in will see a red dot festival.

Yeah, same here.

Germany, Vodafone

[Dragoy]

Seen some people having issues over in the US, but also seen /no/ issues in parts of the EU.

[Setheim]

Same here, login issues with constant D/Cs, based on Mexico City.

[Diosax]

Mexico CIty here too. I hope Square Enix fix this QUICK because we PAY for this service, I know this sounds rude and I'm sorry for that words, but its the truth, I want to keep playing but I can't because this issue.

[DestroyerOfGods]

Have been having trouble logging in and having frequent disconnects here in Illinois, USA. It started today and has gotten very frequent. The R0s and red dots hit me and others every 5-15 minutes, and every 2nd or 3rd time results in a disconnection from server. It is definitely the game/server, as everything else online works normally.

[iehudiel]

I have been facing random issues on any actions during the game. Playing on Asura server

[Ultimoore]

Date & Time:
Right now

Frequency:
Always

PC Manufacturer & Model Number:
Syber Steam Machine P

Operating System:
SteamOS Linux

Graphics Card:
GTX970m

ISP:
Start Communication
Type of Internet Connection:
Cable

Character:
Ultimoore on Ragnarok

Also I am leaving a link to a reddit post of people worldwide who are having this issue as well. So far 2 jpn players have said they have had no issues so far.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/gz5p07/is_everyone_else_having_connection_issues_with/

[Heavenssword]

I've been having a horrible connection to FFXI all day. Ragnarok server, based in UT, US.

I basically have been r0'ing every 15 mins.

[Lutia]

Yeah, this time, it seems the problem is much more wide spread. Can't really pinpoint network issues right now from my point of view. Yesterday, it looked like there was an issue between Cogent's Datacenter in Tokyo and what is probably their Edge Node. Today, it looks different. It could be a DDOS going on, to thank SE for the upcoming sparks nerf. This one SE can't overlook, I'm sure they're aware.

[Sirmarki]

Not logged in today.

Gave up yesterday with disconnections throughout.
Thought it may just be Europe, but was happening in North America too from what people were saying.

Location: England.

[Dragoy]

So far things seem to be okay for me, still (<knocks on something>), jumping around different areas.

Around 1036 characters online on Fenrir, 3207 on Asura.

Curious how it's not hitting everyone considering how widely spread it indeed is.

[Lutia]

No problems for the last 6 hours, issue seems to be gone.

[Sirmarki]

Logged in earlier today (about 2PM BST) for a couple of hours and have not seen any R0/Red dots.

Fingers crossed.

[Heavenssword]

Zoned from Mhaura to West Adoulin and am stuck in a Black screen "Downloading data...". Got disconnected with a 3001. Anyone else still having issues?

[Dragoy]

Zoned from Mhaura to West Adoulin and am stuck in a Black screen "Downloading data...". Got disconnected with a 3001. Anyone else still having issues?

No issues here, but I've somehow avoided the worst of it completely.

If you keep getting that black screen of downloading data for an extended period of time, try to get your IP changed. If your ISP gives you a static IP, this may be more or less difficult to do, so using another connection may be necessary to get things "fixed" sooner rather than later.

[Heavenssword]

No issues here, but I've somehow avoided the worst of it completely.

If you keep getting that black screen of downloading data for an extended period of time, try to get your IP changed. If your ISP gives you a static IP, this may be more or less difficult to do, so using another connection may be necessary to get things "fixed" sooner rather than later.

Thanks, though luckily I just had that one hiccup and things seem to be fine now. /crossfingers

[Melondra]

Keep getting disconects on Asura currently.

[Emdief]

Same issues for me on Asura, from Italy.
The issue seems to be related to certain areas. I noticed I immediately hit r0 when zoning to Port Jeuno, tested several times. No other Jeuno sub-area has the same issue. I needed to switch to 4G in order to move the character back to another area, switched back to fiber, then had the same issue in Abyssea-Misareux.

Also, error 0260 on POL while logging in. Getting worse apparently.

[Lutia]

It seems like the problems are recurring every 10 days...? Today I get disconnected over and over again, can barely log in. Someone needs to get their shit together ;(