Latency spike issue - full description

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

So since Mod 9 (DDO-EU) came out, I am having the following issue, described in detail below. I've added some notes at the end to clarify some things. I've not posted about this yet because I figured I could rule out some things first. But I am at a loss so figured I would post. I really think it was something that changed in the game, not something on my end.

So, here's the problem: I can play for hours with no problems at all, at various times of the day (peak and non-peak). Then, seemingly out of nowhere, this starts happening:

When I hover over the connection X top left of screen:

1. The Received data starts stuttering. Rather than having smooth data coming in with the numbers randomly changing, it goes from a number to 0, from a number to 0, from a number to 0, from a number to 0, from a number to 0.
2. Shortly after the received data starts stuttering, the Latency starts to spike. 3,000, 6,000, 10,000, sometimes all the way up to 100,000.
3. After a few minutes during which I obviously can't move, one of two things happen:
a. I lose connection to chat server and reconnect after a minute, or
b. The data starts RUSHING in and the Latency drops dramatically back down to where it usually sits. (This is also what happens when I reconnect to the Chat server if I get disconnected as in 3.a).
4. Not sure why sometimes I lose connection to chat server and sometimes I don't but either way shows a sudden rush of data coming in.
5. The Loss hardly ever goes past 5% during this whole process.
6. Then I can play for maybe 5 minutes normally and BOOM, it happens again.
7. Once it starts, it goes like this, off and on (steps 1-5) for up to two hours.
8. Then, all of a sudden, everything returns to normal. No issues whatsoever.

Some important things to note:

1. Yes, I have a high speed satellite connection. Now before you all start blaming it on that or telling me to get a better connection, I repeat: This DID NOT happen prior to DDO-EU coming on-line last month. The only time I ever had issues in game with my satellite connection previously was during bad weather. This NEVER happened before. However, I do think the problem is RELATED to the satellite connection (see below for my conclusion).
2. I use Windows XP.
3. My husband uses Vista.
4. When we are on together, the above issue happens to us simultaneously which tells me it IS somehow related to the satellite connection.
5. The satellite connection doesn't stop nor is the speed reduced during these times. My connection is FINE.
6. It is not related to time of day for satellite users because it happens randomly, no patterns whatsoever related to the time of day. I've seen it happen at 8 am on a weekday or 10pm on a Friday night.
7. It also doesn't seem related to peak hours in game. There are times where there are 8 instances in the market, tons of players on and I can play, no problem at all. No lag, smooth as silk for hours at a time. But the issue has also happened during peak hours as well. Totally RANDOM.

The only thing I can conclude based on the fact that it never did this prior to Mod 9 along with the fact that my husband experiences it at the same time I do is that it IS related somehow to the satellite connection. HOWEVER, I think it is something that Turbine changed in how the data comes in. There had to have been some change made somehow (likely as a response to fixing lag) that affects satellite users randomly and adversely. And given that there aren't likely very many satellite users in game, my guess is that this problem has probably NOT been identified.

So, there it is.

If any other satellite users have noticed this as well and have figured it out, please let me know. I am convinced that the problem is NOT on my end after weeks of monitoring the issue.

If a Turbine techy person reads this, can you please see if there was some change to how the data streams come in that MAY affect satellite internet users? How is it that I never had this issue prior to Mod 9 but now it is almost a daily occurance, and random at that?

I never know when it's gonna hit and I can't play for up to two hours... it's extremely irritating. Especially when it decides to do it while I happen to be in a Raid or something.

[kkobold]

i have EXACT the same problem....

Everything was nice till week one or two of the mod9.

My chat doesnt work most of the time... hwich is weird is that it works lat at night... but never during the day.

Altho i dont have a satellite connection.. i use cable.
But i see a similarity. im in brazil which gives me a higher latency. Same thing would happen to a satellite connection anywhere. probably arround 200-300 ms, id guess.

So my guess is that somehow the ttl of the chat packages are UBER small. or something in the lines...

either way.. this ruined my gaming experience to the point im quiting.

[kkobold]

thats how it works..

In IPv4, time to live (TTL) is an 8-bit field in the Internet Protocol (IP) header. It is the 9th octet of 20. The time to live value can be thought of as an upper bound on the time that an IP datagram can exist in an internet system. The TTL field is set by the sender of the datagram, and reduced by every host on the route to its destination. If the TTL field reaches zero before the datagram arrives at its destination, then the datagram is discarded and an ICMP error datagram (11 - Time Exceeded) is sent back to the sender. The purpose of the TTL field is to avoid a situation in which an undeliverable datagram keeps circulating on an internet system, and such a system eventually becoming swamped by such immortal datagrams.

In theory, time to live is measured in seconds, although every host that passes the datagram must reduce the TTL by at least one unit. In practice, the TTL field is reduced by one on every hop. To reflect this practice, the field is named hop limit in IPv6.

[Cedrica-the-Bard]

UPDATE:

I just got off the phone (for the second time) with my satellite internet provider and they confirmed again that there are NO issues related to the ports 9000-9013 and 2900-2913. They confirmed that they do not limit peer-to-peer type transmissions nor do they have any bandwidth throttling going on.

And since I NEVER had this particular issue before Mod 9, I'm not at all surprised that it has nothing to do with my internet connection. I think the latency may exacerbate the issue but it's definitely nothing going on on my end.

So what is Turbine doing? If I can play for HOURS with no problems at all and then, all of a sudden the information being recieved no longer streams but comes in fits and starts, what is causing this? Do you have some sort of trigger mechanism that changes the data being sent out in a seemingly random fashion? Is this related to your peer-to-peer system?

The problem does appear to be the worst on weeknights between 6-9 pm EST. But I have seen it happen at other times of the day as well. And since it isn't me (I've ruled out everything you've mentioned and read what seems like a million posts of things to try...), it has to be Turbine's problem.

Please dig a little deeper, something is going on here that affects satellite/wireless users and it is from your end. I have also noticed a number of these complaints appear to be coming from customers outside of the US. Perhaps the poster above this one is onto something that can help you fix this problem.

[Falco_Easts]

I left for a while and came back (after DDO:EU) and I have been having similar issues that I never had before. Sometimes it's great, and i play normally but other times it gets that bad I just close down and don't even try to run a quest.

[TheSwamper]

As mentioned in another thread, the issue seems to be mostly with areas outside the U.S. I have posted similar issues in other threads and only hope Turbine finds the problem soon. I am having no issues with any other game or program.