ME3 (PC) - Problems connecting to Multiplayer / staying connected

Same problem as everybody else, no server for over a week, except for the odd hr when it decides to connect. I checked with my server provider,(Westnet) all good. I even upgraded my service and added a turbo pack, so as not to cause any lag issues...just in case. Still Nothing. 

I have been playing hard (612hrs multiplayer) and made it to position 175..., just checked 331 and falling.    %#@%. No matter how hard I play I will never get back up there, which is really, really disappointing. Seems Bioware doesn't give a stuff about Australia, obviously we are not a big enough market. Lots of issues, nearly all aussies.

Also another Australian (From Perth this time) with the same issues. Over a week of trouble connecting (log in to the main screen is hidously long 5+mins) And half the time I get the redeem code bug.

And when I do get into the multiplayer (assuming it didn't crash as soon as I hit the button) all of my stuff is gone, rather annoying IMHO that this has not been responded to even if it IS Christmas.

Mine's gone from bad to worse again.

During last week, I was able to play during the day and not in the evening. Now, even IF I manage to connect, my character's talents have been reset, leaving a level 19 character with 1 ability. But if I go in and try and autolevel (or manually level) I dc on confirmation.

SO annoying. I don't worry so much about the galactic readiness normally but I'm currently in an active play-through of the single-player campaign and about to head to the final mission. After my Shepard has worked her ass off to get this galaxy mobilised I feel I owe it to her to not get there with anything less than 95% at least. But because I can't log in to MP, I'm doomed to watch the rate drop by the hour (which, btw, is another thing that's ridiculous - not play for 2 hours and dropping 2%. Really?)

EA, Bioware ... whoever is in charge of the servers, please look into this. I"m off work for 2 weeks because of Xmas. I really, REALLY wanted to enjoy some solid playtime with my friends from another continent.

Just a matter of interest - do any of you guys have Omega?

I have a friend in Melbourne on iinet who has no problems connecting to multiplayer.

The only difference between him and me is that he has Omega and I don't.

I have Omega plus this problem too jbeck05, you might be onto something :/

I've got Omega as well

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:

• Confirmed Windows Firewall was disabled (no other software firewalls installed)
• Confirmed Avast! Free AntiVirus disabled (set to silent/gaming mode).
• Uninstalled Avast! Free AntiVirus.
• Logged out of Origin software, then logged back in again before trying ME3 Multiplayer again.
• Logged out of all Origin website logins and the Origin software, then logging back in again.
• Cleared all cache files (Origin, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari) and Windows temporary files too.
• Changed my Origin password.
• Uninstalled Origin and reinstalled it.
• Ran repair installation of Mass Effect 3.
• Uninstalled Mass Effect 3 and all DLC, then reinstalled it along with all previously paid for and free DLC.

Hardware:

• Power cycled my Netgear DGN2000 ADSL/WiFi router for 10 minutes to get a new IP address, then logged into Origin and tried ME3 Multiplayer again.
• Confirmed all Origin PC port forwarding was enabled correctly.
• Manually disabled all firewall options built-in to my Netgear router, logged into Origin and tried ME3 Multiplayer again.
• Factory reset my router, reconfigured it from scratch with firewall off and tried again.
• Isolation test of phone line to just ADSL router to confirm no line noise/interference issues.
• Tried another brand new ADSL router, Netcomm NB6Plus4, with default configuration for built-in firewall and custom Origin PC port forwarding enabled.
• Updated firmware in Netcomm NB6Plus4 to latest version, factory reset it, then repeated previous configuration settings (inc. Origin PC port forwarding)
• Tried Netcomm NB6Plus4 router with firewall manually disabled.
• Tried iiNet ADSL from a family member's house in the same suburb with their router (Netgear DG834PN) with same port forwarding.
• Tried iiNet ADSL from a friend's house in a neighbouring suburb with their router (TP-LINK TD-8840) with same port forwarding.
• Tried Telstra NextG USB device from my house with five bars signal strength.
• Tried Telstra Cable from a friend's house in another suburb closer to the CBD with their router (Motorola SBG6580) configured for the same port forwarding.
• Tried Internode ADSL from a Perth City Internet Cafe through the ADSL router directly (no firewall, DMZ location).
• Tried TPG ADSL from a Perth CBD business directly off the router (no firewall, DMZ location).

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:

• Spoke with iiNet Support and they created Fault #2319010 (http://www.iinet.net.au/status/fault.php?id=2319010) after other iiNet customers complained too about Spotify and their multiplayer games connecting to USA servers having problems.
• Spoke with Telstra Support (Cable & NextG) and they blamed EA Servers for being at fault.
• Spoke with Internode Support and they couldn't confirm/deny it other than commenting it was a problem with the EA Servers.
• Spoke with TPG Support and they blamed EA Servers for being at fault.

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).

Oh and if you're being affected, remember to click on the ME TOO button in the Original Post.

Can't stress that enough either.

Thanks for the info Desert Runner.

Submitted results to IINET and EA.

Perth, Western Australia here and the exact same problems except that I was running the game on Windows 8 Pro x64 edition and kept bumping into a brick wall with EA who washed their hands of the issue with a generic 'We don't support any of our products on Windows 8.' They may as well drop 'on Windows 8' from the end of that sentence and leave it there.

The game had been working fine for me up until recently, then I started having multiple issues with it, everything from it failing to login on the main menu so that I could no longer use or play my DLC, to the issues reported by some of you regarding launching the multi-player component and being presented with greyed out options, then being dumped out.

I'd suggest that given that we are in the midst of the holiday season, the EA service is more likely at capacity and is dropping connections, of course this creates massive problems for us all because components of the single player game are dependent upon multiplayer. To add to the problem the only other way to maintain your Galactic Readiness is to own an iPad and play Mass Effect Infiltrator, because the Datapad does not work.

I will confirm this one way or another, I have reformatted my computer and completed a fresh Windows 7 installation. Though I am having problems with this too.

I too have been through the canned list of meaningless crap to do, everything from opening UDP port 3659 to dropping Windows firewall. At the end of the day, if the problem isn't communications beause the ports are open, when will EA pull the finger out and do something.