Anyone else having connection problems?

[Finestyle]

I was playing on the PR server just now and after playing a few rounds my ping shot to 200+ and I started getting loads of connection problems... Is this happening to anyone else tonight?

Here's some ping and tracert results I just done... seems the problem is with sprintlink.net or peer1.net... hope its just intermittent! I seem to be dropping packets by the bucket load!

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Primary User>tracert 64.34.161.157

Tracing route to bf2sb.tacticalgamer.com [64.34.161.157]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 24 ms 6 ms 6 ms 10.90.72.1
2 24 ms 14 ms 8 ms oldh-t2cam1-a-ge-wan43-117.inet.ntl.com [80.5.16
4.69]
3 9 ms 8 ms 23 ms manc-t3core-1a-ge-112-0.inet.ntl.com [195.182.17
5.77]
4 19 ms 8 ms 8 ms man-bb-a-so-020-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.1]
5 8 ms 10 ms 8 ms lee-bb-b-so-100-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.194]

6 11 ms 26 ms 12 ms nth-bb-a-so-600-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.133]

7 42 ms 14 ms 26 ms gfd-bb-b-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.98]
8 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms sl-gw11-lon-11-0.sprintlink.net [213.206.156.101
]
9 16 ms 34 ms 52 ms sl-bb21-lon-11-0.sprintlink.net [213.206.128.58]

10 22 ms 18 ms 16 ms sl-bb22-lon-3-0.sprintlink.net [213.206.129.153]

11 87 ms 95 ms 96 ms sl-bb20-nyc-2-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.9.163]
12 83 ms 97 ms 82 ms sl-gw40-nyc-14-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.13.50]

13 240 ms 255 ms 235 ms sl-peer11-13-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.206.46]
14 234 ms 245 ms 236 ms oc48-pos4-0.nyc-telx-dis-a.peer1.net [216.187.11
5.165]
15 * * 245 ms oc48pos0-0.wdc-sp2-cor-2.peer1.net [216.187.115.
222]
16 250 ms * 243 ms oc48-pos6-0.wdc-sbsp2-dis-2.serverbeach.com [216
.187.115.242]
17 259 ms * 256 ms bf2sb.tacticalgamer.com [64.34.161.157]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Primary User>ping 64.34.161.157 -t

Pinging 64.34.161.157 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=256ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=247ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=241ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=245ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=243ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=249ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=239ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=240ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=248ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=264ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=243ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=246ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=257ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=244ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=241ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=257ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=273ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=240ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=240ms TTL=113
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=241ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=242ms TTL=113
Reply from 64.34.161.157: bytes=32 time=262ms TTL=113

Ping statistics for 64.34.161.157:
Packets: Sent = 39, Received = 22, Lost = 17 (43% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 239ms, Maximum = 273ms, Average = 248ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Documents and Settings\Primary User>

[FBmantis]

Its affecting tons of people. About 3/5ths of our POE population had to drop because of this. Everything was going fine and then all of a sudden bam the pings spiked and connection interuptions were frequent. I noticed the 2142 server had a huge population drop around the same time.

[Barracuda_Magoo]

I was checking game-monitor to decide whether to play POE or 2142, and both populations got cut in half. Guess I'll wait 'till tomorrow

[perry]

Sprintlink problem it looks like...

sl-bb20-nyc>trace 64.34.161.157
 
 Type escape sequence to abort.
 Tracing the route to bf2sb.tacticalgamer.com (64.34.161.157)
 
   1 sl-gw40-nyc-14-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.13.50) 0 msec 4 msec * 
   2  *  * 
     sl-peer11-13-0.sprintlink.net (160.81.206.46) 148 msec
   3 oc48-pos4-0.nyc-telx-dis-a.peer1.net (216.187.115.165) 152 msec 152 msec 148 msec
   4  * 
     oc48pos0-0.wdc-sp2-cor-2.peer1.net (216.187.115.222) 152 msec 156 msec
   5 oc48-pos6-0.wdc-sbsp2-dis-2.serverbeach.com (216.187.115.242) 164 msec 164 msec 164 msec
   6 bf2sb.tacticalgamer.com (64.34.161.157) [AS 30099] 164 msec 164 msec 160 msec
 sl-bb20-nyc>

[Finestyle]

Well, all seems to be fine again this morning ...

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Primary User>tracert 64.34.161.157

Tracing route to bf2sb.tacticalgamer.com [64.34.161.157]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 8 ms 10 ms 7 ms 10.90.72.1
2 29 ms 9 ms 48 ms oldh-t2cam1-a-ge-wan43-117.inet.ntl.com [80.5.16
4.69]
3 18 ms 29 ms 25 ms manc-t3core-1a-ge-112-0.inet.ntl.com [195.182.17
5.77]
4 45 ms 11 ms 20 ms man-bb-a-so-020-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.1]
5 9 ms 9 ms 22 ms lee-bb-b-so-100-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.194]

6 17 ms 28 ms 25 ms nth-bb-a-so-600-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.133]

7 15 ms 15 ms 25 ms gfd-bb-b-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.98]
8 23 ms 18 ms 17 ms sl-gw11-lon-11-0.sprintlink.net [213.206.156.101
]
9 48 ms 30 ms 18 ms sl-bb21-lon-11-0.sprintlink.net [213.206.128.58]

10 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms sl-bb22-lon-3-0.sprintlink.net [213.206.129.153]

11 95 ms 103 ms 82 ms sl-bb20-nyc-2-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.9.163]
12 92 ms 84 ms 95 ms sl-gw40-nyc-14-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.13.50]

13 87 ms 88 ms 85 ms sl-peer11-13-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.206.46]
14 97 ms 108 ms 88 ms oc48-pos4-0.nyc-telx-dis-a.peer1.net [216.187.11
5.165]
15 92 ms 93 ms 92 ms oc48pos0-0.wdc-sp2-cor-2.peer1.net [216.187.115.
222]
16 109 ms 93 ms 95 ms oc48-pos6-0.wdc-sbsp2-dis-2.serverbeach.com [216
.187.115.242]
17 93 ms 92 ms 92 ms bf2sb.tacticalgamer.com [64.34.161.157]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Primary User>

[Bold]

Originally Posted by Finestyle

I was playing on the PR server just now and after playing a few rounds my ping shot to 200+ and I started getting loads of connection problems... Is this happening to anyone else tonight?

It has been happening to me for about a week now. I usually have a in game ping rate between 30 to 50.

I am playing normally, then suddenly, I get a "there is a problem with your connection" message. Usually it does not last long, about 2 or 3 seconds then the game continues normally. Naturally, while the "connection is reporting problems", the ping rate is extremely high. it goes around 400. But after a few seconds of it, I get back to my normal 30-50 rates.

It never happened to me before this week and never happens on other servers, so I assume this is related to the TG server. Although it never stopped me from playing, it is rather annoying to "freeze" in the middle of battle!

[Finestyle]

Originally Posted by Bold

It has been happening to me for about a week now. I usually have a in game ping rate between 30 to 50.

I am playing normally, then suddenly, I get a "there is a problem with your connection" message. Usually it does not last long, about 2 or 3 seconds then the game continues normally. Naturally, while the "connection is reporting problems", the ping rate is extremely high. it goes around 400. But after a few seconds of it, I get back to my normal 30-50 rates.

It never happened to me before this week and never happens on other servers, so I assume this is related to the TG server. Although it never stopped me from playing, it is rather annoying to "freeze" in the middle of battle!

Its more than likely nothing to do with the TG servers themselves... The problem last night seemed to be with a router that peoples connection passes through before they get to the TG server and not everyone was affected...
For example, if you look at the tracert results I posted, you can see that from my PC in Manchester, UK, to the TG server, I go through 17 different routers/connections, otherwise known as hops. And at one of those routers (sprintlink.net) I was suffering packet loss which in turn resulted in high ping as my PC searched for the missing data, eventually leading to a loss of connection in game or a timeout in the ping test results i posted.
However, if you are starting to suffer from ping spikes that only last a few seconds and this is becoming a regular thing, then I would guess that the problem could be local to your machine.
Have you installed anything recently that you can think of which requires internet access? Regular Ping spikes like these are often caused by other programs/applications/processes connecting to the net while you are playing, and can also be dificult to dertermine as it connects randomly for a short period of time.
In your firewall, try denying access to the net to everything that isnt absolutly needed to run the game online and see if the problems go away. I know you mentioned that it doesnt seem to happen while on other servers, and I may be completly wrong, but its worth a try.
If it doesnt work, try running a number of ping tests and trace route tests like I did and see if anything looks untoward.

Hope you get sorted,

Finestyle out...

[Bold]

Thank you fineStyle for your answer.

When I said "TG server", I included the whole network infrastructure around the server. I had the same issue last night during vanilla night. Yet it never happened in the POE server or while I was on the private server for the TGU.

Today I played PRM on another server and had no issue. So I suspect it is probably a problem between my machine and the TG PRM server. It is hard to say exactly where.

Anyway, it never stopped me from playing the game, so unless it become serious, I will cross my fingers that it never happens in too many critical moments. (oh by the way, I am the "somewhat paranoid type" when it comes to process running on my machine, so no un-identified ones in there!)

[Finestyle]

Originally Posted by Bold

(oh by the way, I am the "somewhat paranoid type" when it comes to process running on my machine, so no un-identified ones in there!)

Unidentified ones could in most cases be a problem but I was thinking more along the lines of legit processes/applications etc... things like programs checking for updates etc. I know, for example, when my firewall checks for updates my ping spikes like crazy for a short time.
Anyway, fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse m8.

[Finestyle]

Nice playing PR with you last night BTW Bold

[8thMan]

I had serious probs trying to get into the PR4 game last nite. I'd load, hit the join game button and then watch in rage as I was taken to desktop only to see the BF button on the bottom then disappear. I suspect it is something particular to the PR server being used, because I had no probs at all getting into the most excellent POE game later in the evening.

[Tempus]

That sounds like a crash to desktop. May be a problem with your PR installation.