Massive packet loss from a Level 3 server in Denver

[BanditWhip311]

Please make them fix this. The game is almost unplayable with the rubber banding. Thanks!

[BanditWhip311]

And it's not getting any better as I wait   

[fuzeman]

If Level 3 'could' be made to get their act together it would have been done a long time ago.

[BanditWhip311]

Just doing what the Aces High trouble shooting page says. Take a screen cap of the packet loss and let them contact the problem. Getting even worse now.

[fuzeman]

I feel your pain, I've had them in my route before.
Maybe the bad weather is a factor.
As you said though, that's what HTC wants and they can run a trace back to you also.

[Skuzzy]

Please make them fix this. The game is almost unplayable with the rubber banding. Thanks!

You ran the ping/trace to our WEB site, which is not where the game servers are located.

Use one of the IP addresses from this post: https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,68316.0.html

That said, if Comcast is using Level3 as their primary transport, in your area, then anything outside the Comcast network could be impacted by Level3.  Unfortunately, Level3 is almost always suffering packet loss due to high demand.  ISP's use them as they are cheap.

[BanditWhip311]

Thanks Skuzzy, but then you need to change your Technical Help FAQ because I did exactly what you guys have on there to do:

https://www.hitechcreations.com/support/support-faq

I highlighted it for you in the pic so you can see why I did what I did.

[BanditWhip311]

And here is the ping trace to the main arena that I am suffering in. Not sure what those two hops with 100% packet loss are, but they suck and I'm going to have to ask for a refund soon as this is ridiculous. And lets just make a point here that I do not want to stop playing. I love this game and have been a player off and on for a long time. Even went to one of the conventions in Grape Vine once. This packet loss though, is untenable now. 

[Bizman]

BanditWhip311, the two empty hops with 100% packet loss indicate that there's issues reaching the next hop. Somehow it wasn't surprising that the packets were lost just on the porch of Level3: http://4.15.44.126.ipaddress.com/.

[Skuzzy]

Thank you for pointing out the error in the WEB page.  I'll get that corrected.

The 100% packet loss simply means that particular router is configured to ignore the "ECHO ICMP" packet types which are only used by ping type programs.

My guess is the packet loss had already cleared up by the time you ran the ping plot to the game servers.

[wrench]

I actually managed to talk with Level3 tech support regarding packet loss about 2 years ago.

They were entertained at the thought of someone actually getting through to them and passed me around like a hot potato.

Then a tech proceeded to tell me a fairy tale about how my packet loss (up to around 50% to 60%) was a false reading and there was no packet loss. It was difficult not to laugh at his explanation knowing it was utter bull****.

My ISP elevated tech support said they have no leverage to do anything about it.

Fortunately when I moved the service got a little better.

Level3 has no intention of improving packet loss.

[BanditWhip311]

Thanks for the help everyone. I really do appreciate it, and really hate that the current administration has no intention of protecting everyone's right to a free and unfettered internet. It scares me that things like this will be very common soon. 

[Bizman]

--- really hate that the current administration has no intention of protecting everyone's right to a free and unfettered internet.---

Yepp... As has been told Level3 is a massive distributor for Netflix which obviously takes quite a lot of bandwidth. At the same time the authorities take more and more of their "services" from service desks to the Internet. How do they ensure that you can do your taxes or banking if there's some mega hit to be streamed?