Intermittent lag spikes even outside of the game. Is it me or something else?

[RuneBaelaren]

Hey guys! For the past week or so, I've been having some intermittent lag spikes in game that have been getting progressively worse. It had only started off as something I would notice at peak times running AK. Now it's getting to the point where I'm getting these spikes as soon as I'm on.

The part that makes me believe it's not anything to do with the FFXIV servers is the fact that I am getting this spike from outside of the game in addition. People mentioned in vent that I sounded distorted/laggy at times and it's been like that since I've had the connection issues. I ended up trying to ping google.com to see what would happen.

ISP: Comcast
Location: Florida
Advertised Speed: 50/10

C:\>ping google.com -t

Pinging google.com [74.125.229.169] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=55
...
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=1236ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=55
...
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=751ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=392ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=55
...
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=55
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.229.169: bytes=32 time=822ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 74.125.229.169:
Packets: Sent = 134, Received = 130, Lost = 4 (2% loss)

So, based on what I've posted ... I felt like it was my connection that was causing the problem and not the servers themselves. Ended up calling Comcast to get someone out to the house. Guy showed up today and said everything looked good on my end. His reason for the latency issue was probably due to Comcast upgrading the lines for their x1 program or something along those lines; AKA told me to deal with it.

I called up Comcast again and am going to try and explain the situation again to them and hopefully find a resolution to the issue. My question would be, what would I need to explain to Comcast to get them to help take a look at the situation and figure out what is going on ? I appreciate any feedback in advance, I'm just looking to try and get this all figured out.

[Max_Ohm]

I'm not sure Comcast will be able to help you.

If you have a look through the forums, you can see that this problem is more widespread than a single ISP. The issue from what we have been able to gather is packets being dropped or super high ping times when data is going through different internet backbone servers on its way to the ffxiv server.

I will tell you I've spoken with Comcast already, and done pretty much everything conceivable to fix this with my home network, and nothing has been solved. In fact the lag has got much worse.

IMO, this is a problem with the type or amount of data that ffxiv send and receives. As they let more people on to the servers, the problem seemed to multiply and start happening to people it didnt happen to before. Baffling.

[RuneBaelaren]

The question would be then, are you having this lag outside of the game as well? Talking with some friends at the moment on Ventrilo and everything is just coming in as fragments.

[Nicnevin]

I have the same thing. It only happens when game is on, and when I have a violent lag spike in game it sometimes disconnects me from Mumble too. The idea that it has to do with the amount of received/sent data matches my gut feeling, as it gets worse on prime hours and instances, and when teleporting, while it's perfectly fine during lower-population hours. Checked the ping too, while playing and not playing, and disconnections definitely occur only when game is on.

[ZohnoReecho]

Hey guys! For the past week or so, I've been having some intermittent lag spikes in game that have been getting progressively worse. It had only started off as something I would notice at peak times running AK. Now it's getting to the point where I'm getting these spikes as soon as I'm on.

The part that makes me believe it's not anything to do with the FFXIV servers is the fact that I am getting this spike from outside of the game in addition. People mentioned in vent that I sounded distorted/laggy at times and it's been like that since I've had the connection issues. I ended up trying to ping google.com to see what would happen.

ISP: Comcast
Location: Florida
Advertised Speed: 50/10



So, based on what I've posted ... I felt like it was my connection that was causing the problem and not the servers themselves. Ended up calling Comcast to get someone out to the house. Guy showed up today and said everything looked good on my end. His reason for the latency issue was probably due to Comcast upgrading the lines for their x1 program or something along those lines; AKA told me to deal with it.

I called up Comcast again and am going to try and explain the situation again to them and hopefully find a resolution to the issue. My question would be, what would I need to explain to Comcast to get them to help take a look at the situation and figure out what is going on ? I appreciate any feedback in advance, I'm just looking to try and get this all figured out.

Did you try pinging while not playing or doing anything else internet related?
Try pinging different sites like google dns or opendns servers (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4, 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220). If you still notice lag spikes or dropped packets you can call your ISP and tell them exactly that.

[KisaiTenshi]

This may be the network card TOE/LSO feature being broken on your hardware. Try updating the network drivers, or disabling TOE/LSO features

netsh interface tcp add chimneyapplication state=disabled application="C:\Program Files (x86)\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\game\ffxiv.exe"

Or turn off Large Send Offload and TCP v4 checksum offloads at the driver (will change it for every application)

My opinion is that either the way the game is creating packets or some other intermediary device (eg your home router, or the ISP's headend) is not cooperating.

[RuneBaelaren]

Thanks for the suggestions! I did try everything related to TCP Offloading, updating NIC drivers, and testing the ping on another machine. Unfortunately, nothing helped prevent my latency from spiking through the roof. I ended up calling Comcast four more times tonight and I'm going to go pick up a new modem to see if that may resolve it (doubt it, but they offered to replace it for free).

I'm at work at the moment, so I can't try anything else for now. I'll post more updates as soon as I get home.