SoCAL FIOS issue (Gamers)

[DanielCeregatti]

I signed up for VPN service via https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ specifically to get around this problem and it resolved it. Obviously it bypasses the bad peer without adding much more latency. My normal latency to WoW's Darkspear realm, which is hosted in Los Angeles, went from 7ms (The latency before this problem) to 10ms. Without VPN the latency to the same realm currently hovers around 400ms to 1000ms.

[baroqn25]

Getting 3500 home latency in-game. here's one of two traces, both having same result:

Tracing route to 199.108.62.157 over a maximum of 30 hops

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  FIOS_Quantum_Gateway.fios-router.home [192.168.1.1]
  2     6 ms     5 ms     4 ms  L100.LSANCA-VFTTP-131.verizon-gni.net [71.118.203.1]
  3    13 ms    11 ms    10 ms  G0-10-1-7.LSANCA-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net [130.81.187.116]
  4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  5     9 ms     8 ms     9 ms  0.ae5.BR3.LAX15.ALTER.NET [140.222.225.139]
  6    80 ms    84 ms    82 ms  192.205.35.161
  7    82 ms     *        *     cr1.la2ca.ip.att.net [12.123.132.138]
  8    80 ms    78 ms    80 ms  12.122.90.29
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

Trace complete.

[ml128]

This issue started on september 20th, and still ahs yet to be resolved, or even acknowledged by Verizon.  This is a disgusting case of customer negligence, and it shows Verizon clearly doesn't even care.  740 complaints and counting on the BLizzard forums, I'd be more than happy to get those people over here if something doesn't happen soon.  Nothing like a usually slow (and apparantley pointless) forum suddenly becoming backlogged with hundreds and hundreds of the same complaint - that verizon won't even respond to!  GOOD JOB GUYS!

[ml128]

On September 20th, Souther California Verizon FiOS users started experiencing disconnects, miserably low connection speeds and frequent outages.  The issue specifically has to do with several online massive multiplayer games hosted by Blizzard Entertainment.  Complaints, calls for help, and questions were met with community responses, network traceroute info, pathpings and - eventually - responses from Blizzard itself.  Users were encouraged to post any technical info they had, and to remain patient while the problem was investigated.  

Flash forward almost 4 weeks.  Over 740 complaints, accompanied by large amounts of diagnostic data from numerous sources, as well as addittional complaints about sub-standard responses from those who attempted to reach out to Verizon.  Blizzard has done everything they are capable of to remedy the issue, and even reached out to Verizon to ask for and offer help in resolving the matter.   Reportedly, the isssue lies within or between a node on the internet that belongs to ALTER.net (a Verizon owned company) that manages connections outside of the Verizon network.  Communication from this node is basically halted (technical info here @Blizzard Forums), and neither Verizon (ISP and owner of aforementioned node) nor AT&T (owners of the node receiving data fro ALTET.net) seem to want to address the issue, let alone claim any sort of responsibility for it (link to blizzards statement of attempts to contact Verizon).

Whether the issue is with Verizon or AT&T is incidental.  Verizon provides internet access to its customers, and is ultimately responsible for maintaining internet access to it's customers.  Attempts to reach out to Verizon were met with generic responses (intedned to "fix" the issue), such as restarting a users router, reseting the router to factory setting, or even restarting the computer.  I have read at the very minimum 30 forum posts indicating Verizon customers had been prompted (even pressured) into repeating the pointless excersize, even though Verizon had also been given technical feedback from said customers as well as Blizzard itself.  I also participated in the horrible excuse for customer service, and was told it was not an issue with Verizon, and that Blizzard was repsonsible.

We have technical data stating otherwise.  We have a strong attempt from Blizzard customer service to try and solve the issue themselves, as well as not only reach out to Verizon, but also to provide technical information inan attempt to assist.  We have over 740 complaints spanning almost a month about the issue, and Verizon still has yet to solve the issue, and seems to refuse to take blame for a problem that, at the very least, deeply involves them. 

I am thuroughly disgusted with the complete lack of service, respect for the intelligence of Verizon customers, and the complacent denial of responsibility Verizon has excersized.  Because of the inability to direclty contact Verizon for some sort of remediation, unless some formal sort of response to the issue (be it fixing the problem or even simply accepting blame for the issue) happens, the only next option is to make the issue a public matter.  Such customer negligence would likely be quite the fodder for a a press release, and in the midst of a buyout from Frontier Internet, that kind of public embarrasement and subsequent scruitny would likely not please Frontier or its shareholders.  

Verizon, please take steps to either remeedy the issue internally, compensate your users from sub-par service and abbysmal response, or stop shouldering the blame, and fulfill your ISP obligations to your customers.  

[inktomi]

As of today I notice that I'm no longer routing through the LAX15 alter.net node. I'm going through DFW13 instead. 

Obivously going to Texas and back is no better latency wise (on averge, almost seems worse)... but at least LAX15 seems down now. Maybe this means it's being worked on!

[Mx41]

---

@inktomi wrote:

I don't see how WTFast can solve this, as the problem is a peering node between socal verizon and the handoff to ATT. In order to connect to a VPN, you'd still need to get off Verizon's network somewhere - unless you're going way out and then back (slow) it isn't going to skip that peering node, and so it won't be any faster. 

For blizzard games in specific, their servers are in LA. We're in LA. In theory, we should have the fastest possible connection - it's almost a direct line into Blizzard - except we have a broken/overloaded/something peering node between Verizon and ATT (the provider that blizzard's datacenters use). 

---

I'm not tech savvy, all I can tell you is that WTFast works, it's not at all slow, my MS never jumps above 20 no matter what I'm doing and I've been playing like normal (even had some rank1 parses)  since I installed the free version. I'm also routing through DFW13 and running at 40-50ms w/out WTFast running.

Am I happy that I'm having to use it? No, not at all, but I'm not gonna wait around for someone to do something.

I just hope I won't have to be using it permanently.

[stormlashx]

So two days ago I purchased WTFAST and it fixed my issue. Today I visited the WoW forums and apparenty the issue is fixed.. So I am ten dollars down... I turned off WTFAST and my latency is back to normal.