Where is the problem with this connection issue?

[reiichi]

does this tell you anything?

The reduced ping and jitter is good, but try the traceroute panel and see if it compares them. WTFast manually adjusts routing tables because it's a VPN. That's why it can make a better connection some of the time. (And why you have to generally pay for the service.)

You are still getting some packet loss though. Typically, games like FFXIV handle the connection over TCP so you won't actually get a loss of data. It'll just keep trying to be resent until it times out. (Or the client times out and forces a disconnect.) If you typically get a lot of lag or rubber-banding, that's from dropped/delayed packets.

But at 147ms average, the game should still typically play fine which makes me think it's more likely a packet loss issue at first glance. If your computer's connected over wifi, the signal may be weak or you may want to try a wired connection if possible.

edit: saw some of the traceroute stuff you added in.

See what's around hops 6-9. If it's consistently bad after 7, then that's probably one of the issues. 17-19 is ok because that could just be network hardware trying to stay "hidden." A lot of backend devices will reject being pinged to reduce the chance of DDoS attacks.

[Snow_Princess]

The reduced ping and jitter is good, but try the traceroute panel and see if it compares them. WTFast manually adjusts routing tables because it's a VPN. That's why it can make a better connection some of the time. (And why you have to generally pay for the service.)
You are still getting some packet loss though. Typically, games like FFXIV handle the connection over TCP so you won't actually get a loss of data. It'll just keep trying to be resent until it times out. (Or the client times out and forces a disconnect.) If you typically get a lot of lag or rubber-banding, that's from dropped/delayed packets.

But at 147ms average, the game should still typically play fine which makes me think it's more likely a packet loss issue at first glance. If your computer's connected over wifi, the signal may be weak or you may want to try a wired connection if possible.

It is not wifi, so what am i doing now? I edited in some hop things though the cmd prompt but a bit paranoid to copy the full thing to the public.

I just do not understand having these issues when in the same country!

[reiichi]

It is not wifi, so what am i doing now? I edited in some hop things though the cmd prompt but a bit paranoid to copy the full thing to the public.

I just do not understand having these issues when in the same country!

It could possibly be your ISP. It's tough to say with the information provided. Hops 6-9 would give me a better picture since those are definitely outside your local area, but would appear to still be going through your ISP. Once things hit NTT, that's SE's provider for the current North American datacenters.

[Snow_Princess]

It could possibly be your ISP. It's tough to say with the information provided. Hops 6-9 would give me a better picture since those are definitely outside your local area, but would appear to still be going through your ISP. Once things hit NTT, that's SE's provider for thecurrent North American datacenters.

6-9
6 25 ms 28 ms 39 ms static-76-73-191-224.knology.net [76.73.191.224]
7 46 ms 153 ms 54 ms dynamic-75-76-35-10.knology.net [75.76.35.10]
8 52 ms 45 ms 48 ms static-75-76-84-231.knology.net [75.76.84.231]
9 44 ms 48 ms 58 ms dynamic-75-76-35-105.knology.net [75.76.35.105]


NTT:
10 56 ms 68 ms 59 ms ae-53.r08.nycmny01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.194.81]
11 44 ms 58 ms 48 ms ae-3.r24.nycmny01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.61]
12 84 ms 82 ms 97 ms ae-2.r20.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.13]
13 90 ms 89 ms 88 ms ae-0.r21.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.54]
14 104 ms 99 ms * ae-3.r23.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.124]
15 104 ms 109 ms 119 ms ae-45.r01.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.175]
16 115 ms 109 ms 107 ms ae-1.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.31]
17 113 ms 109 ms 118 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46]
18 197 ms 100 ms 111 ms 204.2.229.234
19 106 ms 106 ms 102 ms 204.2.229.9

[reiichi]

Perfect. I can give you infodump now.

Your connection is being routed to New York City first, which then heads over to Seattle, and that's where you're packing on the most latency. (Hop 11 to 12). Depending on your ISP, the NYC NTT backbone is probably the closest/cheapest to go to for them, since NTT is mostly East/West Coast and a couple big cities. Central USA and the Midwest has basically nothing. (You can see NTT's network map of their backbone connections here: NTT Network Map

So depending on where you live, your connection might be heading East before it can go West, towards the datacenters. The longer the distance and the more hops it takes, the higher the latency and higher chance of a dropped packet. If you have other ISPs that service your area, they could be better/worse depending on their networks and the backbones they use. But everything will still point to the easiest NTT device, and then go from there.

Using that information, you could check with your ISP if there's a better route to NTT's network for your area. Maybe they're taking an unoptimized path or they can adjust some of their routes which might improve your connection to the game.

[Snow_Princess]

Perfect. I can give you infodump now.

Your connection is being routed to New York City first, which then heads over to Seattle, and that's where you're packing on the most latency. (Hop 11 to 12). Depending on your ISP, the NYC NTT backbone is probably the closest/cheapest to go to for them, since NTT is mostly East/West Coast anda couple big cities. Central USA and the Midwest has basically nothing. (You can see NTT's network map of their backbone connections here: NTT Network Map

So depending on where you live, your connection might be heading East before it can go West, towards the datacenters. The longer the distance and the more hops it takes, the higher the latency and higher chance of a dropped packet. If you have other ISPs that service your area, they could be better/worse depending on their networks and the backbones they use. But everything will still point to the easiest NTT device, and then go from there.

Using that information, you could check with your ISP if there's a better route to NTT's network for your area. Maybe they're taking an unoptimized path or they can adjust some of their routes which might improve your connection to the game.

That is so BS! why can't it go to san jose or settle directly? why is it going to NY first? who controls that? I was just talking to the lead tech in my area by my ISP and hes basically saying " I do not know we might not even control that"

[reiichi]

That is so BS! why can't it go to san jose or settle directly? why is it going to NY first? who controls that? I was just talking to the lead tech in my area by my ISP and hes basically saying " I do not know we might not even control that"

A support tech likely has no control over it, but knology.net belongs to Wide Open West, so all the routing is done internally. So at least you're not being handed off to another provider in the middle. Since NTT is largely just backbone in the USA, it's easy to get a network map of their stuff. Other backbone providers also have them sometimes. (There was this really cool one I had at work for a while, but it was discontinued.)

I can't find a very good network map for WoW, but their business pages had this? WoW Network Map for Business

If it's the same case for consumer stuff, all the network is basically built out to service a particular set of states, so they're gonna take the shortest (read as: least amount of hops on their own network) to get to the nearest NTT network, which in your case, appears to be the New York location. I have to assume you're likely more geographically located to it than Chicago, which is where the next nearest NTT network would be.

When using WTFast, your connection probably ignores a lot of that and just heads to the nearest "big" backbone provider and gets a nicer route, which is why things like ping, jitter, and packet loss go down.

If you've got local friends who also play FFXIV, see what provider they have and if they have the same connection issues. Compare traceroutes and so on. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that your ISP is gonna build out expensive infrastructure unless they start expanded to additional markets. ...we can't even get the big-name providers to build out better infrastructure in a timely manner.

[Snow_Princess]

A support tech likely has no control over it, but knology.net belongs to Wide Open West, so all the routing is done internally. So at least you're not being handed off to another provider in the middle. Since NTT is largely just backbone in the USA, it's easy to get a network map of their stuff. Other backbone providers also have them sometimes. (There was this really cool one I had at work for a while, but it was discontinued.)

I can't find a very good network map for WoW, but their business pages had this? WoW Network Map for Business

If it's the same case for consumer stuff, all the network is basically built out to service a particular set of states, so they're gonna take the shortest (read as: least amount of hops on their own network) to get to the nearest NTT network, which in your case, appears to be the New York location. I have to assume you're likely more geographically located to it than Chicago, which is where the next nearest NTT network would be.

When using WTFast, your connection probably ignores a lot of that and just heads to the nearest "big" backbone provider and gets a nicer route, which is why things like ping, jitter, and packet loss go down.

If you've got local friends who also play FFXIV, see what provider they have and if they have the same connection issues. Compare traceroutes and so on. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that your ISP is gonna build out expensive infrastructure unless they start expanded to additional markets. ...we can't even get the big-name providers to build out better infrastructure in a timely manner.

I am IN CHICAGO! as in MAIN PROPER, not suburb that thinks they are part of our city, the MAIN CITY. I thought it was obvious what I said about going to san jose or settle directly and why i am now pissed off about this. Ty for identifying the problem though, now i got more ammo to my isp mrgrgrgrgr

[reiichi]

I am IN CHICAGO! as in MAIN PROPER, not suburb that thinks they are part of our city, the MAIN CITY. I thought it was obvious what I said about going to san jose or settle directly and why i am now pissed off about this. Ty for identifying the problem though, now i got more ammo to my isp mrgrgrgrgr

Good luck! Hopefully they can tell you why you're being routed like that. ...or figure out why they're routing like that because it could be a mistake. I don't know enough about gritty networking details or how routing tables are set up, but it could be the case that their hardware's unaware of the NTT Chicago hub, or it was down at their last check, or something else and it was determined that the "better" prioritized route was to NYC. It's probably adjustable although it might require someone with more authority than a customer service tech or a field agent to handle.

[Claire_Pendragon]

The DCs happen when;

You change zones.
Someone else zones out/leaves the PT (right at the exit, not simple 1 of those, but both at the same time)
Enemy attacks that treat "moving you" as a zone teleport.
Being revived. (Same as above. Its a same zone teleport, treated as zoning)

Changing zones is the easiest to notice, as u do it more, but the others do happen.
2nd most common is when trying to get ur loot at the end. Someone leaves, causing u to DC, and if the chest was opened after u fully DCed, u will come back to no loot to roll on. (sucks in savage PuGs)

Also, its a bit weird, as I can have 2 versions of the game running on my PC, as I use keybord, and my friend uses controller.

One of us will DC, while the other doesnt. (same PC, same internet)
so its not as simple as our connection truely goes out.

plus it doesnt happen with any other game/MMO
just FFXIV. (happened before the server moves too.)

have 2 roomates who play in other rooms, who wont DC when 1 person does.

we know its a true dc when we all dc at the same time.