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KrazeeeCOX's avatar
KrazeeeCOX
New Contributor
11 months ago

Slow trace route w/time outs

Greetings. I'm running in to an issue recently where my connection to World of Warcraft West coast servers is suddenly 3 to 5 times slower than previous. I used to experience about 50ms ping but it has recently jumped to 150-300ms. I've ran a trace route and immediately after 68.105.30.218 it has two timed out requests and then eventually makes it through two more hops and then the final IP as seen below.

  1     3 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.0.1
  2    12 ms    11 ms    11 ms  10.104.32.1
  3    13 ms     8 ms    11 ms  172.27.14.126
  4    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  mtc1dsrj02-ae50.rd.om.in.cox.net [172.27.14.34]
  5    24 ms    20 ms    21 ms  chgobprj01-ae0.rd.ch.cox.net [68.1.4.42]
  6    21 ms    25 ms    22 ms  68.105.30.218
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9   212 ms   189 ms   189 ms  et-0-0-0-pe04-swlv10.as57976.net [137.221.83.87]
 10   165 ms   143 ms   158 ms  las-swlv10-ia-bons-04.as57976.net [137.221.66.23]
 11   157 ms   151 ms   137 ms  137.221.105.2

I've also done an IP renew and DNS release. No changes.
Any help other than just resetting my router is appreciated. Chat "tech support" was... lacking, to put it nicely.

Thanks.

  • A possible workaround could be to use a VPN. I know Cox had something called "Gamer Elite" which was a rebranding of WTFast but it got discontinued. Do either of you happen to have it grandfathered in? Also, maybe another VPN might help? If it still occurs with the VPN then you pretty much know it's not a Cox issue however it is strange to see 2 people with similar problems. Are both of you West Coast?

    ::edit:: Just for comparison, I did a tracert on my FIOS connection. Seems to be routing differently. I am in RI. Notice the time outs, which are normal but the latency seems what it should be.

    Tracing route to 137.221.105.2 over a maximum of 30 hops

      1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  RT-AX86U-22F8 [192.168.50.1]
      2     4 ms     3 ms     3 ms  lo0-100.PRVDRI-VFTTP-304.verizon-gni.net [100.40.77.1]
      3     9 ms     7 ms     7 ms  B3304.PRVDRI-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [100.41.129.52]
      4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
      5    26 ms    14 ms     8 ms  0.ae2.GW1.BOS30.ALTER.NET [140.222.3.69]
      6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
      7     *        *       32 ms  ae2.3608.ear7.Chicago2.level3.net [4.69.142.178]
      8    31 ms    29 ms    29 ms  BLIZZARD-EN.ear7.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.7.196.134]
      9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
     10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
     11    69 ms    69 ms    70 ms  et-0-0-0-pe01-swlv10.as57976.net [137.221.83.81]
     12    75 ms    74 ms    74 ms  137.221.105.2

    Trace complete.

  • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
    WiderMouthOpen
    Esteemed Contributor

    Looks like the issue is between Cox in VA(Hop 6) and Holland(hop 9). Why is the server for "west coast" in Holland? Then again the geolocation data could be wrong(which isn't unusual) but the latency spike seems to match. This seems like a WoW issue to me. Have you contacted their support? I found this forum post on their site that could be relevant.

  • tjd269's avatar
    tjd269
    New Contributor II

    Hi there, I am experiencing the exact same issue. I have been using the same service for 12 months without issue until last night... I have seemingly the same routing issues.

    Ironically, a reset of the modem did fix it for one of my servers, but many other servers I would normally get sub-10 ping to, I am getting 150. Chicago also seems to be bad for me too. The LA routing seems to be really bad considering I'm in Las Vegas and should be getting literally like 8 ping or so like I usually do. Not sure where you're located though.

    Some servers still work totally fine though. I am experiencing this on Counter strike and it's incredibly frustrating. I haven't found anything online except just your post. Hoping others can chime in since it doesn't show a service outage or anything either.

    • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
      WiderMouthOpen
      Esteemed Contributor

      A possible workaround could be to use a VPN. I know Cox had something called "Gamer Elite" which was a rebranding of WTFast but it got discontinued. Do either of you happen to have it grandfathered in? Also, maybe another VPN might help? If it still occurs with the VPN then you pretty much know it's not a Cox issue however it is strange to see 2 people with similar problems. Are both of you West Coast?

      ::edit:: Just for comparison, I did a tracert on my FIOS connection. Seems to be routing differently. I am in RI. Notice the time outs, which are normal but the latency seems what it should be.

      Tracing route to 137.221.105.2 over a maximum of 30 hops

        1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  RT-AX86U-22F8 [192.168.50.1]
        2     4 ms     3 ms     3 ms  lo0-100.PRVDRI-VFTTP-304.verizon-gni.net [100.40.77.1]
        3     9 ms     7 ms     7 ms  B3304.PRVDRI-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [100.41.129.52]
        4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
        5    26 ms    14 ms     8 ms  0.ae2.GW1.BOS30.ALTER.NET [140.222.3.69]
        6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
        7     *        *       32 ms  ae2.3608.ear7.Chicago2.level3.net [4.69.142.178]
        8    31 ms    29 ms    29 ms  BLIZZARD-EN.ear7.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.7.196.134]
        9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
       10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
       11    69 ms    69 ms    70 ms  et-0-0-0-pe01-swlv10.as57976.net [137.221.83.81]
       12    75 ms    74 ms    74 ms  137.221.105.2

      Trace complete.

      • tjd269's avatar
        tjd269
        New Contributor II

        I'm west coast/Las Vegas, I figured trying a VPN would be a solid idea. Let me see...

        VPN completely fixes it. The servers I'm having issues with, and even Youtube.com, now don't have crazy latency. Same server as I trace routed above, but with a VPN:

        Tracing route to arryn.dathost.net [169.150.249.131]
        over a maximum of 30 hops:

          1    15 ms    16 ms    13 ms  100.64.1.131
          2    17 ms    16 ms    16 ms  vlan24.as04.lax1.us.m247.ro [185.236.200.17]
          3    26 ms    32 ms    32 ms  irb-2902.agg2.lax1.us.m247.ro [82.102.29.100]
          4    18 ms    24 ms    17 ms  be-2-3902.bb1n.lax1.us.m247.ro [82.102.29.112]
          5    17 ms    26 ms    15 ms  lax-b23-link.ip.twelve99.net [213.155.129.10]
          6    16 ms    17 ms    15 ms  lax-b22-link.ip.twelve99.net [62.115.143.39]
          7    40 ms    16 ms    14 ms  datacamp-ic-382478.ip.twelve99-cust.net [62.115.52.50]
          8    16 ms    16 ms    15 ms  vl222.lax-cs2-dist-1.cdn77.com [138.199.0.89]
          9    16 ms    15 ms    15 ms  arryn.dathost.net [169.150.249.131]

        Issue is completely gone on a VPN. Gotta be Cox right? Nothing on my end has changed in the past 12 months.

  • tjd269's avatar
    tjd269
    New Contributor II

    Also, similar results in a trace route for me. It goes up to 150ms when it hit's Cox:

    Tracing route to arryn.dathost.net [169.150.249.131]
    over a maximum of 30 hops:

      1     3 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.0.1
      2    12 ms    12 ms    11 ms  10.73.96.1
      3     7 ms    11 ms    11 ms  100.127.5.192
      4    13 ms    10 ms    12 ms  100.120.102.36
      5   141 ms   153 ms   177 ms  langbprj01-ae2.rd.la.cox.net [68.1.4.252]
      6   175 ms   160 ms   158 ms  cox-lax.cdn77.com [169.150.195.52]
      7   133 ms   130 ms   134 ms  vl211.lax-cs2-core-1.cdn77.com [138.199.0.104]
      8   114 ms   114 ms   114 ms  vl223.lax-cs2-dist-2.cdn77.com [138.199.0.91]
      9   176 ms   180 ms   176 ms  arryn.dathost.net [169.150.249.131]

    This is to an LA server, where again, I usually am under 10ms total. Clearly a Cox/ISP issue.

    • WiderMouthOpen's avatar
      WiderMouthOpen
      Esteemed Contributor
      tjd269 wrote:

      Clearly a Cox/ISP issue.

      I would agree, based on the new data. Good luck getting Cox to admit and fix it though.☹️ If it only has been happening for a couple of days I would give it a week and see if it fixes itself. Maybe use the VPN until then or use the central server? I don't play WoW so I don't know if that is possible. I will bow out of the conversation for now and let others post their data. I suggest posting on Blizzard's forum too to get as many eyes on this as possible.

    • M1ke's avatar
      M1ke
      New Contributor

      I'm in Vegas as well and I have the same issue starting tonight. I called and got to second level support and they are going to put in a ticket, but are not sure what group on their back end to assign it to.🤐 Same hop (Router or L3 switch) is bad in my path as well. There is clearly a resources issue on this device, but their network is not routing around it. 

       

  • Same issue as this user. I live in Southern Nevada and have cox fiber. Pinging/tracerouting to non los Angeles servers/networks are acting as normal. Pinging anything los Angeles routed experiences high latency (about 150ms).

    VPN is a workaround but this is something that cox should fix. I don't want to VPN my whole home network and every device to get around bad routing on COX's network.

  • Hi, so far I have not seen other reports of this issue.  like WiderMouthOpen said "It's very possible the issue may correct itself "but I will be glad to review this further with you. Please reach out to us privately at cox.help@cox.com and include your full street address and a link to this forum post. 

    • ehertlein's avatar
      ehertlein
      New Contributor

      Here is another report of the issue that seems to have started in the past 24 hours or so. I am seeing the same issue and the same Cox network gateway.

        1     2 ms     2 ms     2 ms  192.168.0.1
        2    15 ms    22 ms    10 ms  10.79.240.1
        3    17 ms    23 ms    18 ms  100.127.5.88
        4    14 ms    14 ms    17 ms  100.120.102.30
        5   160 ms   151 ms   149 ms  langbprj01-ae2.rd.la.cox.net [68.1.4.252]
        6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
        7   148 ms   152 ms   158 ms  64.124.129.53.IPYX-288174-006-ZYO.zip.zayo.com [64.124.129.53]
        8   131 ms   127 ms   110 ms  206.148.25.87
        9   119 ms   109 ms   116 ms  203.10.96.172

       

       

       

  • Hi Ehertlein, Please reach out to us privately at cox.help@cox.com so we can gather additional information from your account.  Please include your full street address and a link to this forum thread.

  • Thank you to everyone who responded and provided insight and at the very least brought some attention to this apparently common issue. I ended up taking tjd269's advice and set up a VPN (been meaning to for years anyway) and it completely solved the issue. Routing through Dallas (I'm in Omaha) gives me nearly the same pre-issue pings.

    TL:DR, COX routing is horrid, so getting literally anybody else to do it (in this case, using a VPN) solves the problem.

    • tjd269's avatar
      tjd269
      New Contributor II

      Check your other device and trace route that too because it's all my devices, including on wifi. On my phone I can use a ping app to reproduce the exact same issue with a trace route.

      • gorgofdoom's avatar
        gorgofdoom
        New Contributor II

        Ok. I have retested several devices. it is now appearing to affect all connected devices though it is less pronounced on the Wifi enabled machine.

        Two iphones are showing 100-300ms, using the google provided speed test, similar to the ethernet PC. while the wifi computer shows 78 on the most recent test. (while still getting 250ms+ to geforce now servers on any of these devices)

        Thanks for the guidance!

  • ehertlein's avatar
    ehertlein
    New Contributor

    FYI, this is better now, but not what it used to be. For me the route has changed

    Tracing route to 203.10.96.172 over a maximum of 30 hops

      1     4 ms     3 ms     2 ms  192.168.0.1
      2    11 ms    14 ms    12 ms  10.79.240.1
      3    13 ms    13 ms    15 ms  100.127.5.88
      4    14 ms    22 ms    16 ms  100.120.102.30
      5    27 ms    30 ms    53 ms  sanjbprj01-ae1.rd.sj.cox.net [68.1.1.225]
      6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
      7     *        *       36 ms  ae21.cs4.sjc4.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.21.64]
      8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
      9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
     10    36 ms    29 ms    31 ms  64.124.129.53.IPYX-288174-006-ZYO.zip.zayo.com [64.124.129.53]
     11    35 ms    29 ms    34 ms  206.148.25.87
     12    36 ms    34 ms    36 ms  203.10.96.172

    It is no longer going through langbprj01-ae2.rd.la.cox.net [68.1.4.252].