I've been hoping that this problem would have gone away by now, but it has not, and this past Friday squadop has now prompted me to post.
Just about every time I log into the SEA for squad ops, I have a problem. I either loose UDP (within 1 minute of log in), get a CTD or loose VOX. On one occasion, I got a complete hard lockup. This never happens when I go to the MA, so I am fairly certain this is a server-side issue and not my PC. I usually get this to clear up by relogging a few times.
What has got me this past Friday (Frame 1 Bancok or Bust) was that after flying over 45 minutes patrolling A8, we finally saw some action. A bunch of B26s coming in to level bomb. We went to attack them in our N1Ks, and as I dove to attack a formation of 3, I saw the whole bomber formation warp about 400 yards and then got a screen freeze as soon as I saw tracers from the guns on the bombers. A few seconds later, I was about 300-400 yards to the right side of the bombers and then a moment later I was KIA in the tower.
Now I think that the problem was caused by the bomber being gunned by another player (which, by 45 minutes into the frame is usually the case for most bombers) so some sort of connection or server issue caused my screen freeze and death.
Not fun. The SEA needs to be fixed.
Also, this is not a problem isolated to only my PC. I know of at least 1 other player in my squad that has experienced the exact same log-in symptoms as I have.