Regarding Reports on Recent Connection Problems with the NA Data Center

[Callinon]

Server: Ultros (US-Primal)

I'm getting around 200-300ms latency in the evenings. Traceroutes suggest this is linked to the server's ISP or their backbone (whatever ntt is, I've never heard of it). Normal latency through the rest of the day is around 60ms. Actually was in an instance earlier tonight and spiked up above 400ms. Obviously this creates a borderline unplayable game during these times (roughly any time after 5pm CST).

Any chance of whacking your ISP with a 2x4 or something so I can play when my FC is playing?

Thanks.

[Callinon]

Well now we're graduating back up to 90002 errors. This is what caused me to unsub for several months last time. I had 3 of them during an Expert run tonight and then a couple more afterward after which I simply gave up trying to play the game for the evening.

Running a pathping now for some stats, will edit when it's done.

C:\Users\Jon>pathping 204.2.229.97

Tracing route to 204.2.229.97 over a maximum of 30 hops

  0  Lapis [192.168.1.54]
  1  RT-AC68U-5570 [192.168.1.1]
  2  96.120.28.53
  3  te-0-7-0-8-sur03.chicago301.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.85.180.45]
  4  68.85.183.142
  5  be-144-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net [162.151.45.69]
  6  be-33491-cr02.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.91.165]
  7  be-10577-pe03.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.86.2]
  8  ae-26.a02.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.65]
  9  ae-3.r07.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.111]
 10  ae-5.r21.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.213]
 11  ae-5.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.17]
 12  ae-40.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.121]
 13  ae-2.a00.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.58]
 14  xe-0-0-42-1.a00.snjsca04.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.42]
 15     *     204.2.229.242
 16  204.2.229.97

Computing statistics for 400 seconds...
            Source to Here   This Node/Link
Hop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address
  0                                           Lapis [192.168.1.54]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  1    0ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  RT-AC68U-5570 [192.168.1.1]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  2    9ms     1/ 100 =  1%     1/ 100 =  1%  96.120.28.53
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  3    9ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  te-0-7-0-8-sur03.chicago301.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.85.180.45]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  4   10ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  68.85.183.142
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  5   12ms     1/ 100 =  1%     1/ 100 =  1%  be-144-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net [162.151.45.69]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  6   13ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  be-33491-cr02.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.91.165]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  7   11ms     2/ 100 =  2%     2/ 100 =  2%  be-10577-pe03.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.86.2]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  8   15ms     1/ 100 =  1%     1/ 100 =  1%  ae-26.a02.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.66.65]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  9  122ms     7/ 100 =  7%     7/ 100 =  7%  ae-3.r07.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.111]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 10  125ms     5/ 100 =  5%     5/ 100 =  5%  ae-5.r21.chcgil09.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.213]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 11   68ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  ae-5.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.17]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 12   64ms     1/ 100 =  1%     1/ 100 =  1%  ae-40.r02.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.121]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 13   76ms     4/ 100 =  4%     4/ 100 =  4%  ae-2.a00.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.58]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 14   72ms     1/ 100 =  1%     1/ 100 =  1%  xe-0-0-42-1.a00.snjsca04.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.42]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 15   67ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  204.2.229.242
                                3/ 100 =  3%   |
 16   73ms     3/ 100 =  3%     0/ 100 =  0%  204.2.229.97

Trace complete.

As much as I love to blame Comcast for everything from global warming to hair loss, I can't help but notice their 4% total packetloss versus NTT's combined 19% packetloss along the route. 19% packetloss is an enormous figure in the best of circumstances, but combined with how badly FFXIV handles this phenomenon it makes the game literally unplayable.

[Ariellendera]

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

Can you elaborate on the kind of disconnect you are having?

Please provide:

- When the disconnects started occurring
- Platform (PC, PS4, Mac)
- Any error codes or messages you receive upon disconnect (if any)
- Type of connection (wired or wireless)
- Other programs running while the game is playing (if any)
- Frequency at which disconnect occurs
- Where you are booted to after disconnect (Desktop, Start Screen, Character Select)

What Server/Data Center are you on? It may be possible that going to more populated sections may result in the disconnections for you (by exacerbating existing connection issues), however this is only speculation.

Hope we can be of assistance.

[Callinon]

Sure

- Disconnects last night started around 6 or 7pm CST and that seems to be the general time when latency spikes tend to occur as well. This lasts until about midnight or so but I'll generally give up well before then.
- PC
- 90002
- Wired
- I mean it's a PC... there's other stuff going on. What kinds of things are you looking for here? I wasn't doing anything bandwidth intensive like downloading a game or something if that's what you mean.
- Disconnects last night occurred quite frequently, between 3 and 10 minutes apart before I just gave up entirely.
- Booted to title screen. My understanding is this is the common result of a 90002 error (as opposed to a lobby server failure)

I'm on Ultros (Primal). This isn't a high population server but frankly, even if it were, "there are a lot of people playing the game" is not a good reason for frequent disconnects in an MMORPG.

Thanks

[Callinon]

No disconnects tonight but still had those bad latency spikes during evening activities. Ever try healing a dungeon when your ping is 360 ms? I don't recommend it.

[Ariellendera]

Good Morning Callinon, Thank you for posting on the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

Have you tried running the game with no other programs running simultaneously? Try going to the startup tab on the task manager and disabling all of the programs. Then restart your PC. This should start the PC without any background applications. Then run the game without any other programs (Discord, Pingzapper, Geforce Experience, etc.). It's possible that one of these programs may be interfering with the game just enough to disconnect you only some of the time.

Please let us know if this solves your issue so we can better assist other players who may have the same problem.

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

[Callinon]

Running FFXIV in what is essentially safe mode didn't work, nor would it be an acceptable solution even if it had.

I did notice one strange thing tonight.



Two connections to the same IP address (the FFXIV remote server) with nearly double the latency between them. Obviously these two connections should be taking the same route to each other so why such a sharp difference? Server problems maybe? If the remote server took a long time to respond to the ping request it would be the same as a network node taking a long time to respond.

[Claire_Pendragon]

Running FFXIV in what is essentially safe mode didn't work, nor would it be an acceptable solution even if it had.

I did notice one strange thing tonight.



Two connections to the same IP address (the FFXIV remote server) with nearly double the latency between them. Obviously these two connections should be taking the same route to each other so why such a sharp difference? Server problems maybe? If the remote server took a long time to respond to the ping request it would be the same as a network node taking a long time to respond.

Yeah, I noticed something was up, when me and my roomates would play, and only 1 of the 3 of us would get kicked.
Every time it happened.
Plus we can see what the other sees, and theres no actual lag when we get kicked most of the time.

And when I've set up 2 FF14s running on my PC, one using the keyboard, the other using a controller, either my account or my friends account would be DCed, but not the other.
(Remember, same computer, just 2 different accounts. And which one gets DCed is random.)

[Ariellendera]

Hello Callinon Thank you for your reply,

We are going to be monitoring this issue. In the mean time, have you tried contacting your ISP? We suggest you report the issue to them and obtain a reference/ticket number from them. Thank you for your understanding while we try and get this issue resolved.

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

[Callinon]

Hello Callinon Thank you for your reply,

We are going to be monitoring this issue. In the mean time, have you tried contacting your ISP? We suggest you report the issue to them and obtain a reference/ticket number from them. Thank you for your understanding while we try and get this issue resolved.

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

A ticket number for what? If I call Comcast and tell them "I'm having problems connecting to Final Fantasy XIV" they're going to tell me, quite correctly, that there's nothing wrong with their network. I've shown lots of data on this point. Comcast isn't at fault here. As much as I despise them and wish them ill, they actually aren't the problem here.