Atrocious Download speeds for patcher

Hi there

I just decided to return to final fantasy after 3 months of inactivity, and I was greeted with a extremely slow game patch download and was wondering what I can do to speed it up.

I already paid for my gametime, but this is just ridiculous. I am getting <0.02MB/s download speeds (where I normally get ~ 0.6 - 0.9 MB/s on everywhere else). I understand that Squeenix is trying to save cash and implemented the patcher to be a mini p2p downloading system.

I have scouted around to find solutions, but to no avail. :(

• I disabled my Antivirus
• Opened UDP and TCP ports on my router
• killed all background applications
• only threatened to break my pc 124 times

Please, if anyone has the heart to answer or point me to a solution, I would be greatly appreciative, because 3000 - 8000 minutes to download patches is unreasonable. Halp!

http://i.imgur.com/IPfxiKS.png

There is also the problem that some internet companies are blocking peer to peer downloading. Say goodbye to FFXIV.

can try connecting through a VPN to see if you can bypass any traffic shaping that may be going on. Most of the free ones that actually let you get in the game have tight data or time constraints though that you will burn up getting that much data. There is one that doesn't appear to have any caps, but it wouldn't let me launch the game when I set up the PPTP tunnel (didn't try the other options)--but it did let me log-in at the launcher and all. Could give it a try:

http://www.vpnbook.com/

Nothing really needs to be installed... they have instructions for setting up the PPTP tunnel with the Windows own connection management. The password can change periodically, so if it suddenly stops connecting down the road, check the site for the new password.

Some people may need to look into VPN's for actual gameplay still. Here's a few others I tinkered with back when TWC was having so much trouble with cogentco and level3 for my area (resolved now, so not relying on them any more). I was alternating between TunnelBear and GhostVPN--mostly TunnelBear, only used GhostVPN when my TB options were over-saturated and lagging bad.

https://www.tunnelbear.com has a free one that works with the game (though, you may have to alternate where you connect through... seems it's pretty popular and gets saturated sometimes). Good speeds, and good pings (when not too many on your server). The little bear gives 500MB free per month, (extra 1GB if you link to twitter to promote them periodically). They have paid options that give more data. Client was very easy to setup and it's real simple to use.

https://cyberghostvpn.com It works with the game on the free version... somewhat. Pings were kind of flaky at times. Like all the others, the connection points were limited on the free version. It gives you 3 hours of continuous connection time, mid-range connection speeds (up to around 5Mb when I tested it). Looks to be tied into the UK, probably why pings weren't all that great. Paid services gives you more connection points--but no Canadian servers when I last looked. Washington seemed to work well though when I needed it.

http://www.hotspotshield.com has a free version with ad popups--may cause problems if the game looses focus. They were doing a free trial to the Elite service (paid) that worked quite well, even though I was going through LA (area known to have problems). Again, no Canadian servers though... $30/yr isn't too bad a deal I guess if you need to use one regularly and it meets your needs?

https://www.sumrando.com is a group based out of South Africa. I know... sounds like it would be a bad choice, but surprisingly it actually worked when I tested it. Lists the server as being in NY, but geo-location was putting me in KS? Pings and speeds were decent though, regardless--but it did suffer from periodic dips/spikes in both throughput and ping. 1GB cap on data with free version--it's pricey to pay for the 10GB or uncapped services... upwards of $9/month (and the Rand exchange rate may vary). YIKES!.

Lots of others out there if anyone needs more suggestions. Sites like CNET, PCMAG, etc. periodically do reviews of services. Most everyone has some sort of free trial you can use to test before you commit to a paid service. You can find a few that you can actually "cheat" with and use the free mode just when your connection goes sour though if you aren't dealing with issues full time on your normal connection (like the TB and Ghost ones I was using a couple months back).