Unplayable Network Lag

zebular said:

Update, 2015-08-30:

Hey folks! I just got an update. It's not what we want to hear but at least it means they have found the issue! The connection issue has been pinpointed to being an issue on the Internet Service Provider that the Cryptic Servers connect to and through. Alas, this means the Tech Team and Developers cannot resolve the issue, so we are now waiting for our ISP to correct the issue. We do apologize it has taken so long to find the cause but at least now the wheels are in motion to get this resolved.

Thanks for the update Zebular- nice to know what the issue is precisely and that there is a solution in the works. I've had too much time to do stuff around the house on my day off, ha ha ha...

yay it just started working for me on Xbox again, I have been trying VPN stuff with no success and it looks like its fixed now (it was working also this morning but stopped again after a few hours). Hopefully it stays working

I was just able to connect. I hope it lasts.

theycallmetomu said:

Comcast? Fix a problem? HA! Fat chance!

In all seriousness, I hope that the double RP weekend ALSO counts as a double AD weekend or something, to compensate us for lost time :P

This isn't a Comcast problem though. If you do a search for "Cogent" on the STO forums you'll see there have been problems with them for years.

It is past time Cryptic found a new ISP, if another is available.

Now there may be something screwy with a connection between Comcast and Cogent but it's not on Comcast's end. Comcast techs have traced the problem to outside their network, in this case to Cogent, like usual.

This is nothing new unfortunately. If you're new to Cryptic games you'd best get used to this because come November or December it will happen again. It always does.

Im not an expert on internet backbone hubs and stuff,, but when it comes to this page im thinking 0's across the board is BAD! Found another page that showed every major city across the world screaming in the RED showing " attacks" on the net... wasn't any other details,, so im not sure how to interpret that,, but I think something bigger is going on than just a server farm in boston have ISP issues. Strange that Netflix seems to working perfectly though.

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/namerica.htm

THis is the one that shows the ATTACK... if anything its got some HUGE numbers on it... Cyberattack?

https://www.akamai.com/us/en/solutions/intelligent-platform/visualizing-akamai/real-time-web-monitor.jsp

worked for a little while and now back to server not responding

phrank224 said:

Still not playable via Comcast, though works fine over Verizon. Tracert using either ISPshows the same mysterious missed hop at 19.

Not mysterious - that host just doesn't respond to ping requests, so they time out.

BTW - we've been tracking this problem over in the STO forums as well. It seems to be peering points with Cogent that's the problem, not other ISPs. Definitely a lot of issues with Comcast -> Cogent links, but certain routes are fine.

I'm also seeing issues with various VPNs on the US east coast that don't touch Comcast's network. Some other VPN Tunnels are fine.

I'm sticking with my new theory, and I'm already 1 for 1 on theories this weekend. Its the end of the month and they are dangerously close to overage charges on bandwidth so they are cycling their users off. I was finally able to get on earlier after leaving the launcher open waiting, and when I went afk the lag had returned after attempting to relogin. Smells very much of throttling. I will be right when September 1st creeps around and the problem is gone

it is still very odd that every time neverwinter tweets about giving away that companion I drop even more, coincidence!?

Well after the ISP update thing you guys posted I was able to play for a good 30 mins. Started to have problems with the game, when the skirmish was about to be over... poof. Disconnected from server.

How about some extra time to get the event done?

> @zebular said:
> Even if switching providers was an option, that wouldn't necessarily fix anything. Such could make it even worse. As well, it doesn't matter what provider one uses, users will still be going through networks such as Cogent, Comcast, AT&T, etc, etc. That's how the internet works. The internet is not a straight line and you don't stay on "your" network connecting around the World. The whole "Net Neutrality" movement enlightened and taught a lot of users how the internet works and these sorts of issues just continue to do that, which is a good thing even if it is horrible to experience.
>
> The more people to learn, understand, and experience how the internet works means that the future will hopefully be a better place as such experiences drive our youth to imagine and create a better world. Alas, right now we are subject to a fickle internet ruled by a monopoly of agencies and corporations. Eeks, sounds like I may need to invest in some tin foil, sorry for that rant!

Well this is partly true... Most the datacenters I work with have no less than 3 ISPs and redundant hot and cold sites for exactly this type of issue. Your head node should always be dynamic so in the case of a bad external network route, or ISP outage, you can redirect your users to a working node.

Failover and redundancy are #1 anytime you are hosting systems. My clients would kill me if I bound them to a single ISP and had a connection mess like this. Even simple DNS redirection to a different circuit would be better than what has happened. Yes DNS takes time to propagate, but with a short TTL, it probably would have been up sooner than what we are seeing now. Many applications even test multiple routes for the fastest and more reliable route before establishing a connection.

I don't mean to directly disagree, but there are more facts than what had been posted.

Additionally, Cogent has always been the low cost provider who has had to beg, borrow and steal in the past to get carrier agreements. I know that has changed recently, but for my clients with Cogent, I always recommend a more reliable backup circuit.