Warning Speedtester and RPGs blocked!!

[brundles]

Originally Posted by Goddeh

Hi, I play a Eve-Online (MMORPG) and noticed a thread on the game's forum that might be related to your problem.

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingamebo...hreadID=645596



I'm on VM Cable myself and haven't had any issues like this, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before this rolls out on cable too.

Just saw this and the reference to a "Developer Prioritising System" caught my eye. Are they talking about running standards based IP QoS or something completely different?

[idi banashapan]

i get issues during the day trying to play Crysis online - I simply cannot connect to ANY server I try, yet come later in the evening, it connects fine. I pay for 20Mb, and as I type, speedtesters are averaging around 1.5Mbps on my connection (I've used 3 to get that result). All I do is random surfing (mainly bbc.co.uk), check mail with Outlook and play a couple of games (not even everyday). I very rarely have the need to download anything. If I do, it's likely to be a game patch. ok - so that might be a large file (sometimes 100Mb or so), but it's not every day.. nor week... nor even every month... so what's the deal Virgin Media??

[EvilJeff]

Originally Posted by EvilJeff

Looks like the thin end of the wedge !!!!

Prophetic words

It has now started on Cable.

I started having problems getting dissconnected from Flyff on Thursday evening. Using Ping Plotter I discovered the connection to the server is being blocked for approx 10-15 minutes about every 70 minutes. This makes the game almost un-playable since you lose about an hours experience by being killed when unexpectedly dissconnected.

Tehnical support did their best and advised me to connect my cable modem directly to my PC (standard answer). which strangely works! no more dropouts!

Problem is my daughter also plays the game, so a single PC isn't much use.

I thought maybe I need a new router, but before committing myself to wasted expenditure asked a friend who also has Virgin cable to try with his home setup (also using a router). Lo and behold... exactly the same blocking at exactly the same times! We both use different makes of router, so not likely to be a design issue.

Also the blocking starts third hop in at an NTL IP address.

I know it isn't the game servers going down since I chat with my brother using voip while playing and he has no problems (Since he switched from Virgin ADSL to BT).

I would be gratefull if anyone could try running a ping plot to 64.147.162.103 (the games login server) for several hours and let me know if they experience these mysterious dropouts, especially if you are in the Swansea area.

I'd like to get to the bottom of this, since I really don't want to say goodbye to Virgin, who have provided a reliable service for many years.

[CrowmanUK]

Forget phoning, they'll just pass your round different departments racking up your phone bill if my experience is anything to go by and if they say they'll call you back then they definitely wont, they changed the Fair use policy over the weekend too, see my post here http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12...anagement.html

there was a new clause written into the fair use policy too, here it is in all its glory

Application Management:
Application Management is really simple. We have a set of rules that manages how much bandwidth is allocated to a specific list of applications and protocols during peak periods. The rules apply to everyone on the network who is using these application and protocols during the peak period. Outside of peak periods, Application Management does not apply. Right now, the peak period for Application Management is Monday to Friday 4pm till 1am, and all day at the weekend.

Peak periods for Application Management may vary from time to time. This enables us to adapt the service to seasonal variations in demand, as well as the ever-changing ways in which customers use the internet.

[EvilJeff]

Thanks for the info, unfortunately this site is being blocked outside these hours.
9.25 this morning and again at 10:25 and 11:20 each time for 10-15 mins.

[VirginOnInsaniy]

I moved to BTinternet In December after suffering a total lack of interest from Virgin ADSL support after FLYFF was blocked FLYFF during peak hours.

Your filtering problems sound eerily familiar to my own. Don't waste money on premium rate helpline calls, you will be told its a filtering problem and they cant do anything about it. This happened on ADSL late last year.

Time to change ISP im afraid. Virgin was once a great ISP, when I joined it was on a month contract! they where so confident in there service. Sadly long gone now along with Richard Branson and respect for there customers needs.

I can't see why anyone stays with them! Their customer service is appalling, their filtering is shockingly implemented and their usage policy can slow you down to 80k!! and im not talking about going over any fair use limits.

You might want to consider Carphone Warehouse, Like the EU they don't see why users should loose there broadband at the request of the entertainment industry...(Virgin was the first to sign up)

Or BT? I was rewarded with a free wireless phone and a freview PVR when I joined. Oh and this month their doing a Blackberry type Mobile for a fiver a month.

Sky has free 2mb service and an unlimited 16Mb broadband for £10 a month!

As you can see some ISPs reward customer loyalty. Others never miss an opportunity to stick it to them.





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[EvilJeff]

Thanks, looks like I'll be going down that route. As has been said, speaking to Technical Support will get me nowhere since the staff involved have no idea about the blocking activities higher management have implemented.

---------- Post added at 21:50 ---------- Previous post was at 21:19 ----------

For anyone who may be interested in the problem, here's a plot taken this morning on my PC.



And here's a plot taken at the same time on my friends PC, 9 miles away, at the other side of swansea.



For those not conversant with Ping Plotter, the red blocks on the bottom bar graph indicate periods of no connection.

Clearly not a problem with my router, (although by-passing it does get rid of the dropouts)

And clearly the tech support statement that "We aren't blocking anything, we're not allowed too" is misfounded.

[Welshchris]

ive noticed that Steam online games are very sluggish and getting pings around 170.

[jamiefrost]

Slightly confused how can it be Virgins fault if you say it works when you connect direct your PC directly to your modem? Surly if the fault goes away when you remove the the router from the network it points to a problem with the router??

As for support forget ringing the helpline (Is it free now?) goto to the support news group you should be abel to gat some help from them quickly and they do know what they ar doing.

JJ

[EvilJeff]

the point is that a friend who has a different router is getting the same dropouts at exactly the same time! how can it be my router?
He hasn't even played the game, so it can't be a matter of blocking users with high usage of the site.

Incidentaly, during a dropout the packets get as far as hop 3. If the router was faulty, how would they get that far ?

---------- Post added at 22:09 ---------- Previous post was at 22:03 ----------

Here's an example when the blocking cut's in



---------- Post added at 22:14 ---------- Previous post was at 22:09 ----------

Also, if you ping the penultimate IP, no dropouts. So they must be targeting the game site !

[jamiefrost]

Can't explain it, but if you are saying you can solve the problem by taking the router out how can the site be blocked?

Doesn't make sense for the site to be blocked for 15mins every, just from a logistical point of view seems to overly complicated. I would of thought if they were going to block somethnig it would stay blocked or block it for a number of hours.

Not saying there isn't an issue somewhere I'd give the news groups a try

JJ

[EvilJeff]

I'll try the News Groups, but don't hold up much hope.

I'd earlier invited anyone willing to help to try ping plotting this IP themselves for a couple of hours. Any takers ?

Would be interesting to see if this is a widespread problem or just in the Swansea area!

You can download pingplotter from http://www.pingplotter.com it's a very useful tool!

[Druchii]

Originally Posted by EvilJeff

I'll try the News Groups, but don't hold up much hope.

I'd earlier invited anyone willing to help to try ping plotting this IP themselves for a couple of hours. Any takers ?

Would be interesting to see if this is a widespread problem or just in the Swansea area!

You can download pingplotter from http://www.pingplotter.com it's a very useful tool!

You sure the router isn't blocking access as it's deeming the site as "attacking" you? Most routers would do the same thing. Add a software firewall to the PC, and disable the hardware firewall in the router (also called SPI firewall). See if the problem continues!

[EvilJeff]

have set SPI firewall off on router... will have to wait about 30 mins for the next outage, will let you know what hapens

Seems unlikely however that the router would see the site as "attacking" only 10-15 mins per hour... we'll wait & see !

[Druchii]

Originally Posted by EvilJeff

have set SPI firewall off on router... will have to wait about 30 mins for the next outage, will let you know what hapens

Ok, cool I'll probably still be awake.