Level3 issues? Post some info here

Level3 are part of the 'backbone' of the Internet in the US at it were. Think of them as kind of like an ISP's ISP if that helps (though at the risk of oversimplifying). The ISP's are trying to extort money out of them and so haven't upgraded their infrastructure, effectively throttling internet users, and Level3 themselves haven't kept their infrastructure up to snuff, so the information superhighway is now gridlocked at times and the ISP's are trying to double charge for people just getting what they already pay for. This might help:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/techkno...et-service-provider-throttling-traffic/13599/

BUMP due to no fix after 4 months...subscription cancelled and not spending another cent until the ping is fixed.

the game is unplayable fps bouncing all over the place checked connections all good was working fine before update

Agree this last update has made this unplayable with the lowest graphic settings.. was on hours before last patch and was fine with graphics tuned up like normal..

It became a habit to post one once a month, I guess...
54k ping
Deutsche Telekom

Routenverfolgung zu lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24] über maximal 30 Abschnitte:

2 18 ms 18 ms 18 ms 87.186.224.108
3 22 ms 18 ms 18 ms 87.186.241.134
4 22 ms 23 ms 24 ms hh-eb5-i.HH.DE.NET.DTAG.DE [62.154.32.102]
5 22 ms 20 ms 21 ms 62.157.249.78
6 182 ms 318 ms 250 ms ae-11-11.car1.Hamburg1.Level3.net [4.69.133.177]
7 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
8 177 ms 176 ms 177 ms ae-45-45.ebr3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.166]
9 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
10 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
11 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
12 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
13 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
14 178 ms 177 ms 179 ms ae-6-6.ebr2.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.148.146]
15 184 ms 180 ms 178 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.132.113]
16 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
17 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
18 179 ms 180 ms 188 ms ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
19 184 ms 183 ms 183 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]
20 177 ms 178 ms 194 ms SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.16.50]
21 181 ms 179 ms 178 ms lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

Here goes another one.
Routenverfolgung zu lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24] über maximal 30 Abschnitte:

2 19 ms 18 ms 52 ms 87.186.224.108
3 18 ms 39 ms 29 ms 87.186.241.138
4 24 ms 21 ms 24 ms hh-eb5-i.HH.DE.NET.DTAG.DE [62.154.32.78]
5 20 ms 23 ms 21 ms 62.157.249.78
6 * 179 ms 177 ms ae-11-11.car1.Hamburg1.Level3.net [4.69.133.177]
7 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
8 176 ms 176 ms 176 ms ae-45-45.ebr3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.166]
9 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
10 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
11 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
12 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
13 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
14 178 ms 177 ms 177 ms ae-6-6.ebr2.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.148.146]
15 180 ms 178 ms 178 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.132.113]
16 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
17 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
18 182 ms 180 ms 179 ms ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
19 184 ms 183 ms 183 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]
20 177 ms 178 ms 177 ms SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.16.50]
21 179 ms 179 ms 179 ms lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

Ablaufverfolgung beendet.

Tracing route to lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms ti0050a400-gw.ti.telenor.net [88.91.158.1]
2 33 ms 32 ms 32 ms ti0053c400-ae6-0.ti.telenor.net [146.172.19.81]

3 31 ms 32 ms 31 ms ti0015c400-ae4-0.ti.telenor.net [146.172.98.33]

4 32 ms 32 ms 32 ms ti0006c400-ae5-0.ti.telenor.net [146.172.99.85]

5 32 ms 32 ms 31 ms ti0300c360-ae4-0.ti.telenor.net [146.172.100.109
]
6 33 ms 33 ms 32 ms ti3003c400-ae6-0.ti.telenor.net [146.172.99.245]

7 32 ms 32 ms 32 ms ti6000b400-ae1-0.ti.telenor.net [146.172.105.46]

8 33 ms 32 ms 32 ms ae51.bar1.Copenhagen1.Level3.net [213.242.108.13
]
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 194 ms 194 ms 194 ms ae-46-46.ebr3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.17
0]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 195 ms 195 ms 195 ms ae-6-6.ebr2.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.148.146]
17 196 ms 195 ms 200 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.132.113]

18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 192 ms 193 ms 192 ms ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
21 270 ms 195 ms 194 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]

22 194 ms 193 ms 196 ms SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.1
6.50]
23 194 ms 194 ms 194 ms lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

Trace complete.

Two to are wasting time tracing to lp.soe.com that is not a game server, and has nothing to do with ingame latency.

What servers do you two play on?

From Paris, tracing miller. Im also playing on miller and getting high ping/desync without reason...


Détermination de l'itinéraire vers amspsn-liv-gw04.planetside2.com [69.174.194.1
68]
avec un maximum de 30 sauts :

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms box [192.168.1.1]
2 37 ms 37 ms 37 ms 84.96.128.151
3 36 ms 36 ms 36 ms 177.131.96.84.rev.sfr.net [84.96.131.177]
4 * 36 ms 36 ms 185.244.64.86.rev.sfr.net [86.64.244.185]
5 37 ms 39 ms 39 ms 218.12.6.109.rev.sfr.net [109.6.12.218]
6 38 ms 39 ms 39 ms 250.29.3.109.rev.sfr.net [109.3.29.250]
7 43 ms 47 ms 47 ms 54.247.5.109.rev.sfr.net [109.5.247.54]
8 40 ms 37 ms 36 ms xe-0-3-1.parigi32.par.seabone.net [213.144.183.2
04]
9 37 ms 37 ms 37 ms ae9.edge4.Paris1.Level3.net [4.68.62.21]
10 * * * Délai d'attente de la demande dépassé.
11 * * * Délai d'attente de la demande dépassé.
12 * * * Délai d'attente de la demande dépassé.
13 * * * Délai d'attente de la demande dépassé.
14 * * * Délai d'attente de la demande dépassé.
15 * * * Délai d'attente de la demande dépassé.
16 48 ms 48 ms 48 ms ae-237-3613.edge6.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [4.69.16
2.242]
17 51 ms 72 ms 54 ms SONY-ONLINE.edge6.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [212.72.
46.190]
18 49 ms 48 ms 48 ms amspsn-liv-gw04.planetside2.com [69.174.194.168]


Itinéraire déterminé.

It suffers from the same issues the game servers suffer from (including the same bad stops on the route). If the problem was game server specific, they would know by now and would have known long ago already.

Yolu don't seem to understand how things work.

lp.soe.com is the server that host Launchpad (i.e. launcher) related stuff, once you leave the Launcher you no longer use it for anything. It is hosted in Las Vegas, so no matter where in the world you are tracing to it is gonna take you to Las Vegas. So if you are outside the US of course you are gonna have high latency when you trace to it because you are going around the world.

Now the game servers are hosted in different areas around the world, each is in a different par of the world, so why would you expect the same path or even the same company to provide a route to two complete different parts of the planet.

Depending on your ISP, You could go over Level3 at some point to get to lp.soe.com but never use them to get to you local game server, but if you only trace to lp.soe.com you'll never know, plus even if there is an issue affecting latency on lp.soe.com it doesn'tmean it effect your local server..

Also keep in mind, these traces only show the path to the server, they don't show the path coming back which can is is often completely different.

Hi,

Thanks for the thorough "explanation" but I am familiar enough with how things work.
My route to lp.soe.com is nearly identical to the route of the server I play my alt on, except that it doesn't go over Chicago but over Washington instead (both L3, both ****** up).
Whenever there's Level3 involved, things get laggy as hell (not due to distance; EU and US East have the same latency to me - both on paper and feeling - beats me how) and routes to every single game server include Level3. I just couldnt bother tracing all of them for an issue that has persisted for almost half a year, against which was done nothing noticeable so far and on which you have a dozen pages of traceroutes provided already.
I saw the exact same routes my ISP uses by other German users already; the culprits between origin and destination on the T-Com routes are well known since months. It would be no less of a waste of time to post them, which is why I simply picked any.

To avoid further going off topic I'll eject at this point
But thanks for explaining the obvious!

Well if would be, but the keyword there is "nearly", there is still 3/4th of a continent of difference where an issue may or may not be, and if you not playing on Connery then that trace to lp.soe.com showing some latency issue in Las Vages is pointless, and on the flip side if it shows no problem there can still be a problem at/near the the server you are playing on, and again you wouldn't know.

Also realize that your experience does not mean everyone else will be the same, every ISP has different connections and routes, some peer directly with Level 3 some use a 2nd ISP to get to Level3, some people never even use Level 3 to get to anything SOE, I have seen a few traces that have llnw.net (I.e Limelight Networks) with no signs of Level 3.

Ill be honest, I have never had issues with Level 3 via any ISP I have been on or that any of my servers have connections to, and general Level 3 is considered one of the top ISP's all over the world, and not just in terms of size but quality.

I'm not saying they are perfect but I have seen a bunch of people post traces and blame Level 3 and you can see they have issues on their local network or on their very first ISP hop.

And by the way, in your trace

Code:

[/SIZE]2 19 ms 18 ms 52 ms 87.186.224.108
3 18 ms 39 ms 29 ms 87.186.241.138
4 24 ms 21 ms 24 ms hh-eb5-i.HH.DE.NET.DTAG.DE [62.154.32.78]
5 20 ms 23 ms 21 ms 62.157.249.78
6 * 179 ms 177 ms ae-11-11.car1.Hamburg1.Level3.net [4.69.133.177]
7 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
8 176 ms 176 ms 176 ms ae-45-45.ebr3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.166]
9 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
10 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
11 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
12 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
13 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
14 178 ms 177 ms 177 ms ae-6-6.ebr2.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.148.146]
15 180 ms 178 ms 178 ms ae-1-100.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.132.113]
16 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
17 * * * Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
18 182 ms 180 ms 179 ms ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
19 184 ms 183 ms 183 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]
20 177 ms 178 ms 177 ms SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.16.50]
21 179 ms 179 ms 179 ms lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

On hop 6, there is no 100+ms directly at that hop, what you are seeing is MPLS ICMP Tunneling. what you are seeing is the latency of the whole MPLS path.

I.e. the packet didn't hit the 4.69.133.177 router and go straight back to you (like you are probably used to) it hit that router and the response is sent forward trough the path all the way to Las Vegas to the last MPLS router on that path and then it is sent back from there.

So really in that trace you are simply seeing 179ms (well about 159ms if you drop your ISP's 20ms latency) from Europe to Las Vegas., which in reality is pretty normal and acceptable.

Same thing with any other trace you do on Level 3, the first Level 3 hop shows a bigger jump because of this.

So again Id like to see a trace from your ISP to Miller show where Level 3 sucks so bad supposedly.

And also, ever stop to think it could be the Planetside server itself having issues and not even network related, remember the In Game latency includes the time to process a request through the game server engine as well. so you can have a 10ms latency to the server via ping/tracert but show 24kms in game at the same time.

today it started to get ridiculous for me after my last post. regularly spiking up to 1,5k.

tracerouting miller from southern germany. provider: cablesurf.de

Code:

Routenverfolgung zu amspsn-liv-gw04.planetside2.com [69.174.194.168] über maximal 30 Abschnitte:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  fritz.box [192.168.178.1]
  2    10 ms    13 ms    11 ms  10.230.48.1
  3    29 ms    23 ms    23 ms  85.233.60.3.dynamic.cablesurf.de [85.233.60.3]
  4    13 ms    10 ms    12 ms  gi-2-1.bbr-nue-01.de.infra.cablesurf.de [85.233.35.30]
  5    43 ms    43 ms    43 ms  85.232.1.156
  6    55 ms    53 ms    55 ms  195.69.147.26
  7    58 ms    63 ms    61 ms  amspsn-liv-gw04.planetside2.com [69.174.194.168]

Ablaufverfolgung beendet.

doesn't look that bad. probably i just got that one window without bad pings...

a tracert to lp.soe.com looks way worse. as soon as i hit a level3 router the ping explodes, even a german hop. just look at hop 10!

Code:

Routenverfolgung zu lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24] über maximal 30 Abschnitte:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  fritz.box [192.168.178.1]
  2    13 ms    12 ms    11 ms  10.230.48.1
  3    25 ms    25 ms    23 ms  85.233.60.3.dynamic.cablesurf.de [85.233.60.3]
  4    10 ms    11 ms    15 ms  gi-2-1.bbr-nue-01.de.infra.cablesurf.de [85.233.35.30]
  5    35 ms    31 ms    41 ms  85.232.1.156
  6    59 ms    79 ms    63 ms  xe-10-2-0.edge4.Berlin1.Level3.net [212.162.10.109]
  7     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
  8     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
  9     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 10   188 ms   190 ms   187 ms  ae-47-47.ebr3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.143.174]
 11     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 12     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 13     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 14     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 15     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 16   200 ms   207 ms   202 ms  ae-6-6.ebr2.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.148.146]
 17   197 ms   200 ms   202 ms  ae-1-100.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.132.113]
 18     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 19     *        *        *     Zeitüberschreitung der Anforderung.
 20   206 ms   202 ms   212 ms  ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
 21   199 ms   194 ms   189 ms  ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]
 22   198 ms   189 ms   191 ms  SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.16.50]
 23   190 ms   190 ms   188 ms  lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

Ablaufverfolgung beendet.

I posted the reason for that above, Google MPLS ICMP Tunneling

The whole game is a mess..

I have been getting problems still with this

Test 1:
Tracing route to lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 29 ms 19 ms 44 ms cpe-24-243-160-1.hot.res.rr.com [24.243.160.1]
3 15 ms 8 ms 10 ms cpe-24-243-160-1.hot.res.rr.com [24.243.160.1]
4 10 ms 14 ms 14 ms 24.26.192.85
5 12 ms 11 ms 15 ms tge0-9-0-8.wacotxjb02r.texas.rr.com [24.175.62.9
2]
6 23 ms 23 ms 22 ms agg24.hstqtxl301r.texas.rr.com [24.175.62.236]
7 21 ms 31 ms 19 ms 107.14.17.138
8 22 ms 24 ms 19 ms ae-0-0.cr0.dfw10.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.39]
9 19 ms 16 ms 13 ms ae-0-0.ar0.dfw10.tbone.rr.com [66.109.9.105]
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 63 ms 58 ms 76 ms ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
15 54 ms 57 ms 61 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]

16 67 ms 59 ms 57 ms SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.1
6.50]
17 57 ms 54 ms 59 ms lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

What game server?

That the Launch Pad (Launcher) server.

Tracing route to lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.178.1
3 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10.138.0.1
4 13 ms 11 ms 14 ms hlo-lc0001-cr102-irb-202.core.as9143.net [213.51.164.33]
5 22 ms 9 ms 22 ms asd-tr0610-cr101-ae6-0.core.as9143.net [213.51.158.82]
6 9 ms 8 ms 9 ms te0-0-0-3.rcr21.b038092-0.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com [149.11.65.53]
7 9 ms 9 ms 10 ms be2412.ccr41.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.37.97]
8 19 ms 19 ms 18 ms be2182.ccr21.lpl01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.77.246]
9 85 ms 89 ms 84 ms be2386.ccr21.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.44.161]
10 89 ms 88 ms 88 ms be2299.ccr21.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.43.10]
11 97 ms 96 ms 95 ms be2436.ccr21.yyz02.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.30]
12 98 ms 98 ms 97 ms level3.yyz02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.11.210]
13 97 ms 96 ms 97 ms ae-13-13.bar1.Toronto1.Level3.net [4.69.200.233]
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 151 ms 151 ms 150 ms ae-6-6.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.69.140.190]
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 152 ms 151 ms 153 ms ae-1-6.bar2.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.1]
19 152 ms 151 ms 152 ms ae-0-11.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [4.69.148.125]
20 160 ms 160 ms 169 ms SWITCH-COMM.bar1.LasVegas1.Level3.net [205.129.16.50]
21 160 ms 161 ms 160 ms lp.soe.com [64.37.171.24]

Trace complete.

Living in The Netherlands, using Ziggo (cable) as ISP.

And a trace to the PS2 Miller server (again: living in NL, using Ziggo cable as ISP).

Tracing route to amspsn-liv-gw04.planetside2.com [69.174.194.168]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.178.1
3 6 ms 7 ms 6 ms 10.138.0.1
4 13 ms 7 ms 7 ms vnn-rc0001-cr101-irb-201.core.as9143.net [213.51.164.1]
5 8 ms 19 ms 22 ms asd-tr0042-cr101-ae6-0.core.as9143.net [213.51.158.78]
6 7 ms 16 ms 7 ms ix-8-0.tcore1.AV2-Amsterdam.as6453.net [195.219.194.37]
7 9 ms 7 ms 8 ms if-7-2.tcore1.AD1-Amsterdam.as6453.net [195.219.194.46]
8 9 ms 11 ms 8 ms 4.68.63.41
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 9 ms 8 ms 13 ms ae-239-3615.edge6.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [4.69.162.250]
11 9 ms 8 ms 16 ms SONY-ONLINE.edge6.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [212.72.46.190]
12 8 ms 8 ms 7 ms amspsn-liv-gw04.planetside2.com [69.174.194.168]

Trace complete.

The weird part is that during the day i keep getting disconnected from the server, sometimes after a couple of minutes and sometimes within seconds after starting the game. Based on the ping there should not be any problem, but apparently packets are being dropped somewhere along the line. Based on the above traceroute, the issue seems to be with the interconnection with Level3 (hops 8 to 10).
The disconnects go away later in the evening, no problem from approximately 10PM onwards (GMT+1).

Bandwith issue on the interconnection with Level3?