Lag issues lately

[n.]

It's been a while, but I haven't been playing here as much lately because of the lag and wanted to revisit the issue. This same problem still persists - all I need to see it is a window with a constant ping going to the server. It'll be steady around 75ms, then about once per minute will spike up to +140+ and start dropping packets. Then after a few seconds it goes back down. The inconsistency makes it pretty much unplayable whenever this is going on (it's not all the time).

I know it's likely an issue with your host's internet connection (or one of the internet connections) and not the server itself, as it doesn't seem to affect everyone on the server when it happens.  And likewise, my connection is fine to other servers while it's happening. Seems like it could still be some DDOS issue like you described (did they never upgrade?), or just some congested/flapping Internet link somewhere in my route to you guys. I'm really not sure what you guys could do about it, just wanted you to know it's still going on. Frustrating not being able to play all the time :/

Here's an example ping. If you want, I could run a traceroute to the server and then run constant pings to each hop to find out exactly which hop is causing the problem. But like I said, not sure you could do anything about it either way.

Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=113
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=109ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=142ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=151ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=114
Request timed out.
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=153ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=145ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=131ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=143ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=153ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=161ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=135ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=103ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=114
Reply from 66.151.138.182: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=114

[n.]

Ok it's really bad right now so here is my traceroute:

root@raspberrypi:~# traceroute 66.151.138.182
traceroute to 66.151.138.182 (66.151.138.182), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  0.697 ms  0.447 ms  0.626 ms
 2  * * *
 3  xe-0-0-2.164.aggr09.austtx.grandecom.net (216.82.213.158)  15.311 ms  16.220 ms  16.090 ms
 4  ae0-0.aggr01.austtx.grandecom.net (24.155.121.76)  15.682 ms  15.474 ms  15.441 ms
 5  * * *
 6  * * *
 7  * * *
 8  * * *
 9  ae-2-3514.edge2.Atlanta4.Level3.net (4.69.150.165)  40.719 ms  33.535 ms  33.006 ms
10  gtt-level3.Atlanta4.level3.net (4.68.63.158)  53.298 ms  54.249 ms  75.449 ms
11  xe-11-3-0.sjc10.ip4.gtt.net (89.149.182.69)  75.730 ms  75.609 ms  74.924 ms
12  internap-gw.ip4.gtt.net (77.67.70.26)  78.401 ms  78.878 ms  76.499 ms
13  border1.t3-1-bbnet1.sje003.pnap.net (66.151.144.27)  77.591 ms border1.t4-1-bbnet2.sje003.pnap.net (66.151.144.90)  75.723 ms  75.385 ms
14  v-66-151-138-182.unman-vds.internap-sj.nfoservers.com (66.151.138.182)  77.015 ms *  77.311 ms


Running continues pings to each hop, everything looks great up until the address in hop 13, which is where it starts with the lag spikes and dropped packets.

[n.]

So I switched ISP's (back to time warner) and now that my traffic is no longer being routed through level3 my ping is much, much better and more consistent. Why in hell I was being routed through Atlanta to get from Texas to CA is beyond me.

I'd encourage anyone else having severe lag spikes to run a trace and see if you're going through level3's shit show.