How can I figure out which end of the connection is responsible for me losing connection?

[MGsubbie]

I have moved a few months ago to a place where internet is included. Ever since I moved, I often get disconnected from Battlefield 1/the EA servers. Every time it happens, I can immediately press "click to reconnect" and get back to playing. Discord keeps running fine while it happens. Sometimes it happens once, sometimes it happens a few times in quick succession. I'm not sure the issue exists on my end of the connection, or it's really because of EA. I haven't tested other online games or services.

 

Is there any way for me to figure out what is responsible for my disconnects?

[Jasmin]

All right, there's a couple of things I'd suggest:

 

0. There's the simple things - check with the EA's FAQs/support for any blocked port ranges on your pc/firewall/router/modem. Playing on wifi in busy area? Is your switch/router firmware up to date? All the staples.

 

1. Open command prompt, select decent ping destination (www.google.com is staple) and run a ping without time limit (so it would be 'ping -t www.google.com'). When you get dropped from the game, bring up the command line and see if you got any timeouts or unusually high ping response. You should quickly learn your usual numbers and spot outliers. You can also check if the ping response is stable- normally you don't want to see more than 1-2ms variance, if it goes above that, it may point to some issues.

 

2. Get a hold of external IP for the game servers (if known that is - i remember blizzard and riot used to share theirs, not sure about EA) and run some tracerts without hop/time limits - see if any particular step has unusually high response time - check what it is. If you notice it across multiple tests, it is worth to report it to the ISP - it will be hard to convince them to take any action, but eventually they give in. Likewise, you can run the ping command for that server like in step 1.

 

3. Use this http://netalyzr.icsi.berkeley.edu/ - it's a uni of berkeley network analyzer - it will run an extensive test and potentially highlight some connection issues. One common thing is high buffer time set up by ISP, which can lead to random temporary disconnects. If you locate it, you can convince the ISP to change your settings.

 

4. You can always move to the big guns, like Wireshark - but it takes forever to analyze its output buuuuuut it will let you know exactly whats up.

 

From professional standpoint i hate dealing with intermittent network issues, but these would be the first steps we take.

 

Regards,

Jasmin

 

EDIT: Ahhh, almost forgot - what type of connection is it? ADSL? DSL? Fibre? 5ghz? They all have their own faubles...

[MGsubbie]

4 minutes ago, Jasmin said:

1. Open command prompt, select decent ping destination (www.google.com is staple) and run a ping without time limit (so it would be 'ping -t www.google.com'). When you get dropped from the game, bring up the command line and see if you got any timeouts or unusually high ping response. You should quickly learn your usual numbers and spot outliers. You can also check if the ping response is stable- normally you don't want to see more than 1-2ms variance, if it goes above that, it may point to some issues.

Does testing after the fact really let me know anything though? If that's the cause and it's just a temporary issue, would that not only happen the moment I get disconnected?

[Jasmin]

Just now, MGsubbie said:

Does testing after the fact really let me know anything though? If that's the cause and it's just a temporary issue, would that not only happen the moment I get disconnected?

The idea is that you set it up when you want to start playing, and let it run the ping in the background - it will have no impact on your experience, but when you get the dc you can alt-tab and check the prompt (which is still running the ping - thats the '-t' part of the command) - you may notice a line with "timed out" or with 300ms response time instead of usual 20-70 (whatever your connection is). If you had nothing, it points to something between your ISP & EA, or EA directly. If you have a clear outlier - it's either your end or the ISP

[MGsubbie]

1 minute ago, Jasmin said:

The idea is that you set it up when you want to start playing, and let it run the ping in the background - it will have no impact on your experience, but when you get the dc you can alt-tab and check the prompt (which is still running the ping - thats the '-t' part of the command) - you may notice a line with "timed out" or with 300ms response time instead of usual 20-70 (whatever your connection is). If you had nothing, it points to something between your ISP & EA, or EA directly. If you have a clear outlier - it's either your end or the ISP

I see, thank you.