Intermittent Connectivity? HELP!

MY ISP BLOWS!

I think... Either that or my router blows... but don't be fooled, something here blows.

I've been chatting with the super awesome tech support team at arenanet, trying to work out the problem.

Err=7, my least favorite message to pop up while playing guild wars. So far ArenaNet tech support and i have ruled out the following causes of my recent aggravation.
1) Firewall
2) Virus Protection
3) New version of firewall

I have run guild wars in every possible scenario that I can think of except one and its my last option before contacting my ISP.

Disabling my firewall.
Disabling my firewall and virus protection
Uninstalling my firewall completely.
Installing the newest veriosn of my firewall.
Disabling my firewall.
Disabling my firewall and virus protection.
Disabling everything, and closing every program running on my computer except essential windows components.

Alas... the problem is not fixed...

my last option is directly connecting my computer to the modem and running guild wars and see if my router is the problem... i hope to god its not since it's almost brand new ( 1 or 2 months old ). whereas if its my ISP its completely free to fix, and i might even get credit for a free month of internet if i complain enough

Oh, by the way... if anyone else is having this problem, leave your ISP so we can check and see if its my local branch or the entire service itself.

My Crappy ISP: Cox Communications 3Mb/s service... West Texas

i sometimes also get Err=7 but rarely though. since the release of GW, i can only recall that i have experienced 4 times when Err=7 occurred. i have no idea what causes this problem.

my isp is Earthlink ADSL

I, too have this ridiculous problem. I can't seem to complete some very simple missions near ascalon because of this problem. I seem to get disconnected randomly. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes to disconnect, and I've also had bursts of up to 2 hours of playing constantly with no problem before a disconnect.

Sometimes I will just be moving or clicking to grab an item, and it will immediately log me out and report an ERR=7, but other times everything will just freeze up and I won't be able to move for roughly 15 seconds. At that time, I get disconnected with an ERR=7.

My ISP is Verizon DSL, and I live in the CO (Colorado) area.

I have Cox as well.. Houston / Conroe Area.

You mentioned above a lot of firewall info, how about your router? If you have one. As a network engineer trainer I tell my students to follow the points of error.. NIC card, Network Cable, Router/Firewall, Cable to Cable Modem etc... Might wanna try to go to www.dslreports.com and test your connection they have many tools there.

luckily i have a friend who is about to graduate with a degree in netowrking security he is my mentor for everything internet related.

to answer your question, my router is the next thing i am checking. i have 2 NICs i have tried both and the problem recurrs with both NICS. Network cable is definetly a possibility but i have ruled it out because our entire netowkr experiences intermittent connectivity but it is hard to test since i am the only one that does anything that requires a constant D/L, U/L stream. modem... god i only hope its not the modem... i dont want to have to replace it... but when i plug my computer ito the modem directly i wil find out if its my router and i will find out if its my modem or my ISP. as for my connection... here is a pathping log i performed for arenanets information....

Tracing route to 206-127-148-36.plaync.com [206.127.148.36]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
0 trent [***.***.*.*]
1 * * ***.***.*.*
2 10.248.144.1
3 68.1.200.245
4 * dllsdsrc02-pos0701.rd.dl.cox.net [68.1.206.21]
5 so-3-3-0-0.gar2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.78.234.5]
6 ae-1-52.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.68.122.33]
7 ae-0-0.bbr1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [64.159.1.125]
8 ge-2-1-56.car3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.68.102.165]
9 * * *
Computing statistics for 225 seconds...
Source to Here This Node/Link
Hop RTT Lost/Sent = Pct Lost/Sent = Pct Address
0 trent [***.***.*.*]
0/ 100 = 0% |
1 8ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% ***.***.*.*
0/ 100 = 0% |
2 17ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 10.248.144.1
0/ 100 = 0% |
3 19ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 68.1.200.245
0/ 100 = 0% |
4 30ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% dllsdsrc02-pos0701.rd.dl.cox.net [
68.1.206.21]
0/ 100 = 0% |
5 36ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% so-3-3-0-0.gar2.Dallas1.Level3.net
[4.78.234.5]
0/ 100 = 0% |
6 32ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% ae-1-52.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4
.68.122.33]
0/ 100 = 0% |
7 61ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% ae-0-0.bbr1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net
[64.159.1.125]
0/ 100 = 0% |
8 65ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% ge-2-1-56.car3.LosAngeles1.Level3.
net [4.68.102.165]
100/ 100 =100% |
9 --- 100/ 100 =100% 0/ 100 = 0% trent [0.0.0.0]

Trace complete.

if you can read that up there^^^ you will see my connection ran perfect... low ping and everything... but the only variable was i ran that test at 3 am CST. here is another log i ran at 4 pm cst the next day or the day after that...

Tracing route to 206-127-148-36.plaync.com [206.127.148.36]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
0 trent [***.***.*.*]
1 ***.***.*.*
2 10.248.144.1
3 68.1.200.245
4 dllsdsrc02-pos0701.rd.dl.cox.net [68.1.206.21]
5 so-3-3-0-0.gar2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.78.234.5]
6 ae-1-54.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4.68.122.97]
7 ae-0-0.bbr1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [64.159.1.125]
8 ge-1-1-53.car3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net [4.68.102.69]
9 * * *
Computing statistics for 225 seconds...
Source to Here This Node/Link
Hop RTT Lost/Sent = Pct Lost/Sent = Pct Address
0 trent [***.***.*.*]
3/ 100 = 3% |
1 7ms 3/ 100 = 3% 0/ 100 = 0% ***.***.*.*
2/ 100 = 2% |
2 17ms 5/ 100 = 5% 0/ 100 = 0% 10.248.144.1
0/ 100 = 0% |
3 18ms 5/ 100 = 5% 0/ 100 = 0% 68.1.200.245
0/ 100 = 0% |
4 31ms 6/ 100 = 6% 1/ 100 = 1% dllsdsrc02-pos0701.rd.dl.cox.net [
68.1.206.21]
0/ 100 = 0% |
5 32ms 6/ 100 = 6% 1/ 100 = 1% so-3-3-0-0.gar2.Dallas1.Level3.net
[4.78.234.5]
0/ 100 = 0% |
6 32ms 6/ 100 = 6% 1/ 100 = 1% ae-1-54.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [4
.68.122.97]
0/ 100 = 0% |
7 68ms 5/ 100 = 5% 0/ 100 = 0% ae-0-0.bbr1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net
[64.159.1.125]
0/ 100 = 0% |
8 68ms 5/ 100 = 5% 0/ 100 = 0% ge-1-1-53.car3.LosAngeles1.Level3.
net [4.68.102.69]
95/ 100 = 95% |
9 --- 100/ 100 =100% 0/ 100 = 0% trent [0.0.0.0]

Trace complete.


^^^ not such perfect results... one of the reasons im am completely counting out my computer/cable/firewall/virus protection as the problem is because as far as i can tell it affects our entire network, which as Mezmonk said, would leave my router, modem, or ISP as the culprit... another reason i am so quick to blame Cox is that they do not have a good track record in our area. Lots of outages, problems with customer service, overall seemingly incompetent people running the business here...

my condolences to everyone else who experiences this problem that keeps them from enjoying this fine game.

This was a fault of the server due to the rampant number of bots, especially at Destiny's Gorge. My Grenditch Courthouse runner was booted 3 times before we made it.

The tech support at A-Net are awesome. For awhile I was spammed with Err=7 messages every 5-10 minutes after having the game run flawlessly from launch day. I'm still not sure the problem is licked, but I have run the game for 3 hours straight and no disconnects. In the end, what I ended up doing was disconnecting my cable modem from the cable and power line and unplugging my computer. Two days later, no Err=7. Wierd? Yes. Noob? Most likely. Did it work? So far.

Ok this is what I get from your post (correct me if I am wrong). Your connection drops intermittently (not just in Guildwars and not on only one computer). I would call up your ISP directly and ask them to possibly check your modem for issues. Also you mentioned that you get 3Mb/s but that doesnt seem right unless you are playing on a corporate/company LAN. A home user typically wont get a connection that fast unless they are paying a shit ton of extra money for it (or they ran a hacked firmware upgrade on their modem...) Do you have any port security turned on within your router (blocking certain ports from entering or exiting). If so check to make sure you arent blocking a needed port.

It is not Cox's fault. I also have this ISP, and it has run flawlessly for me. I was not one of the many who complained of being kicked in a period that seemed to start yesterday afternoon [PST]. However, I heard a lot of complains at many different outposts and in many different districts.

It is a server-side problem. That, or a terrorist attack.

that would be megabit/s not megabyte/s. as for router security yes enabled but i will check....

as for an update, i ran the final test last night, plugging my computer directly to the modem and telling the router to screw itself. i released and renewned my IP and it worked fine all night. now here i am 15 hours later, running with my computer plugged back into the router no problems whatsoever... hopefully i fixed the problem permanantly.

3 Megabits is still the equivalent of two T-1 lines which are 1.5 Mbits each which is pretty darn fast for a home connection.

well, for 30 some odd dollars a month, i guess i have a phat pipe