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plague2438

4 posts

Wannabe Geek


#318865 27-Feb-2025 21:06
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It's a long shot, but I thought I would try posting here.

 

For the last week, I have been having some packet loss problems on dota 2 (Valve game).

 

It kind of looks like this in the game:

 

 

Obviously this makes for a less than satisfactory gaming experience.

 

What is strange is that this packet loss seems to happen only between approximately 7:30pm to 9:15pm ish every night (NZ time).

 

 

 

As part of trying to figure out the problem, I have continuously pinged several servers. 103.10.125.146, 103.10.125.147 and 103.10.124.120 are what I believe to be Valve servers. The first two should be based in Sydney and the third in Singapore. 

 

The graph below shows that up until about 7:28pm ish everything is fine, but all hell breaks lose from that point onwards. The graph going to -1ms is basically a time out, I just made it this way so its easier to see which pings are timing out. You can see the SEA valve server and telstra dropping at very similar times, then becoming stable again for a couple of minutes and then timing out quite badly again.

 

For some reason, the Australian Valve server seems to be ok based on the image today, but usually gives a lot of packet loss at similar times.

 

Note that I found the addresses to dota servers to ping via resource monitor -> network and could potentially be pinging the wrong Australian Valve servers!

 

 

I am a little bit of a loss to explain this situation. All pings to other servers (inc. google and my own router) seems to be stable at all times. My ISP is Bigpipe and I have been with them for many years without much issues.

 

I would appreciate any insight, especially on any particular tree I should be shaking for answers.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 


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gellza
3 posts

Wannabe Geek


  #3348760 28-Feb-2025 18:01
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Have noticed the same thing to Blizzard servers in Aus in the evenings around the times you've listed (I'm with Spark) - I've had to resort to using a VPN to get past the issue for now, but why should this be necessary is the real question...

 

Similar issue to in the end of Nov/beginning of Dec last year in this thread (also for Skinny/Spark users) - https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=317994

 

 

 

 




yitz
2075 posts

Uber Geek


  #3348766 28-Feb-2025 18:40
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Going by traceroutes to some of those IPs it looks like Valve has engaged a DDoS mitigation provider.

 

Routing from 2degrees certainly looks bizarre, it is going 2degrees -> Spark -> GlobalSecureLayer > Valve
I would have expected a direct connection between 2degrees and GSL instead of going via Spark...

 

So in short, Valve engaged a DDoS mitigation provider but routes don't look optimal.


plague2438

4 posts

Wannabe Geek


  #3349739 3-Mar-2025 20:58
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Well, thanks for the replies. Given that a lot of other guys based in NZ are having no problems, I might just switch ISPs and hope that solves this issue.




irpegg
142 posts

Master Geek


  #3349744 3-Mar-2025 21:23
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I'm also getting the same issues on Skinny(Spark).  Multiple games that have servers in Melbourne/Sydney.

Seems to be terrible routing, because as soon as i got on exitlag / used a vpn the issue disappears.  Know two other people on Skinny/Spark that have the same issues at the same times (peak time of 8pm - 10)


yitz
2075 posts

Uber Geek


  #3349746 3-Mar-2025 21:27
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plague2438:

 

Well, thanks for the replies. Given that a lot of other guys based in NZ are having no problems, I might just switch ISPs and hope that solves this issue.

 

 

Back when I used Spark as my main connection sometimes if I restarted so the connection came up on a completely different IP range then traffic would be end up being routed across different upstream links/internet exchanges that were less congested. Unfortunately Spark has a restrictive peering policy meaning it's harder to load balance as available links are limited. Sometimes content providers use this bottleneck (and thus customer complaints) as a way to seek more favourable interconnection arrangements.


plague2438

4 posts

Wannabe Geek


  #3349747 3-Mar-2025 21:29
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yitz:

 

plague2438:

 

Well, thanks for the replies. Given that a lot of other guys based in NZ are having no problems, I might just switch ISPs and hope that solves this issue.

 

 

Back when I used Spark as my main connection sometimes if I restarted so the connection came up on a completely different IP range then traffic would be end up being routed across different upstream links/internet exchanges that were less congested. Unfortunately Spark has a restrictive peering policy meaning it's harder to load balance as available links are limited. Sometimes content providers use this bottleneck (and thus customer complaints) as a way to seek better interconnection arrangements.

 

 

 

 

What ISP are you with now if you don't mind me asking? I'm currently thinking of switching to Quic.


yitz
2075 posts

Uber Geek


  #3349748 3-Mar-2025 21:31
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plague2438:

 

What ISP are you with now if you don't mind me asking? I'm currently thinking of switching to Quic.

 

 

I tested over Compass which is a 2degrees wholesale connection, sorry not playing the affected games but running basic pings and traceroute despite the roundabout path doesn't look to be anything wrong.


 
 
 

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plague2438

4 posts

Wannabe Geek


  #3349750 3-Mar-2025 21:35
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yitz:

 

plague2438:

 

What ISP are you with now if you don't mind me asking? I'm currently thinking of switching to Quic.

 

 

I tested over Compass which is a 2degrees wholesale connection, sorry not playing the affected games but running basic pings and traceroute despite the roundabout path doesn't look to be anything wrong.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for letting me know! I'll consider Compass as well.


yitz
2075 posts

Uber Geek


  #3349753 3-Mar-2025 21:38
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plague2438:

 

Thanks for letting me know! I'll consider Compass as well.

 

 

They are known as Zeronet these days.  Quic might be a better option if you are into a ISP with direct control of network routing though. A lot of their users on here have smokeping monitoring graphs similar to that in your original post so you could ask someone on here to add the relevant IPs to their monitoring.


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