High ping nightly at around 10 PM with new ISP -- only FFXIV affected

Hello, I recently switched from Verizon DSL (3 mbps) to Comcast (250 mbps). 3 mbps is no longer sufficient bandwidth for my needs, so I simply can't switch back. However, I haven't gotten around to deactivating Verizon yet, so I'm able to troubleshoot using my old network.

What's happening is, every night, at around 10 PM, my ping spikes to over 200 ms. The lag makes it hard to even craft or gather, and I occasionally disconnect. No other services are affected, and as you can see in the traceroutes provided below, the congestion is not on my end nor on my ISP's.

I am not an expert on these things, but it simply appears as though I'm being placed on a congested route on NTT's end from wherever the midpoint between my ISP and NTT are.

I'm wondering if this is an issue I should contact my ISP about. I'm unsure who owns the "midpoint" routers and whether or not my ISP would have control over that part of my route. Regardless, it appears to me as though specific NTT servers are becoming overloaded at peak time, while others are unaffected. I've had the same result with my desktop, laptop, and even my mobile phone.

Here is the "good" route with Verizon (high ping on hop 2 because Wi-Fi):

Code:

Tracing route to 204.2.229.10 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 1 ms 4 ms 1 ms verizon.home [192.168.1.1] 2 30 ms 13 ms 15 ms 10.4.50.1 3 * 14 ms 14 ms P0-1-1-2.BLTMMD-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net [130.81.135.98] 4 * * * Request timed out. 5 * * * Request timed out. 6 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms 0.et-5-3-0.BR1.IAD8.ALTER.NET [140.222.239.79] 7 18 ms 17 ms 17 ms ae-4.r06.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.8.209] 8 18 ms 17 ms 17 ms ae-2.r23.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.132] 9 77 ms 77 ms 78 ms ae-10.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.237] 10 80 ms 82 ms 83 ms ae-40.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.121] 11 80 ms 80 ms 82 ms ae-3.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.11] 12 81 ms 94 ms 83 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46] 13 81 ms 81 ms 81 ms 204.2.229.234 14 97 ms 80 ms 80 ms 204.2.229.10

Here's the "bad" route with Comcast (wired):

Code:

Tracing route to 204.2.229.10 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 10.0.0.1 2 11 ms 10 ms 9 ms 96.120.104.129 3 9 ms 8 ms 10 ms ae-34-rur01.princefrdrck.md.bad.comcast.net [68.85.80.21] 4 8 ms 10 ms 10 ms 68.85.133.162 5 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms 68.85.133.97 6 11 ms 10 ms 11 ms ae-13-ar01.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net [68.87.168.61] 7 13 ms 14 ms 11 ms be-33657-cr02.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.57] 8 12 ms 13 ms 13 ms be-10189-pe07.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.83.66] 9 11 ms 11 ms 12 ms ae-16.a02.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.49] 10 201 ms * 197 ms ae-69.r06.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.193] 11 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms ae-2.r23.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.132] 12 211 ms 217 ms 207 ms ae-10.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.237] 13 197 ms 214 ms * ae-40.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.121] 14 214 ms 203 ms 212 ms ae-3.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.11] 15 207 ms 208 ms 205 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46] 16 * 204 ms 200 ms 204.2.229.234 17 202 ms 198 ms 190 ms 204.2.229.10

Any help or insight would be appreciated.

EDIT: Never mind, I guess I'm blind. The route appears to go straight from Comcast to NTT with no "midpoint," and the high ping begins on NTT's routers.

Hello thrashette, Thank you for posting on the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

The issue you are describing is most associated with interference with the game data. Most of the time, it results from certain security/privacy changes on Internet Explorer. Other times it occurs when an application that is running in the background is causing interference, such as Anti-virus software, firewalls, media players, web browsers, etc.

Please make sure all background applications (including anti-virus programs such as Norton, Kaspersky, Windows Defender, etc.) have been disabled and/or closed to minimize game interference.

Ensure that the latest version of Internet Explorer is installed on your PC (even if you don't use Internet Explorer), please do not use Edge as that is a different internet platform. Once Internet Explorer is up-to-date, please open the IE browser, open the "Tools", go to "Internet Options" and adjust the following settings:
Under the "General" tab, please delete ALL browser history.
Under the "Security" tab, please move the slider to the lowest possible settings or no higher than "Medium"
Under the "Privacy" tab, please move the slider to the lowest possible settings or to "Allow All Cookies"
Under the "Advanced" tab, please make sure that "Allow software to run or install even if signature is invalid" is CHECKED.
Make sure that all SSL and TLS (EXCEPT SSL 3.0) are CHECKED.
[SSL 3.0 should be UNCHECKED]
Hit "Apply" to save the settings, and then "OK, to close the Internet Options menu.
Right-Click on the FFXIV launcher icon and select "Properties"
Go to the "Compatibility" tab, and change the compatibility mode to "Windows 7"
Hit "Apply", then "OK" to save the changes.
Please RESTART your PC now.

Once your PC has been restarted, Right-Click the FFXIV launcher icon once more and select "Run as Administrator"

If the suggestions provided above do not resolve the issue, then there is a communication error.
Check the following Port Ranges on your router/modem to ensure that the following Port Ranges have been opened/forwarded/triggered:
▼TCP
54992 through 54994,
55006 through 55007,
55021 through 55040

Thank you for playing Final Fantasy XIV! Hope to see you online.

I have already tried forwarding those ports, but have seen no improvement. I don't believe making those configuration changes would be useful since the trace route results are identical across numerous devices, even on an Android phone, yet the results differ based on which ISP I'm using.

Thank you for the reply thrashette.

It's a bit difficult to say just based on the trace routes, but if they were done around the same time, it looks like you are hitting some sort of congestion with the Comcast connection. I suspect you are hitting that somewhere in the mid-point, that's why you are seeing the high ping from the nodes furthest from you.

I'd still suggest trying some of the steps in the previous post. If you are hitting a congested area in your route, you can prevent it from getting worse by trying some of those.

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

I have made the changes suggested. The ping appears to be better, but that's because the lag settles down past midnight. This only seems to happen from 10 PM - 12 AM, so this was around the tail end of that period. I won't be able to test it again until Monday.

Normally, my ping is a bit above 80 ms. I traced the route to the IP address I am connected to while in game, rather than Primal's lobby (I'm guessing?) address I found online.

Code:

Tracing route to 204.2.229.108 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 10.0.0.1 2 10 ms 11 ms 9 ms 96.120.104.129 3 9 ms 9 ms 8 ms ae-34-rur01.princefrdrck.md.bad.comcast.net [68.85.80.21] 4 8 ms 9 ms 9 ms 68.85.133.162 5 10 ms 10 ms 11 ms 68.85.133.97 6 9 ms 11 ms 11 ms ae-13-ar01.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net [68.87.168.61] 7 12 ms 14 ms 13 ms be-33657-cr02.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.57] 8 11 ms 18 ms 12 ms be-10189-pe07.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.83.66] 9 11 ms 11 ms 12 ms ae-16.a02.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.49] 10 206 ms 204 ms 209 ms ae-69.r05.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.191] 11 11 ms 12 ms 12 ms ae-8.r23.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.23] 12 199 ms 194 ms * ae-10.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.237] 13 199 ms 197 ms 205 ms ae-40.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.121] 14 183 ms 173 ms 153 ms ae-3.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.11] 15 144 ms 134 ms 155 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46] 16 143 ms 158 ms 151 ms 204.2.229.234 17 118 ms 99 ms 109 ms 204.2.229.108 Trace complete.

There appears to be no "midpoint" between Comcast and NTT. Ashburn is not geographically far away from me, but I get a ping spike on hop 10 on both today's tracert and Tuesday's.

Here is a "normal" trace route for comparison.

Code:

Tracing route to 204.2.229.108 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 10.0.0.1 2 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms 96.120.104.129 3 8 ms 8 ms 10 ms ae-34-rur01.princefrdrck.md.bad.comcast.net [68.85.80.21] 4 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 68.85.133.162 5 36 ms 17 ms 10 ms 68.85.133.97 6 10 ms 11 ms 10 ms ae-13-ar01.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net [68.87.168.61] 7 20 ms 14 ms 14 ms be-33657-cr02.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.57] 8 19 ms 13 ms 12 ms be-10189-pe07.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.83.66] 9 11 ms 12 ms 16 ms ae-16.a02.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.49] 10 81 ms 81 ms 81 ms ae-69.r05.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.191] 11 12 ms 11 ms 12 ms ae-8.r23.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.23] 12 84 ms 84 ms 96 ms ae-10.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.6.237] 13 87 ms 86 ms 86 ms ae-40.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.121] 14 87 ms 86 ms 87 ms ae-3.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.11] 15 87 ms 88 ms 86 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46] 16 87 ms 87 ms 87 ms 204.2.229.234 17 86 ms 86 ms 85 ms 204.2.229.108 Trace complete.

Hello thrashette! Thank you for your response.

Please keep us updated on your issue after you try on Monday.

Hope to be of assistance.