Time Warner Cable customers experience World of Warcraft trouble
Many of us with cable internet connections are well aware of the problems that arise when cable companies specifically block certain applications, such as the recent problems with Comcast blocking Bit Torrent.
It looks like there may be a similar problem with Time Warner and Roadrunner Cable, as many of their customers have found to it difficult to impossible to play due to lag and latency issues for some time, reports the New York Post.
To some extent, both TWC and Blizzard have been blaming each other for a while, with Time Warner claiming they have done nothing to block any packets or traffic related to World of Warcraft, and Blizzard pointing out that all of the players on the east coast with these problems are Time Warner/Roadrunner cable customers.
It's difficult to say if Time Warner is being genuine in their confusion, since other ISPs have lied about similar issues in the past, but there are signs they are taking this seriously. They have contacted Blizzard's ISP, and players are saying that they have been contacted by Time Warner representatives looking to fix the problem.
Seeing the issue making it into print media, perhaps, will give them the extra initiative they need to get it completely sorted.
Recent Posts
- Wealth category removed from Armory statistics (12/03/2008)
- Debuff limit removed (12/03/2008)
- Ghostcrawler and Vaneras on the classes that GMs play (12/03/2008)
- Child's Play auctioning off a Warcraft Wolfrider statue (12/03/2008)
- Wrath Dailies: Preparing for the Worst (12/03/2008)
Debuff limit removed
Chinese MMO accused of stealing art from World of Warcraft, others
Realms up after extended maintenance
Downtime extended to 1 O'Clock PST
The Guild episode 2 of season 2 out now
Wrath Dailies: Preparing for the Worst
The Queue: Trinkets, sigils and death by Orcs
Encrypted Text: Emblem of Heroism rewards for Rogues
Guildwatch: "I'm a #(*$ing fantastic Rogue"
15 Minutes of Fame: Disabled player goes hands on with joystick
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
8-13-2008 @ 6:14PM
Shamonue said...
When Time Warner took over our local ISP here, around a year ago, I couldn't stay on Warcraft for more than 5 min before getting disconnected. It always seemed to be more trouble late in the evening, but after about 2 weeks It started working perfectly and I haven't had a problem since.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:23PM
Eric said...
Time Warner is a giant pile of crap in my eyes, but that's probably because they have no positive media and I don't have to deal with them.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:24PM
Mike said...
I experienced some issues with playing WoW earlier this year as a TWC customer. It was a pretty easy decision on how to fix it, change providers! It's called a free market for a reason, and voting with your feet and your dollars should inform the ISP that their service's reliability has a value, and failure to perform will force you to find a provider who can deliver it to you.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 7:50PM
Nick S said...
Most people in the USA live in market areas with cable monopolies. For many Americans, there is no choice - it's Comcast/Time Warner or dialup.
Why is the service provided by big ISPs so bad? They have no reason to improve, because it typically is *not* a free market.
Comcast and Time Warner are bad ISPs that do not care about their prisoners. And they're not about to change.
8-14-2008 @ 11:27AM
Runstadrey said...
Your comment would make sense if any measurable percentage of the US actually had ISP competition. But, for the vast majority of us it's Comcast / TW or dial-up. So take your ignorance somewhere else.
8-13-2008 @ 6:28PM
Jeremy Kendall nick feldy said...
time warner took over here in la little over a year and a half ago there isp sucks balls. i always have lag issues with wow compared to any other game its just bs
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:29PM
Shinken said...
Looks like someone got caught bandwidth shaping
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:31PM
mattyt17 said...
TIME WARNER IS HORRIBLE. One of the worst customer service centric companies in our nation. my latency is always yellow.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:32PM
HankD said...
Just so it's not all negative... I was on netcom, which got bought by comcast, which got bought by roadrunner/time/warner... and I've never had any serious connectivity issues...
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:33PM
TotalBiscuit said...
We've had no problems with Time Warner at all, at least, as regards to stability and speed. The problems start to arise when you have to call their customer service for any reason. I hope you enjoy being put on hold.
Reply
8-14-2008 @ 9:05AM
Gabby said...
Oi, welcome to American Cable TB. XD
I personally haven't had any connectivity issues either, however I tend to keep the proper ports open on my router and the right triggers set up to prevent packet issues.
I'm guessing the average client has no clue how to do that.
8-13-2008 @ 6:35PM
Sylythn said...
Great idea Mike - we've all got options when it comes to service providers...wait for it, the sarcasm is coming...
I'm not unique in this situaiton - I can only get Time Warner Cable internet here. Verizon DSL? nope, FIOS? nope, can I afford Satelite? of course not, dial-up? ok well, you got me there...guess I should go get my old 56k modem out of the dust pile.
If I had an alternative, I'd switch in a heartbeat.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:45PM
Jonathan said...
There's been a mess of trouble up here in North Dakota with Midcontinent Communications. In fact, it sounds like the exact same problem.
8-13-2008 @ 6:49PM
Raaena said...
Any TW people in here mind running a tracert and posting your results? TWC doesn't always use their own backbone to route their internet traffic, so I'm curious to see who's routers you're traversing in your attempts to WoW. Since a lot of TWC/RR used to cross the network I helped manage, I can easily pinpoint if they were my old company's routers--and they had places that they would "dump" traffic...
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:52PM
slimj091 said...
i've had Roadrunner for nearly two years now, and havent had any problems that other players say they have with roadrunner and WoW.
although i will say that i agree that their customer service is pathetic at best. the only problems i've encountered with their broadband service was due to the previous cable company's (which TWC bought out) craptacular infrastructure.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 6:59PM
Thais said...
Yep, I use timewarner and the internet sucks when playing wow; the local provider has much better service, but the apartment i love in now, and many others, are only allowed to use TWC "(
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 7:06PM
Ashley said...
Very weird. I use Time Warner Cable, and I never had a problem with latency. In fact, my latency usually stays in the double digits.
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 7:24PM
emptyrepublic said...
I've had TWC for years and never had any problems (WoW or otherwise). The alternative is AT&T Bellsouth DSL which is far less reliable to my understanding (at least here).
Here's a traceroute to my server Korialstrasz (It's located in the Seattle Datacenter, and I live in South Carolina)...
Tracing route to 72.5.213.97 over a maximum of 30 hops
1
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 7:25PM
emptyrepublic said...
I'll try that again, didn't paste correctly the firsttime...
Tracing route to 72.5.213.97 over a maximum of 30 hops
1
8-13-2008 @ 7:25PM
emptyrepublic said...
Or the second. Sorry.