High latency/ping to Materia due to NTT routing connection via Tokyo/Japan

I'm currently experiencing high latency to the Materia Data Centre as a result of NTT, the server hosting provider, routing my connection via Tokyo.

My typical latency to Materia is currently 120ms. On 9 August 2023, it was temporarily as low as 16ms (which is the expected behaviour). However, it's now back up to 120ms consistently.

Here is my ping to Materia (OCE):
https://i.imgur.com/baWK1fW.png

For reference, I'm getting lower ping to Elemental (JP):
https://i.imgur.com/dpOrNL4.png

I've been in contact with my ISP, Pineapple Net, who utilise Global Secure Layer (GSL) as their upstream provider. Over the past couple of weeks, they have worked to resolve the issue and are now saying that there are no issues on their upstream provider's network; the issue lies with NTT who host the Materia Data Centre.

To verify their claims, I performed tests using both GSL and NTT's looking glasses.

Performing a traceroute from GSL's looking glass to Materia (neolobby09.ffxiv.com, resolving to 153.254.80.103) results in the following:
https://i.imgur.com/OLKSJ1G.png

As you can see, nothing here looks out of the ordinary. This also shows the approx 16ms maximum latency I was experiencing on 9 August 2023.

Performing a traceroute from NTT's looking glass to my IP address results in the following:
https://i.imgur.com/tNC2b3a.png

This clearly shows hop 2 going from NTT's Sydney router through to Tokyo, Japan. These results overall line up with the 120ms latency I'm experiencing when playing on Materia.

NTT provided the following quote to my ISP when they were following up on my support ticket:

Quote:

---

Unfortunately we are unable to perform any route optimizations for 148.59.94.0/24. From our Australia routers, the best path is Japan due to us not receiving any local advertisements for the prefix. As we do not peer directly with AS137409 or AS133206 we are unable to make any alterations.

---

AS137409 is an ASN belonging to GSL Networks Pty LTD. AS133206 belongs to DGTEK PTY LTD - Pineapple Net's backbone.

Based on the above information, I think it's clear that the issue is with NTT's routing of the connection - an immediate hop from Sydney to Tokyo is nonsensical for a connection originating and terminating inside Australia.

I have been in contact with Square Enix support but have stopped receiving communication from them recently, even after following all their troubleshooting steps.

I struggle to understand the point in standing up local servers if NTT, the hosting provider, are going to refuse to adequately and reliably peer with local networks.

NTT needs to fix their routing to connect locally in Sydney, rather than sending the connection via Tokyo. Clearly this is possible, as I have had one night on 9 August wherein my latency to the game server was only 16ms, which is as expected.

I fully expect that there isn't much that forum support will be able to do regarding this issue, but I figure it's appropriate to raise it here while I continue to try to follow up directly with Square Enix support.

Good morning! Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. It will be forwarded to the appropriate party. Unfortunately we do not have any direct control over how the device/network is routed to the server, as such we are unable to resolve this. We apologize that the product/service you are referring to does not meet your expectations.

This thread will be moved to "Closed Concerns”. Thank you once more for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums!