Connection issues

[Polymachos]

Here, on the other side of the Atlantic, the servers don't respond well, neither in my launcher, nor in my browser. The launcher takes ages to determine if the servers are up, even the process of checking the patch status is havin issues. My browser loses every second page. I am used to 'Lotro does not respond' messages, but now I am told that the browser received a reset message.

Maybe it is the provider Qwest. My traceroute shows:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms fritz.box [192.168.178.1]
2 43 ms 43 ms 43 ms 87.186.225.20
3 43 ms 43 ms 45 ms 217.0.89.210
4 132 ms 134 ms 134 ms was-sb1-i.WAS.US.NET.DTAG.DE [62.154.5.138]
5 129 ms 129 ms 133 ms 80.157.130.154
6 180 ms * 180 ms ewr-cntr-11.inet.qwest.net [205.171.17.2]
7 188 ms 222 ms * 206.103.215.50
8 180 ms 181 ms 180 ms 63.236.3.130
9 181 ms 181 ms 181 ms 10.192.216.4
10 186 ms 181 ms 180 ms 198.252.160.30

Normally, the ping is around 145 ms.

Trying to post this notice (hitting Send) ended in a blank page, and the content never reached the forum server. Had to create this post anew.

Are others affected, too?


Greetings, Polymachos

[Taelivrin]

Confirmed from germany.

Extreme long connection times. Trying to login for almost 20 Minutes now. Although I have been online this morning, but the game was very laggy.

Taelivrin

[Yarbro]

I have been getting the "server has reset your connection" issues for months; some weeks are much worse than others.

I also was logged into the game this morning and had connection issues on Evernight; one small area of Lothlorien kept stopping me from entering, and on the 3rd attempt in 10 minutes, the connection locked up for around 20 seconds before resuming.

My nominal ping is around 100ms, although it is often in the range 89-94; however I have had it reach over 300. A bigger issue is the number of times the packet loss has made the game unplayable; prior to the Mordor launch 0.3% loss was the worst I used to see, since then I regularly see loss's of up to 5%, and on one occasion a few weeks ago, I suffered several minutes of 45% packet loss (in combat, and in the middle of an instance - obviously!!).

[KappaTau]

Been having packet loss myself between 0.3%-0.6% regularly for hours at a time every day over the past month.

SSG is really skimping on the servers these days imo.

[maartena]

Here, on the other side of the Atlantic, the servers don't respond well, neither in my launcher, nor in my browser. The launcher takes ages to determine if the servers are up, even the process of checking the patch status is havin issues. My browser loses every second page. I am used to 'Lotro does not respond' messages, but now I am told that the browser received a reset message.

Maybe it is the provider Qwest. My traceroute shows:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms fritz.box [192.168.178.1]
2 43 ms 43 ms 43 ms 87.186.225.20
3 43 ms 43 ms 45 ms 217.0.89.210
4 132 ms 134 ms 134 ms was-sb1-i.WAS.US.NET.DTAG.DE [62.154.5.138]
5 129 ms 129 ms 133 ms 80.157.130.154
6 180 ms * 180 ms ewr-cntr-11.inet.qwest.net [205.171.17.2]
7 188 ms 222 ms * 206.103.215.50
8 180 ms 181 ms 180 ms 63.236.3.130
9 181 ms 181 ms 181 ms 10.192.216.4
10 186 ms 181 ms 180 ms 198.252.160.30

Normally, the ping is around 145 ms.

Trying to post this notice (hitting Send) ended in a blank page, and the content never reached the forum server. Had to create this post anew.

Are others affected, too?


Greetings, Polymachos

145ms is very acceptable from continental Europe. You can probably get close to 135-ish from the UK, but considering the distance.... that's probably as good as it gets.

However, in your case I see a different problem: Your very first hop behind your Fritz box (which I think is a router/gateway device in your home) is 45ms. That is really, really lousy.... If you have a xDSL type or Cable provider, your very first hop should be no more than 10-15ms, so there is a problem there. If you have a fiber-optic connection, that first hop should probably be around 3ms.

But definitly not 45ms.

To compare, my ping to New Jersey (gls.lotro.com) is around 67ms from California, covering around 4,000 kilometers. So with 45ms, either your first hop is 2-3,000 km away somewhere.... or there is a problem with your provider on the first hop that needs to be addressed. That first hop IP (87.186.225.20) belongs to Deutsche Telekom, so that is most likely where your problem resides.... 45ms right out of YOUR front door is wrong.

[Altair6]

145ms is very acceptable from continental Europe. You can probably get close to 135-ish from the UK, but considering the distance.... that's probably as good as it gets.

I often get better than 100ms from the UK to gls.lotro.com. It's usually about 95 but sometimes in the 80s. It does occasionally go higher but not often.

[Thodorin]

It war no problem with the game servers. The routing from Europe to the USA was partly interrupted by packet losses of up to 50 percent. This also affected other games.

Target Name: gls.lotro.com
IP: 198.252.160.30
Date/Time: 03.10.2017 13:36:00 to 03.10.2017 13:37:30

1 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms xx
2 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 24 ms 7 ms 7 ms [xx]
3 138 ms 134 ms 130 ms 133 ms 143 ms 124 ms 134 ms 140 ms 141 ms 137 ms xxx.DE [xx6]
4 140 ms 140 ms 135 ms 137 ms 151 ms 139 ms 139 ms 139 ms 157 ms 138 ms [80.157.130.154]
5 154 ms * * 153 ms 153 ms * 334 ms * 154 ms N/A ewr-cntr-11.inet.qwest.net [205.171.17.2]
6 * * 271 ms * 153 ms * * 325 ms 154 ms 154 ms [206.103.215.50]
7 154 ms 154 ms 153 ms 153 ms 154 ms * * 153 ms * 154 ms [63.236.3.130]
8 154 ms 154 ms * 154 ms * 154 ms * 154 ms 153 ms 154 ms [10.192.216.4]
9 155 ms 154 ms * * 161 ms 160 ms 154 ms 154 ms * 154 ms [-]
10 155 ms 154 ms 154 ms * 154 ms * * 154 ms 154 ms 154 ms [198.252.160.30]

Ping statistics for gls.lotro.com
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 7, Lost = 3 (30,0%)
Round Trip Times: Minimum = 154ms, Maximum = 155ms, Average = 154ms


Target Name: gls.lotro.com
IP: 198.252.160.30
Date/Time: 03.10.2017 22:07:50 to 03.10.2017 22:09:20

1 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 1 ms 0 ms 0 ms xxx
2 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 14 ms 7 ms 7 ms [xxx]
3 159 ms 157 ms 161 ms 159 ms 158 ms 162 ms 155 ms 157 ms * * xxx.DE [xx]
4 156 ms 160 ms 157 ms 184 ms 155 ms 157 ms 157 ms 159 ms 158 ms 156 ms [80.157.130.154]
5 127 ms 121 ms 131 ms 116 ms 122 ms 132 ms 138 ms 116 ms 132 ms 123 ms ewr-cntr-11.inet.qwest.net [205.171.17.2]
6 128 ms 122 ms 145 ms 117 ms 123 ms 130 ms 139 ms 116 ms 130 ms 254 ms [206.103.215.50]
7 113 ms 114 ms 114 ms 113 ms 114 ms 115 ms 113 ms 113 ms 114 ms 113 ms [63.236.3.130]
8 128 ms 121 ms 129 ms 116 ms 123 ms 130 ms 137 ms 119 ms 129 ms 124 ms [10.192.216.4]
9 122 ms 125 ms 124 ms 131 ms 119 ms 126 ms 111 ms 109 ms 118 ms 110 ms [-]
10 123 ms 124 ms 125 ms 132 ms 121 ms 126 ms 113 ms 108 ms 120 ms 109 ms [198.252.160.30]

Ping statistics for gls.lotro.com
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0,0%)
Round Trip Times: Minimum = 108ms, Maximum = 132ms, Average = 120ms


Information of a german provider https://twitter.com/Telekom_hilft/st...72218724245505 .

telekom_hilft

Die Verbindung Richtung USA ist gerade beeinträchtigt. Das ist nicht unser Netz. Das Problem ist gemeldet und wird behoben. ^au

"The connection direction USA has just been affected. This is not our network. The problem is reported and is fixed"

[Yarbro]

That is just one outage, although it might be that all of the packet loss over the last two months was a symptom of whatever caused this outage*.

45ms first hop, I hadnt noticed that (blame the drugs), yes it is far too high; that is the equivalent of half way from Europe to the LOTRO servers in the US; my "normal" ping being in the high 80's to mid 90's much of the time (location = central region of UK).

It might be a routing error your ISP can fix, or it might be a relay going bad; either way, raise the issue with them.


* There have been an abnormally large number of undersea faults since the Ruskies launched their "Special Ops" sub, capable of putting divers out at quite deep depths. Either they are botching their efforts to tap the lines, or they are doing it deliberately as practice for the next global war.

[Esterian]

I experienced the same. With using a french proxy I got a new routing and it worked for tonight.


Edit: Just in the moment I wanted to get some tracert protocols my normal (Deutsche Telekom) connection worked again.

[Cordovan]

We have been looking into it, and so far it appears to be some kind of wider Internet backbone issue in Europe.

[Polymachos]

Meanwhile it is fixed, looks like Telekom and Qwest have come to terms with it.

The 45 ms have been there for ages; I am attached to an old ADSL line that can do 16 Mbit at best, the long ping is probably linked to that. The government is promising 'broadband everywhere' all the time - whatever they mean with that, they called 2 Mbit 'broadband' in the years after 2000, and currently they think it is broadband if you can get a LTE connection, or an updated tv cable (which has still this old copper lying in the ground, as had been for 30 years, and has to be shared with all neighbours in the street).

I am glad that the issue is fixed; no matter how grindy this game may be, the time *without* it is still worse

BTW: Wishing you well, Yarbro, really. I know quite well how pains can hamper you, and painkillers even more (and still fail).


Greetings, Polymachos

[maartena]

The 45 ms have been there for ages; I am attached to an old ADSL line that can do 16 Mbit at best, the long ping is probably linked to that. The government is promising 'broadband everywhere' all the time - whatever they mean with that, they called 2 Mbit 'broadband' in the years after 2000, and currently they think it is broadband if you can get a LTE connection, or an updated tv cable (which has still this old copper lying in the ground, as had been for 30 years, and has to be shared with all neighbours in the street).

Ouch.... and here I thought Germany was so ahead of the game when it comes to internet connections. Cable will always be shared, but DOCSIS protocols with multiple frequencies used largely overcome that, when I still had cable it was on DOCSIS 3.0, and I know there is a EuroDOCSIS standard that is pretty similar, just slightly different frequency values.

Meanwhile, I am happy with my 1 Gbps fiberoptic connection:

C:\Windows\system32>ping 8.8.8.8

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=54
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=54
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=54
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 3ms, Maximum = 3ms, Average = 3ms

I'm pretty sure that wherever my fiber hits a headend, its a datacenter with Google DNS presence. I know their "8.8.8.8" in reality is several thousands of servers spread all over the globe, and a few of them are quie close near me.



C:\Windows\system32>ping gls.lotro.com

Pinging gls.lotro.com [198.252.160.30] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 198.252.160.30: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=232
Reply from 198.252.160.30: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=232
Reply from 198.252.160.30: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=232
Reply from 198.252.160.30: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=232

Ping statistics for 198.252.160.30:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 67ms, Maximum = 67ms, Average = 67ms


Lotro @ 67ms is pretty solid, considering I am 4,000+ km+ or 2,500+ miles away from the SSG Datacenter.

One thing to note: When you do trace routes, you may notice that hops in between lose packets or respond slower. This is done deliberately. Major backbone providers with core routers often put ICMP responses to the lowest possible priority, in order to stave off major DDOS attacks against their network.... but they pass through ICMP requests with normal priority. So a ping directly to gls.lotro.com is a lot better to figure out what your speed is to the datacenter instead of relying on the nodes/hops in between. Just a thought

[Yarbro]

Ping for ADSL shouldnt be any different to VDSL, in fact in some cases ADSL is slightly faster.

As for 16Mb, many would love to get speeds that fast; prior to getting VDSL my best tweaks only managed to get my old 2Mb line up to 5.5Mb.

it helps that I live near a Defence Research Station*, so we were one of the first areas for VDSL rollout; obviously it also means we are ground zero in any Russian Nuclear launch.

*Plasma screens were invented here, then the tech sold to the Japanese, because the UK government is a bunch of tight fisted dim-wits who wouldnt put up the cash to develop it.

[Esterian]

Ping for ADSL shouldnt be any different to VDSL, in fact in some cases ADSL is slightly faster.

As for 16Mb, many would love to get speeds that fast; prior to getting VDSL my best tweaks only managed to get my old 2Mb line up to 5.5Mb.

it helps that I live near a Defence Research Station*, so we were one of the first areas for VDSL rollout; obviously it also means we are ground zero in any Russian Nuclear launch.

*Plasma screens were invented here, then the tech sold to the Japanese, because the UK government is a bunch of tight fisted dim-wits who wouldnt put up the cash to develop it.

Defence Research/Industry facilities (like EADS) have completly seperate lines...I live next to one ;-)

Otherwise the money for VDSL upgrades is there in several pots (federal, state) but the communal government doesn't get it's ### moving to grab it. So I guess you should make your mayor a bit fire under his but

[Yarbro]

Defence Research/Industry facilities (like EADS) have completly seperate lines...I live next to one ;-)

Otherwise the money for VDSL upgrades is there in several pots (federal, state) but the communal government doesn't get it's ### moving to grab it. So I guess you should make your mayor a bit fire under his but

We used to have two*, one at either end of town; the fibre was laid in a nearly direct line, down my road from the one towards the other; so although they may have a separate fibre, BT used the MOD's money to lay their own civilian cables at the same time; mine was the ONLY road in the town with Fibre cabinets for over a year, and certain parts of the town still arent covered.

If you have an air rifle, a steady arm, and a decent aim, you can hit THREE fibre cabinets from the path outside my house, and the 1.5 mile length of the road sports at least six (I know of six, there may be others behind hedges)

* The other got shut down at short notice, so the planned fibre line was abandoned, and that part of the town is still mostly ADSL only; even the site has gone now, covered in newly built rabbit hutches.

[Yarbro]

My ISP have just warned me there may be a few 5 minute outages today and tomorrow due to emergency repairs to a UK backbone; it seems part of a major UK internet relay has also been giving issues and tonight/tomorrow it is being replaced.

I had been noticing occasional 20-30 second interruptions to my connection for a couple of weeks, so the LOTRO issues, the micro interrupts, and this back bone relay may be linked; at least in the UK/ parts of Western Europe; certainly the timing, a few days after I asked if there were any issues, is a bit of a coincidence.

[maartena]

Reading this, I don't think I have any reason to complain about my internet..... ever again.



This speed did came in handy when I had to re-download Lotro from scratch a few months ago.....

[Yarbro]

Reading this, I don't think I have any reason to complain about my internet..... ever again.



This speed did came in handy when I had to re-download Lotro from scratch a few months ago.....

All well and good - assuming the LOTRO servers could manage a fraction of it.

Last time I downloaded a full fresh install, it came in at under 6Mb per second, despite my 80Mb line, compared with torrent files, which regularly reach in excess of 60Mb per second.

[maartena]

All well and good - assuming the LOTRO servers could manage a fraction of it.

Last time I downloaded a full fresh install, it came in at under 6Mb per second, despite my 80Mb line, compared with torrent files, which regularly reach in excess of 60Mb per second.

Mine came in at 200-250 Mbps, so I am assuming that AT&T has good peering with the Datacenter that Lotro is in. If I am not mistaken, they are in an Equinix facility in Jersey City, and I happen to have a cage in an Equinix data center in Los Angeles, and one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.... (and soon one in Hong Kong), and they have good peering with many of the major providers.

I believe I deducted it was Equinix based on the fact they specifically listed New Jersey and Amsterdam, and it being the same data center provider.... and very few datacenter providers happen to be exactly in those two locations.

I also believe that the call NOT to move to Amsterdam was made not because of technical challenges, but because the sale to SSG was already in the works......

[Yarbro]

Mine came in at 200-250 Mbps, so I am assuming that AT&T has good peering with the Datacenter that Lotro is in. If I am not mistaken, they are in an Equinix facility in Jersey City, and I happen to have a cage in an Equinix data center in Los Angeles, and one in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.... (and soon one in Hong Kong), and they have good peering with many of the major providers.

I believe I deducted it was Equinix based on the fact they specifically listed New Jersey and Amsterdam, and it being the same data center provider.... and very few datacenter providers happen to be exactly in those two locations.

I also believe that the call NOT to move to Amsterdam was made not because of technical challenges, but because the sale to SSG was already in the works......

I also suspect you downloaded the files at a time when the LOTRO servers were very quiet, I did have another full download earlier this year that came down at around 20-25Mbps; still not enough to affect the three TV streams that were coming in at the same time.