So, I return from class and decide to login to CF for a bit before my next one. I notice things are sluggish when they shouldn't be, which worried me at first, but it smooths out so I think nothing of it. Then, I was sitting in the inner guardian room, talking to someone through tells, it stops responding completely. I'm a little irked at the interruption, but figure the mud crashed and I can pick up as soon as it comes back up. After several failed attempts, I get the login prompt:

>By what name do you wish to be mourned? Lyeden
>Password:
>
>That character is already playing.
>Do you wish to connect anyway (Y/N)?Y <-- This confused me, but...
>Reconnecting.
>Reconnecting within 15 seconds of losing link.
>You will be able to move shortly.

...Annoyed, but I figured I was safe anyway and, if my connection just dropped for a moment, I'll just ask the person to repeat anything after what I last saw.

Unfortunately, I came back to this:
>You are thirsty.
>You are starving!
>You are affected by:
>Physical effect: 'plague' modifies strength by -10 for 106 hours.
>Commune: 'bless' modifies save vs spell by -12 for 47 hours.
>Commune: 'bless' modifies hit roll by 6 for 47 hours.
>Commune: 'detect invis' for 44 hours.
>Commune: 'detect evil' for 44 hours.
>Commune: 'detect good' for 44 hours.
>Physical effect: 'cabal raid' modifies morale by 7 for 22 hours.
>Commune: 'armor' modifies armor class by -20 for 15 hours.
>Spell: 'curse' modifies save vs spell by 12 for 14 hours.
>Spell: 'curse' modifies hit roll by -6 for 14 hours.
>Spell: 'deafen' for 13 hours.
>Spell: 'blindness' modifies hit roll by -4 for 11 hours.
>Skill: 'poison' modifies strength by -5 for 11 hours.
>Commune: 'fly' for 8 hours.
>Spell: 'power word despondence' modifies save vs mental by 9 for 6 hours.
>Spell: 'power word despondence' modifies charisma by -9 for 6 hours.
>Spell: 'power word despondence' modifies morale by -29 for 6 hours.
>Spell: 'worldbind' for 6 hours.
>Skill: 'sleep' for 5 hours.
>Commune: 'protection from evil' for 5 hours.
>Commune: 'sanctuary' for 4 hours.
>Commune: 'protective shield' for 1 hours.

Well, that sucked, and while I was waiting for my death, I noticed it was sluggish and decided to run a few basic diagnostics, notably ping:

>C:\Documents and Settings\Main>ping -t www.google.com
>Pinging www.l.google.com <74.125.19.103> with 32 bytes of data:
...
>Ping statistics for 74.125.19.103:
> Packets: Sent = 54, Received = 41, Lost = 13 (24% loss),
>Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
> Minimum = 37ms, Maximum = 44ms, Average = 38ms
>Control-C
>^C

24 ####ing percent packet loss. Admittedly, a third of a con point isn't that much of a loss, especially when compared to other times this has happened in games like eve, but.... I've checked all the networking equipment and cables, and everything is fine there. I've called my ISP before (and will again), which insists everything is fine, and when they send a tech out at my insistance to look at things, they still say everything is fine and their poilcy is to bill people for the site call if they don't find anything wrong with the cable modem or anything on their side. >:(

Sorry for ranting -- sometimes I need to vent, and intermittent periods of a few hours of anywhere from 7 to 52% (more common to rarer) packetloss is ridiculous. Most days it's fine AFAICT, fortunately, but these occurances are killer when they crop up.

In an attempt to maybe get something constructive out of this, anyone have any suggestions? I've tested each cable, no visual indications of damage and the tester shows that everything is fine. Routers work perfectly (Packets: Sent = 4919, Received = 4919, Lost = 0 (0% loss), no problems in the logs, all settings check out, local network transfers work flawlessly, all cables securely connected, and so on).

Are you using wireless? If so, try a wired connection and see if the problem goes away. If it does then you know the wireless link was the culprit.

If you're not wireless, then do what the other poster said and run a tracert whenever the connection goes crappy. It should show you the exact point of flakiness in the chain of hosts between you and CF.

If that flakiness isn't occurring with the first few hosts in the list (i.e. the ones under the control of your ISP) then complaining to your ISP will have little effect.

Once you do find out what hosts have the problem, there are ways to get the email address of the right person to contact.

I'm not the best Network guy out there, but I know enough to tell you this:

First, since connection to a web site, or other server, isn't a direct one, you have to go through many other serves routing the information (hops). Each of these hops slows your connection down a little, and if one of them is slow, it'll slow the whole transfer.

Usually, the information will try to pass elsewhere when it can't reach using the fastest way (that's when you get "Timed Out" with pings) but if it doesn't get timed out, but is still slow, most of the time it's going to continu the same path. If it does Time out, it may try to go elsewhere, but probably still going to try the first path most of the time.

If your using Windows, your friend here is the command "tracert". Use it as you use "ping". It'll tell you where it's slow between you and your target. It kind of s*cks, but there's little you can do against that.

One thing you can try, is to disconnect your modem (yes, even if you have high speed), and reconnect against after 30 seconds or so. It MAY, at that point, try another route to reach the target. It's not 100% garanteed, but that's probably your best shot.

Next best thing to do, which also s*cks, is to quit and wait for it to get better.