ISP is routing WoW traffic through the U.S., causing high ping

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1

Hey,

this weekend was basically unplayable for me. This has happened multiple times, and half of our guild experienced it on mythic progress day. Today, I decided to figure out why it’s happening, as it only affects World of Warcraft while other games run fine. It turns out my ISP is routing WoW traffic through the U.S., causing very high ping and making the game unplayable.

Provider is Vodafone Czechia.

C:\Users\XXXXX>ping 137.221.106.28

Pinging 137.221.106.28 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 137.221.106.28: bytes=32 time=158ms TTL=48
Reply from 137.221.106.28: bytes=32 time=154ms TTL=48
Reply from 137.221.106.28: bytes=32 time=156ms TTL=48
Reply from 137.221.106.28: bytes=32 time=154ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 137.221.106.28:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 154ms, Maximum = 158ms, Average = 155ms

C:\Users\XXXXX>tracert 137.221.106.28

Tracing route to 137.221.106.28 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 - <1 ms 1 ms * 192.168.0.1
2 - * * * Request timed out.
3 - * * * Request timed out.
4 - 15 ms 7 ms 9 ms ae29-100-ucr1.pra.cw(.)net [195.2.12.33]
5 - 9 ms 10 ms 10 ms prag-b4-link.ip.twelve99(.)net [62.115.173.250]
6 - 20 ms 19 ms 20 ms hbg-bb3-link.ip.twelve99(.)net [62.115.124.26]
7 - 33 ms 31 ms 31 ms ldn-bb1-link.ip.twelve99(.)net [62.115.137.214]
8 - * 103 ms * nyk-bb5-link.ip.twelve99(.)net [62.115.139.244]
9 - * * * Request timed out.
10 - 121 ms 116 ms 114 ms chi-b23-link.ip.twelve99(.)net [62.115.140.109]
11 - 117 ms 115 ms 116 ms blizzard-ic-348622.ip.twelve99-cust(.)net [62.115.178.249]
12 - * * * Request timed out.
13 - * * * Request timed out.
14 - 157 ms 155 ms 157 ms et-0-0-0-pe02-swlv10.as57976(.)net [137.221.83.83]
15 - 164 ms 157 ms 160 ms las-swlv10-ia-bons-02.as57976(.)net [137.221.66.19]
16 - 158 ms 162 ms 156 ms 137.221.105.31
17 - 158 ms 154 ms 155 ms 137.221.106.28

Pinging European battle.net server (eu.actual.battle(.)net) is fine, it runs well and no higher ping issues were detected, it’s only the game server issue.

6 Likes
2

from what i can gather. This problem happens mainly on vodafone customers all over Europe

3

Yes, or providers that use Vodafone infrastructure. We found out that too. The question is who to contact - Vodafone or Blizzard. I think that’s something both of them should deal with

1 Like
4

I’m having exactly the same issue, it is currently unplayable (300ms+ all the time). Vodafone Portugal here

2 Likes
5

I am interested in this since i also have problem with Vodafone(Greece) as my ISP provider. For the last month i have experienced ludicrously high ping ONLY in WoW (had literally no problems before). While my home network is fine MS in WoW can shoot up to 350 making gameplay impossible.

1 Like
6

Same here, and also other friends with Vodafone experiencing the same. Oddly enough, it looks to be only early afternoon hours. Played in the morning and late afternoon/night without issues

1 Like
7

what i have seen is that any traffic going through twelve99 route always creates problems while playing wow .

1 Like
8

Same here, also Vodafone (Portugal)

1 Like
9

The issue this weekend is FAR worse than normal. I was only able to play for 2 hours Saturday morning (without lag) and then at night when the issue stopped. This Sunday i had issues from the moment i logged in until now. The game is actually unplayable for me as we speak.

1 Like
10

Thats not even a question. Blizzard are NOT responsible for your ISP’s routing tables. Therefore you need to contact Vodafone.

1 Like
11

same problem here, Vodafone Portugal is cooking, can’t play the game.

1 Like
12

I don’t know if this issue is related to Vodafone honestly.
I have been playing Battlefield 1, Destiny 2 and I’m at the moment playing on a no official WoW server and my ping is normal and stable, only when I’m playing Classic WoW i have spikes that can range from 100+ms to 400+ or even 600+.

On the other games i am not experiencing this issue.

13

Different games have different ip addresses .if one game is working doesnot mean all your games will work with your isp .
And looking at what op has stated it is clearly and isp problem with route it is taking

1 Like
14

Same here, Vodafone Czechia.

15

So now we have to wait Vodafone to fix that?
Great, I’m sure that’s going to happen.

1 Like
16

Horrible weekend with unplayable ping. It was suddenly fine for a few hours on Saturday evening but now in Sunday it’s 300 again.
ISP: Vodafone Ireland

17

This is 100% a vodafone issue, there is absolutely nothing blizzard can do about it, they have zero control over how different ISPs choose to route their traffic… Blizzard is not in the buisiness of managing how multiple thousand different ISPs worldwide control their traffic, they are in the business of creating videogames.

The best they can do is write a letter asking nicely to change it, they have zero legal means to actually invoke any sort of change here.

PS: Vodafone sucks, everywhere. The only good thing about them is that their services are dirt cheap in most countries. However, you also get what you pay for :beers:

18

If you don’t want to pay for VPN or switch your ISP just for playing World of Warcraft - Download Cloudflare WARP from official Cloudflare website. It will most likely solve your issue in WoW. Or you can try to contact your ISP and ask for changing routing.

5 Likes
19

I was having some similar problems and i found a post on reddit saying to try WARP by cloudflare. Its free and it works similar to a VPN from what i’m understanding.

After installation it doesnt open any window, look in the tray icons after you open it.

My ping went down from 120 to 60, still worse than usual but it helped.

20

I just tried Cloudflare WARP and it does seem to improve the MS a bit. 73 MS stable sometimes jump to 93-100 but definately better than the previous mess.