Perth, WA here and on iiNet. Also tested with Telstra Cable, Telstra NextG, Internode ADSL and TPG ADSL at other locations to confirm it wasn't just my provider.
I found this problem myself at 11:00PM WST (no DST anymore) on Friday 14th of December 2012 right before Project Alamo started and it's been occurring ever since. I've spent the last two weeks with no results whatsoever from EA Support (finally got a response to my emails after more than a week of waiting and it just repeated everything I've already been told and tried before...) to improve the problem and the only time I've been able to get connected is during a very short window from 3:00AM WST to 6:00AM WST.
I have been extensively troubleshooting this problem ever since and to date I have done the following with no improvement:
Software:
Hardware:
Using the UOTrace tool (https://help.ea.com/article/how-to-uo-trace), as requested by one helpful EA Customer Support Advisor after he saw how long my fault has been open for, I performed multiple trace route tests and repeatedly hit xe-11-2-0.edge1.losangeles6.level3.net (4.68.62.9) and 8-3-2.edge1.LosAngels.Level3.net (4.68.70.69) as dead points in the test.
Further investigation found that Level3.net is a Tier 1 network backbone provider on the USA Western Seaboard for the Washington and Los Angeles network pipes to Japan, Hawaii, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. Matched up against the brief period that I rarely connected to the ME3 Multiplayer with the Washington pipe, it left the Los Angeles routers provided by Level3.net as the primary cause of our problems.
Armed with this, I went to the ISPs after still no assistance from the EA Support team.
Internet Service Providers:
I am using a Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 laptop with an ethernet cable link to my Netgear DGN2000 ADSL/WiFi router. I have never used local wireless networking for this gaming computer when playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer. I do not have the Omega DLC installed, but I have everything else except the appearance and weapon DLC packs.
This is not a DLC caused problem. It is a Tier 1 network problem with the Level3.net provided services in Los Angeles and only they can fix it, but EA could certainly help by directing some fault information their way since the Internet Service Provider network operation centre teams can only provide the trace route (tracert) information from our side alone.
The only way to solve this issue is for all of us in Australia and New Zealand caught on the Sydney-Hawaii-Los Angeles or Auckland-Hawaii-Los Angeles pipe to let our Internet Service Provider support teams know this problem and for EA Support to raise the issue with Level3.net from their side too. Provide your UOTrace results (at least five) to your ISP Support and include it in your EA Support cases too with screenshots of the errors.
Otherwise this will never be solved because only one half of the testing is being completed. And if that happens I'll be very upset.
(Edit: Added additional troubleshooting I'd forgotten).
Hit the frigin nail in the head hard my friend though im on ps3, the times you provided are dead on i cant connect anywhere outside of those times i am in Perth,WA also. Goddamn EA eh this is some serious BS and they know it
So people still can't connect, despite the traceroutes seeming better now?
I haven't tried recently, but i'll give it a shot now. I'll update my post with whether it worked or not.
edit: Takes forever to connect and i'm getting the Online Pass bug now.
Looks like the fault is back. Though when my traceroute looked clear it still was having issues for me.
I'm in Perth, AU, too and haven't been able to connect for days! Ports opened, install repaired.... sigh. Kinda comforting to know it's not just me, though.
My game is back to not working at all ( 7pm Perth time ).
Running UOTrace multiple times is giving me trace results that are regularly going between good and bad, even within a one minute period.
Host Name IP Address Hop Ping Time Ping Avg % Loss Pkts r/s Ping best/worst
* Unknown Host * 10.1.1.1 1 0ms 0ms 0% 4 / 4 0ms / 0ms
nexthop.wa.iinet.net.au 203.215.5.243 2 6ms 6ms 0% 4 / 4 6ms / 6ms
te7-2.per-qv1-bdr2.iinet.net.au 203.215.4.38 3 6ms 6ms 0% 4 / 4 6ms / 7ms
xe-3-3-0-0.syd-mas-core1.iinet.net.au 203.215.20.68 4 67ms 65ms 0% 4 / 4 60ms / 67ms
32433.chep02.cu.telstraglobal.net 134.159.130.105 5 64ms 64ms 0% 4 / 4 64ms / 64ms
i-0-6-1-0.sydp-core01.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.84.223.9 6 64ms 66ms 0% 4 / 4 64ms / 70ms
i-0-2-2-0.1wlt-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net 202.84.144.221 7 218ms 217ms 0% 4 / 4 217ms / 218ms
i-0-0-0-5.tlot02.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.40.149.154 8 213ms 213ms 0% 4 / 4 213ms / 214ms
l3-peer.tlot02.pr.telstraglobal.net 134.159.62.14 9 254ms 253ms 0% 4 / 4 253ms / 254ms
vlan80.csw3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.144.190 10 228ms 229ms 0% 4 / 4 225ms / 234ms
ae-83-83.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.137.41 11 229ms 228ms 0% 3 / 3 227ms / 229ms
* Unknown Host * 4.69.132.82 12 293ms 292ms 0% 3 / 3 292ms / 293ms
ae-71-71.csw2.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.134.134 13 302ms 304ms 0% 3 / 3 302ms / 308ms
ae-23-70.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.149.69 14 295ms 295ms 0% 3 / 3 295ms / 295ms
ELECTRONIC.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.79.169.74 15 293ms 292ms 0% 3 / 3 292ms / 293ms
fert07-eqx-iad.ea.com 159.153.224.230 16 290ms 289ms 0% 3 / 3 287ms / 290ms
meav5-pub.pt.iad.ea.com 159.153.226.105 17 285ms 285ms 0% 3 / 3 285ms / 285ms
Host Name IP Address Hop Ping Time Ping Avg % Loss Pkts r/s Ping best/worst
* Unknown Host * 10.1.1.1 1 0ms 0ms 0% 2 / 2 0ms / 0ms
nexthop.wa.iinet.net.au 203.215.5.243 2 6ms 6ms 0% 2 / 2 6ms / 6ms
te7-2.per-qv1-bdr2.iinet.net.au 203.215.4.38 3 6ms 6ms 0% 2 / 2 6ms / 6ms
xe-3-3-0-0.syd-mas-core1.iinet.net.au 203.215.20.68 4 75ms 73ms 0% 2 / 2 72ms / 75ms
32433.chep02.cu.telstraglobal.net 134.159.130.105 5 76ms 70ms 0% 2 / 2 64ms / 76ms
i-0-6-1-0.sydp-core01.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.84.223.9 6 65ms 65ms 0% 2 / 2 65ms / 65ms
i-0-2-2-0.1wlt-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net 202.84.144.221 7 218ms 218ms 0% 2 / 2 218ms / 219ms
i-0-0-0-5.tlot02.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.40.149.154 8 213ms 213ms 0% 2 / 2 213ms / 213ms
xe-11-2-0.edge1.losangeles6.level3.net 4.68.62.9 9 255ms 100% 0 / 1
vlan80.csw3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.144.190 10 225ms 225ms 0% 1 / 1 225ms / 225ms
ae-83-83.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.137.41 11 229ms 229ms 0% 1 / 1 229ms / 229ms
* Unknown Host * 4.69.132.82 12 292ms 292ms 0% 1 / 1 292ms / 292ms
ae-71-71.csw2.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.134.134 13 305ms 305ms 0% 1 / 1 305ms / 305ms
ae-23-70.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.149.69 14 433ms 433ms 0% 1 / 1 433ms / 433ms
ELECTRONIC.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.79.169.74 15 328ms 328ms 0% 1 / 1 328ms / 328ms
fert07-eqx-iad.ea.com 159.153.224.230 16 287ms 287ms 0% 1 / 1 287ms / 287ms
meav5-pub.pt.iad.ea.com 159.153.226.105 17 285ms 285ms 0% 1 / 1 285ms / 285ms
Brush - I saw your message to them on Facebook and I am hoping these mixed results in the past hours are at least signs of change / progress.
I was looking up the bad IP address on the following site, which has a lot of info about it, along with some more email addresses. Despite the server being named LosAngeles, it's apparently in Kansas, which could explain the third party that they mentioned on your Facebook discussion.
http://www.tcpiputils.com/browse/ip-address/4.68.62.9
I'll send an email to the two "tech" associated email addresses in case it helps.
Yep same issue here from Brisbane.
Host Name IP Address Hop Ping Time Ping Avg % Loss Pkts r/s Ping best/worst www.routerlogin.com 192.168.0.1 1 2ms 1ms 0% 140 / 140 1ms / 23ms nexthop.qld.iinet.net.au 203.215.9.250 2 21ms 39ms 0% 140 / 140 13ms / 375ms te7-1.bne-pipe-bdr1.iinet.net.au 203.215.8.20 3 30ms 32ms 0% 140 / 140 14ms / 373ms xe-0-0-3-0.syd-ult-core1.iinet.net.au 203.215.20.100 4 31ms 46ms 1% 138 / 140 25ms / 383ms unknown.telstraglobal.net 134.159.126.189 5 35ms 44ms 0% 139 / 140 26ms / 398ms i-0-7-1-0.sydo-core02.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.84.223.1 6 58ms 46ms 0% 140 / 140 27ms / 385ms i-0-2-0-0.1wlt-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net 202.84.140.21 7 183ms 186ms 0% 139 / 140 166ms / 557ms i-0-0-0-2.tlot02.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.84.251.185 8 210ms 204ms 1% 138 / 140 174ms / 523ms xe-11-2-0.edge1.losangeles6.level3.net 4.68.62.9 9 169ms 100% 0 / 139 vlan80.csw3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.144.190 10 205ms 208ms 1% 137 / 139 179ms / 648ms ae-83-83.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.137.41 11 194ms 197ms 0% 138 / 139 170ms / 735ms * Unknown Host * 4.69.132.82 12 256ms 259ms 0% 139 / 139 233ms / 678ms ae-81-81.csw3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.134.138 13 250ms 270ms 1% 137 / 139 243ms / 596ms ae-43-90.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.149.197 14 258ms 279ms 0% 138 / 139 249ms / 616ms ELECTRONIC.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.79.169.74 15 284ms 270ms 0% 138 / 139 246ms / 625ms fert07-eqx-iad.ea.com 159.153.224.230 16 258ms 262ms 0% 139 / 139 234ms / 597ms meav5-pub.pt.iad.ea.com 159.153.226.105 17 256ms 265ms 1% 137 / 139 235ms / 591ms
I tried changing my DNS server to google's (https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/) but that didn't seem to work. Although the problem hop did disappear from the traceroute for a minute, but it was soon back again without me managing to get into the game.
I did also try using my Telstra HSDPA connection with what appears to be [edit]the same result, only less clear:
Host Name IP Address Hop Ping Time Ping Avg % Loss Pkts r/s Ping best/worst * Unknown Host * 192.168.1.1 1 1ms 1ms 0% 48 / 48 1ms / 4ms * Unknown Host * 10.5.133.18 2 45ms 100% 0 / 48 * Unknown Host * 0.0.0.0 3 0ms * Unknown Host * 0.0.0.0 4 0ms bundle-ether12.cha45.brisbane.telstra.net 110.142.0.189 5 50ms 73ms 0% 48 / 48 36ms / 488ms bundle-ether2.cha-core4.brisbane.telstra.net 203.50.44.13 6 56ms 61ms 0% 48 / 48 32ms / 461ms bundle-ether11.ken-core4.sydney.telstra.net 203.50.11.72 7 67ms 87ms 0% 48 / 48 54ms / 274ms bundle-ether1.pad-gw2.sydney.telstra.net 203.50.6.29 8 67ms 78ms 0% 48 / 48 56ms / 247ms tengige10-0-0.sydp-core02.sydney.reach.com 203.50.13.94 9 57ms 78ms 0% 48 / 48 52ms / 235ms i-0-2-2-0.tlot-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net 202.84.140.50 10 247ms 263ms 0% 48 / 48 236ms / 429ms i-0-4-0-4.tlot02.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.40.149.166 11 247ms 279ms 0% 48 / 48 234ms / 548ms l3-peer.tlot02.pr.telstraglobal.net 134.159.61.18 12 247ms 254ms 0% 47 / 47 234ms / 388ms vlan70.csw2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.144.126 13 246ms 270ms 0% 47 / 47 236ms / 427ms ae-93-93.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.137.45 14 246ms 284ms 0% 47 / 47 235ms / 935ms * Unknown Host * 4.69.132.82 15 308ms 325ms 0% 47 / 47 303ms / 427ms ae-91-91.csw4.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.134.142 16 323ms 330ms 0% 47 / 47 303ms / 522ms ae-43-90.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.149.197 17 312ms 342ms 0% 47 / 47 304ms / 840ms ELECTRONIC.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.79.169.74 18 314ms 330ms 0% 47 / 47 303ms / 548ms fert07-eqx-iad.ea.com 159.153.224.230 19 318ms 343ms 0% 47 / 47 306ms / 526ms meav5-pub.pt.iad.ea.com 159.153.226.105 20 316ms 346ms 0% 47 / 47 307ms / 556ms
[edit] I actually managed to get on for the first time in over a week using hsdpa. I dunno if it was a fluke or not, I don't have time to test muliple connections, I gotta work tomorrow, so I gotta sleep now 😉 But it seems like the non-responding node was probably just the mobile tower or something and so it had nothing to say.
switching back to my adsl and I get a clean trace, but like the guy above me said, that could change min to min.
Host Name IP Address Hop Ping Time Ping Avg % Loss Pkts r/s Ping best/worst * Unknown Host * 192.168.0.1 1 4ms 2ms 0% 7 / 7 1ms / 4ms lo0.bne-pipe-bng2.iinet.net.au 203.215.9.249 2 18ms 17ms 0% 7 / 7 14ms / 29ms po2.bne-pipe-bdr2.iinet.net.au 203.215.8.32 3 16ms 16ms 0% 7 / 7 14ms / 21ms xe-0-0-3-0.syd-mas-core1.iinet.net.au 203.215.20.108 4 29ms 36ms 0% 7 / 7 25ms / 75ms unknown.telstraglobal.net 134.159.130.113 5 333ms 333ms 0% 7 / 7 330ms / 341ms i-0-5-0-0.tlot-core01.bx.telstraglobal.net 202.84.140.102 6 186ms 186ms 0% 7 / 7 182ms / 195ms i-0-4-0-1.tlot02.bi.telstraglobal.net 202.84.251.150 7 181ms 192ms 0% 7 / 7 177ms / 254ms l3-peer.tlot02.pr.telstraglobal.net 134.159.62.14 8 175ms 184ms 0% 7 / 7 175ms / 198ms vlan60.csw1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.144.62 9 194ms 202ms 0% 7 / 7 191ms / 242ms ae-63-63.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net 4.69.137.33 10 189ms 189ms 0% 7 / 7 185ms / 198ms * Unknown Host * 4.69.132.82 11 274ms 258ms 0% 7 / 7 248ms / 274ms ae-71-71.csw2.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.134.134 12 255ms 254ms 0% 7 / 7 248ms / 262ms ae-23-70.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.69.149.69 13 253ms 252ms 0% 7 / 7 249ms / 255ms ELECTRONIC.car3.Washington1.Level3.net 4.79.169.74 14 252ms 263ms 0% 7 / 7 248ms / 317ms fert07-eqx-iad.ea.com 159.153.224.230 15 259ms 260ms 0% 7 / 7 238ms / 354ms meav5-pub.pt.iad.ea.com 159.153.226.105 16 235ms 235ms 0% 6 / 6 232ms / 241ms
I really wish there were a way to just tell my pc/router to avoid that hop and find a different path.
Don't suppose blocking it via your router is an option? Or will that just stop the connection dead in its tracks?
So the question is, does this affect everyone, or just us lucky few?
oops, I figured I'd still be the last post so I just edited my post above.
I dunno if you can just block it with your router, but I suspect that wouldn't work anyway because your not making a direct connection to that node, unless you ping it. it's just a relay station. Using a vpn of some sort would probably work, but would make the game laggy. well, worse than usual, it's always laggy ☹️
I've been wondering how many are affected too. Been thinking about trolling the mass effect forums looking for more supporters. anyway, bed time. g'luck all.
All my DLC just de-authorized itself and now I can't reauthorize it cos I can't connect so all my saves are useless.
OK, now i'm mad.
I can usually connect, but I'll have to try it a few times. Though it takes up to 5 minutes on each attempt, and usually disconnects after a few more.
Just like that - 4am, connecting fine.
Suddenly I can't connect and my DLC deauthorized. I'm in the US so it's not just the Aussies getting this. Main reason this way of authorizing is a screw up, EA/Bioware. People can't play the game when your system fouls up.
Can you use the uotrace tool to trace the route to easo.ea.com and post your results here?
Randrake I'd love to see your UOTrace information to compare it to the AUS and NZ players postings. A USA player having this problem would nail it as being a worldwide issue caused from within the USA zone.
Oh and since it nearly just happened to me, if you have a EA Support Case open for this issue DON'T let them close it. Keep updating it, even if they're not responding so the EA automated system doesn't close it after six days of inactivity.
(Edit: Reminded to keep your EA Support Case open)
This website has many ISP links to remotely trace routes to EA's server ( easo.ea.com or 159.153.226.105 - although this IP isn't consistent with different traces when using easo.ea.com - it is consistent with my UOTrace results though ).
http://www.traceroute.org/ - Bear in mind that not all these are still active or work and don't test packet loss - at least the ones I checked briefly.
Telstra - http://www.telstra.net/cgi-bin/trace
( confirms the same result as my UOTrace results )
IINET - http://looking-glass.iinet.net.au/lg/
( confirms the same path through Telstra )
TPG - http://looking-glass.tpgi.com.au/index.php
( seems that TPG's service takes a completely different path with no Level 3 IPs in sight - it would be interesting to test the game through this ISP, based on these results )
US - http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=trace&host=easo.ea.com
( Straight to the Level 3 pathway with no latency and never hits the 4.68 address )
Germany - http://www.tcpiputils.com/traceroute
( these results go through the Level 3 pathway, but the results never show the 4.68 LA address, only the 4.69 addresses )
I've emailed Telstra Global ( not Bigpond, etc ) to see if they can look into it, suggesting the possibility of avoiding that 4.68 IP.
Good find.
Problem for the last three weeks to a month connecting to US sites through Telstra Global?
Sounds pretty familiar.
Posted yesterday by an IINET staff member:
Hi everyone – this fault is still ongoing.
Although we have been advised that our vendorslevel 3 techs and management are involved, this has been further escalated by our senior management very early this morning.
Our engineers have isolated the symptoms to arrangements with our vendor that are delivered at a specific site. So, as capacity allows, we have moved advertising of IP ranges away from where we are seeing the impact. This will remove the gaming jitter for some customers.
Additionally, engineers from both companies will be in a conference call today working on the problem.
I expect to be able to post the results of that discussion and the next steps that will be taken tomorrow.
Thanks,
Paul.
Cheers for posting our issue in that thread and I'm hoping it's related. I'd honestly be more worried if it isn't.
8.30am - seems to be connecting okay. It's slow though, but on par with 4am speeds.
*accidental post
I called it a night after that. Today it's working again but I lost all my achievements. I'm not playing through the game again for those. I'll just do without. If the choices I made through the games mattered, I'd do it again. But since they don't matter and it all ends the same way, no motivation to get achievements again.
That's an unrelated issue, but this works on ME1 and ME2 - I'd expect you could tweak it to work on ME3.
@Pirateguybrush wrote:Good find. Could it be related to this?
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2028035
It indicates problems with iinet, but perhaps issues with Telstra are related.
Alternatively, we could all swap to TPG - I've been considering it for a while anyway, they're cheaper.
RE: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2028035
That thread is related to this issue: it follows the iiNet/Westnet investigation of this problem. So is the one talking about Spotify issues to the USA servers (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2029356).
It looks like it's starting to get somewhere, so I'll be contributing more there too if Paul G of the iiNet team asks for it. And on the tangent regarding switching to TPG, think hard about it: I'm with them for my mobile services for years and the only reason I've stayed is because they require a written cancellation request and with their price being dirt cheap, I know exactly what I'm paying for (bargain basement service and support).
TPG are cheaper for a reason.
@Pirateguybrush wrote:That's an unrelated issue, but this works on ME1 and ME2 - I'd expect you could tweak it to work on ME3.
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/PC_Tweaks#Achievements
Side Topic:
Regarding the Achievement trick for ME1 also working for ME3, it failed. ME3 achievements are tied to the saved games but also sync with the Origin Server: when I succeeded in getting online during the 4AM to 8AM window, everything went back to the way it was.
This morning it took 30 seconds to connect to EA servers, and multiplayer appears to be working. Still a bit long, but it's not 5 minutes. That's not unusual for first thing in the morning though, so I'll wait till tonight before I start to believe this might be solved.
RE: Achievements, it does sound like some people who can connect to the servers fine aren't getting theirs back. I know it syncs with the cloud, but if that's still not working you may still be able to use the console to unlock them offline, then go online and have the new data sync up correctly. It doesn't give you any multiplayer advantages (that I know of), so it shouldn't be bannable as cheating.
It seems that this problem has now been fixed.
Paul Guidera from iiNet over on whirlpool thinks he has solved the problem, and I just logged in with no trouble.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2028035&p=6#r104
Happy gaming
