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Juices's avatar
Juices
New Contributor II
6 years ago

Unable to play Fortnite on AWS West Coast Servers - Southern California

From San Diego, California
Approximately 10 days ago, My brother and I started experiencing extreme packet loss and constant ping/lag spikes in Fortnite that appears throughout the day but gets worse during peak hours (5pm - thoughout the night). My speeds are perfectly fine, I'm getting around 400mpbs download and 100mbps upload, yet when I'm in-game, I get major packet loss and ping spikes making the game unplayable. Note: My internet is fine, I can stream HD videos, surf the web, download and upload files at lightning speed. 
Variables that I have ruled out:
- Router. I've tried multiple routers, made sure they were using the latest firmwares, tried QoS and still had an issue on both. I only use hardwired so it not wireless signal issue. We've tried using cat-5e and cat6 ethernet cables too and still no success.
- PC issues. I factory resetted both our PC's and reinstalled Windows/ drivers and made sure my drivers are up to date. I don't have any anti-viruses programs so that's ruled out. It is also not a Fortnite server issue as I play with multiple friends from California in the same lobby as me and they do not have any issues. But they have different ISP's. Both PC builds have a GTX 1060 6gb, i7-8700k, 16gb drr4 RAM. All video settings are on low. It is 100% not a performance issue.
After 10 days of troubleshooting and dealing with this demon, I have actually pinpointed the problem.
It is how COX interacts with the Fortnite West Coast AWS servers. I played 20 games on east coast servers. Paying very close attention to the in-game Net Debug stats, 20/20 games on east coast servers, were flawless bearing 0% packet loss and no lag spikes or fluctuations in ping. I played 20 games on west coast servers. Paying very close attention to the in-game Net Debug stats, only 4/20 games on west coast servers yielded no problems. The other 16, however, had major packet loss (stats showed mostly download packet loss and some upload packet loss) and unstable ping.
Please escalate this issue to someone who specializes in networking and can fix this serious problem. I am a streamer who streams this game as a source of income and there are no other ISP's in my area and moving somewhere else is not an option for me. So I am stuck with this unfortunate issue.
Evidence that it's not just my hardware:
Cox forum post about members having same issue:
Fortnite forum post about members having same issue:
Common Denominator: Our ISP is COX and are from Southern California.
 
Here are some trace routes while connected to a AWS west coast server with heavy packet loss (up to 40% download packet loss | up to 12% upload packet loss):
 
Tracing route to ec2-52-71-66-128.compute-1.amazonaws.com [52.71.66.128]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  ip68-107-57-129.sd.sd.cox.net [68.107.57.129]
  3     1 ms     2 ms     1 ms  ip68-101-129-110.sd.sd.cox.net [68.101.129.110]
  4     3 ms     2 ms     2 ms  visthbrc01-get0702.sd.sd.cox.net [68.6.8.119]
  5    32 ms    32 ms    32 ms  dalsbprj02-ae2.0.rd.dl.cox.net [68.1.2.121]
  6    32 ms    31 ms    31 ms  52.46.167.212
  7    39 ms    43 ms    32 ms  54.239.105.121
  8    32 ms    32 ms    32 ms  176.32.125.191
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10    70 ms    81 ms    69 ms  54.239.46.0
 11    66 ms    66 ms    66 ms  54.240.229.189
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15    85 ms   106 ms    89 ms  54.239.110.247
 16    68 ms    67 ms    67 ms  52.93.26.62
 17    83 ms    98 ms    79 ms  52.93.27.205
 18    66 ms    65 ms    66 ms  52.93.25.11
 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.
Tracing route to ec2-34-235-172-107.compute-1.amazonaws.com [34.235.172.107]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  ip68-107-57-129.sd.sd.cox.net [68.107.57.129]
  3     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  ip68-101-129-110.sd.sd.cox.net [68.101.129.110]
  4     3 ms     2 ms     5 ms  visthbrc01-get0702.sd.sd.cox.net [68.6.8.119]
  5    32 ms    32 ms    32 ms  dalsbbrj02-ae3.0.rd.dl.cox.net [68.1.5.134]
  6    31 ms    31 ms    33 ms  72.21.221.202
  7    48 ms    51 ms    36 ms  176.32.125.150
  8    32 ms    32 ms    31 ms  176.32.125.159
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10    70 ms    77 ms    72 ms  54.239.43.206
 11    65 ms    64 ms    64 ms  54.239.43.96
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13    82 ms    92 ms    78 ms  54.239.111.166
 14    63 ms    62 ms    62 ms  54.239.110.182
 15    80 ms    87 ms    87 ms  54.239.110.187
 16    72 ms    68 ms    70 ms  52.93.25.114
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18    66 ms    65 ms    65 ms  52.93.24.127
 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.
Tracing route to ec2-34-237-197-55.compute-1.amazonaws.com [34.237.197.55]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  ip68-107-57-129.sd.sd.cox.net [68.107.57.129]
  3     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  ip68-101-129-110.sd.sd.cox.net [68.101.129.110]
  4     3 ms     2 ms     2 ms  visthbrc01-get0702.sd.sd.cox.net [68.6.8.119]
  5    32 ms    32 ms    32 ms  dalsbbrj02-ae3.0.rd.dl.cox.net [68.1.5.134]
  6    32 ms    31 ms    37 ms  52.46.167.210
  7    48 ms    43 ms    47 ms  54.239.105.99
  8    32 ms    32 ms    31 ms  176.32.125.157
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10    69 ms    80 ms    73 ms  54.239.46.4
 11    66 ms    66 ms    67 ms  54.240.229.217
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15    86 ms    78 ms    86 ms  54.239.110.227
 16    66 ms    66 ms    66 ms  52.93.26.74
 17    69 ms    81 ms   109 ms  52.93.27.221
 18    66 ms    65 ms    66 ms  72.21.197.243
 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.
Thanks for your time.

5 Replies

  • Hi Juices, your traceroutes seem to show normal ICMP deprioritization. Please explain what you mean by "it is how COX interacts with the Fortnite West Coast AWS servers." -Becky, Cox Support Forums Moderator
    • 402PrimeTime's avatar
      402PrimeTime
      New Contributor III

      COX Moderators, 

      Unsure what you'd be looking for from us from a technical perspective; however, this is a VERY real problem experienced by hundreds if not thousands of COX users specifically playing on the West Coast. Do some basic homework and you'll understand the problem. Cox should be on a call right now with someone from EPIC games and AWS to better understand the problem, and not just blanketly respond with "it's not on COX's end" because this is clearly specific to COX connections. This problem is recent, real and needs to be addressed. Else, I'm assuming a large contingency of folks will be thinking as I am (12+ yr customer), to jump to another provider who doesn't have these issues present. It's understandable that playing a video game and its general performance is probably not high on the priority list, but this is literally one of the most popular titles ever and provides entertainment/enjoyment to some of us. I've literally resigned myself to not playing anymore, which is disappointing because it's literally the only title I play anymore. 

    • Juices's avatar
      Juices
      New Contributor II

      If you read the above, I mentioned that when I'm in-game(Fortnite), If I set the region I'm playing on to "West Coast" I start to experience severe packet loss/lagging issues, however, when I set the region I'm playing on to "east-coast", I can play perfectly fine with no packet loss/lag. However, since I live in California it is not preferable to play on east-coast servers due to high pings, which means we are playing at a huge delay/disadvantage. As I stated above, I thoroughly tested 20 games each on both west and east coast servers and only had issues on the Fortnite west-coast servers, especially during peak hours. So I'm assuming the problem is how COX internet interacts with the "Fortnite West-Coast servers." Seems kinda silly that I'm making a big deal out of a video game, but I stream/play Fortnite as a source of income so this is a serious issue for me. This problem occurs on a daily basis. Everyday, I've been trying to research/find different ways to fix the problem but nothing works, seems like this is an issue on COX's end and is out of my reach. I've emailed support and they said they currently are investigating it, do you know if they found out what the problem is yet? It has been over two weeks.

  • eKayze's avatar
    eKayze
    New Contributor

    Ive been having the same issue as your and I am from San Diego also. The past week I gave Haste a try and it fixes these packet loss issues I am having.

    You can give the program a trial and see if it works out for you. I know this is not a real fix but I love to game and I needed to find a solution since Cox won't fix these issues for a very long time.

    • Juices's avatar
      Juices
      New Contributor II

      I've heard of it, and I'm looking for a permanent solution, are you seriously paying $15 a month for it or you just doing the 14-day trial?