Time Warner Cable customers experience World of Warcraft trouble
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 13th 2008 at 6:00PM
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.
Filed under: Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Shinken Aug 13th 2008 6:29PM
Looks like someone got caught bandwidth shaping
Shamonue Aug 13th 2008 6:14PM
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.
Mike Aug 13th 2008 6:24PM
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.
Nick S Aug 13th 2008 7:50PM
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.
Runstadrey Aug 14th 2008 11:27AM
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.
Eric Aug 13th 2008 6:23PM
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.
Jeremy Kendall nick feldy Aug 13th 2008 6:28PM
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
mattyt17 Aug 13th 2008 6:31PM
TIME WARNER IS HORRIBLE. One of the worst customer service centric companies in our nation. my latency is always yellow.
HankD Aug 13th 2008 6:32PM
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...
TotalBiscuit Aug 13th 2008 6:33PM
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.
Gabby Aug 14th 2008 9:05AM
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.
Sylythn Aug 13th 2008 6:35PM
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.
Jonathan Aug 13th 2008 6:45PM
There's been a mess of trouble up here in North Dakota with Midcontinent Communications. In fact, it sounds like the exact same problem.
Raaena Aug 13th 2008 6:49PM
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...
slimj091 Aug 13th 2008 6:52PM
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.
Thais Aug 13th 2008 6:59PM
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 "(
Ashley Aug 13th 2008 7:06PM
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.
emptyrepublic Aug 13th 2008 7:24PM
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
emptyrepublic Aug 13th 2008 7:25PM
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
emptyrepublic Aug 13th 2008 7:25PM
Or the second. Sorry.