Problems connecting to Lotro Servers for eircom customers

Lister1

All eircom customers are currently expierincing major lag with lotro servers. Codemasters have asked us to "contact the ISP, provide them with the location of our servers (Amsterdam) and inform them that only users of their ISP are having this issue". More details in the below thread. Any assistance is resolving the problems would be appreciated.


http://community.codemasters.com/forum/technical-assistance-forum-737/456550-character-failing-load-14.html

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

All eircom customers are currently expierincing major lag with lotro servers. Codemasters have asked us to "contact the ISP, provide them with the location of our servers (Amsterdam) and inform them that only users of their ISP are having this issue". More details in the below thread. Any assistance is resolving the problems would be appreciated.


http://community.codemasters.com/forum/technical-assistance-forum-737/456550-character-failing-load-14.html

Hi Lister1,

Apologies for the delay in responding to you, I have escalated your post to see which department is best suited to investigate. I will let you know as soon as I have any updates.

Thanks, Mark

Lister1

Thanks Mark. Looking at Ants background he may be able to identify the problem himself.

Lister1

Any update for us Mark?

eircom: Tony

Lister1 wrote: »

Any update for us Mark?

Hi Lister
Mark is in training today but I have contacted him re this issue and he is awaiting feedback. Should have some update today or tomorrow.
Tony

Lister1

Any update today on the issue?

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

Any update today on the issue?

Hi Lister1,

I am sorry about the wait but I have escalated the issue and I am waiting for a response. It may be early next week before I get a reply.

Thanks, Mark

shanous

What exactly do you mean by "escalating" the issue?

Welease

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/technical-assistance-forum-737/456550-character-failing-load-26.html#post6937258

Hi all,

After further investigation with help from own providers we have been able to confirm that the issue lies with the Eircom exchange. There are no faults with any of our services or lines, (if there were, more people from different ISPs, countries etc. would also be suffering).

The reason other games remain unaffected for Eircom users is that many other games use the TCP protocol and different ports to LOTRO, (LOTRO uses UDP protocol which is managed differently).

We are attempting to make contact with Eircom to see if there is anything they can do to sort out the problem but as yet have not had a response.
__________________
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Director, Community Relations
Community blog: www.maycontaingamers.com
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It's been over a week now...

eircom: Tony

shanous wrote: »

What exactly do you mean by "escalating" the issue?

Hi shanous
due to the technical nature of this particular query we have reported this to the appropriate technical section for clarification and if it is an eircom issue then for resolution.
'Escalating' is the term we use to describe this process.
Hope to have an answer soon though.
Tony

shanous

As Welease says, Codemasters have confirmed that it is a problem on Eircoms end of things.
Has there been any major work/changes since last Wednesday the 16th of February that could have caused this issue?
It might help if Eircom can contact Codemasters to speed up the process as it seems they have been trying to get into contact but with no success.
I have a lifetime subscription with LOTRO but I know a lot of people have payed good money to play it but are unable because of this issue so please, do what you can as fast as you can.
Us customers are entitled to the service we pay for and right now, we are not getting it.
Thank you for the updates, I hope to see it resolved as soon as possible.

EDIT: Is this going to happen everytime a new exchange is upgraded? If so I'll certainly be taking my money to UPC.

Derrick

Hi All,

A copy of a post I put on the CodeMasters forum on this earlier today. The same plea to resolve this quickly goes to Eircom. I am still convinced that some talking and asking the forum members to assist with tests should resolve this.

Eircom people: Do you have any idea how many people this is affecting? The Codemasters forum board is lighting up on this. currently at 29 pages of forum and growing. I have been with Eircom from the start of when I was getting broadband about 6 years ago and I have been with Codemasters on Lotro for 4 of those years without any issues until the last week or so. I admire both companies although I wish it was easier to contact Eircom directly at times but really, both companies stand to lose paying customers here and the lack of urgency in the response time, particularly from Eircom is beginning to diminish my impression of the company.

Thanks,
Derrick


Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 4 CM and Eircom

---

Hi there,

I cannot post links yet but if you google eircom and lotro and go to the boards.ie link. An Eircom representative called Tony is helping one of the members of this forum escalate it through Eircom but not sure where Tony fits in the organisation and there is no evidence of direct contact between CM & broadband support in Eircom. There not a lot of interaction there and it should not be up to forum members to sort out what has to be a business-to-business issue. It may well not be CM's fault or indeed Eircom's fault but something between their two systems is not communicating and sure some basic phone contact to and from the right people could get this sorted fairly quickly as both companies stand to upset their respective customers. I am inclined to think it is an Eircom issue with UDP at this point but it can still only be resolved by both companies talking. Eircom has less to lose here as only Lotro is not working. Having played Lotro for 3-4 years now, I am hooked on the game and really enjoy it but I am not going to switch broadband providers just to play a game, no matter how good.

(CM did you use the broadband support number or Eircom's main number? Their broadband support hotline is 1890 260 260 which I have used previously and once you get through the initial call centre stuff is usually pretty good. I think the 1890 bit only works from Ireland though. You could wait a long time for an email response which is particularly woeful.

I appreciate the engagement from CM in particular and to a lesser extent Eircom (Tony being the only guy who seems to want to help) but I am not overly impressed with the relative lack of urgency to resolve the issue.

Please CM do what you can as quickly as possible before I defect completely to DDO and/or WoW . I will be posting a copy of this post on the Eircom boards site.

Thanks,
Derrick

Lister1

Any update?

eircom: Ant

Lister1 wrote: »

Any update?

Hi Lister1,

Thanks again for contacting eircom on bords.ie

I have no official update at the minute. Will check and advise shortly.

All the best,

Ant

Welease

Ant,

Do you guys have a timeline or SLA for responding to these sort of issues?

It's been about 10 days since the problems were initially raised, and not one single relevant update from Eircom.. That's a pretty poor level of support by any standards.

shanous

This is just not good enough. For a company of Eircoms size it defies belief for the Tech Support and feedback to be of such poor quality.
I rang the support line the very day this started happening, Thursday 17th, and the day after, Friday the 18th.
I relayed my issues and directed the "Technician" to the thread on the LOTRO forums and he said he'll have the senior members of the Support staff look into the issue asap.
Lo and behold 11 days later and we are still being told that there is no update.
Is this because NOTHING is being done about it?
Have you cantacted Codemasters to better understand the situation? Probably not as customer satisfaction does not seem to be a priority here.
If Eircom cared about the service they provide to their customers they should be climbing over each other to get this fixed.
Can we get a reply from an actual Technician on this issue? Or is it just Representatives that browse though here?

Still awaiting some helpful news but as ever, none seems forthcoming...

*rant mode deactivated*
One VERY dissatisfied customer.

eircom: Ant

Welease wrote: »

Ant,

Do you guys have a timeline or SLA for responding to these sort of issues?

It's been about 10 days since the problems were initially raised, and not one single relevant update from Eircom.. That's a pretty poor level of support by any standards.

Hi Welease,

Thanks for your query.

We are currently checking for updates.

Service level agreements are usually determined by network operations in conjuction with the communications regulator. For e.g : a P1 is usually assigned a higher priority, while a P4 has a lesser priority. This would also be determined by hours of service. For e.g : eircom Technical support are available untill 10pm in comparison and at weekends, whereas many support centres are generally closed at weekends or in the evening.
A general query may not necessarily have a SLA, although eircom Support will usually try their best to answer all queries as fast as possible.

As advised earlier today, my colleague is currently checking your query and will advise as soon as possible.

Kind regards
Ant

Welease

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Hi Welease,

Thanks for your query.

We are currently checking for updates.

Service level agreements are usually determined by network operations in conjuction with the communications regulator. For e.g : a P1 is usually assigned a higher priority, while a P4 has a lesser priority. This would also be determined by hours of service. For e.g : eircom Technical support are available untill 10pm in comparison and at weekends, whereas many support centres are generally closed at weekends or in the evening.
A general query may not necessarily have a SLA, although eircom Support will usually try their best to answer all queries as fast as possible.

As advised earlier today, my colleague is currently checking your query and will advise as soon as possible.

Kind regards
Ant

Thanks for the response Ant..

With respect, the support system seems to be failing customers.. Any calls to Eircom since 17th are just closed as Eircom say there isn't a fault.. And any posts here are treated as a general enquiry which have no SLA..

How can I (and the other customers with this problem) get timely updates to the problem? 10 or 11 days without any indication of whats being done, or possible timeline for solutions isn't acceptable.

I am happy to open a call with Eircom (I didn't bother last time as others had made contact which should have been sufficient (and CodeMasters have attempted to contact Eircom also)) if I means I will get more regular updates etc.

Please advise..

Thanks.

shanous

Ant, did you dismiss my post completely or did you simply choose not to read it at all?
Selective answering is not exactly an admirable trait, I would appreciate an answer to my questions also.

eircom: Ant

shanous wrote: »

This is just not good enough. For a company of Eircoms size it defies belief for the Tech Support and feedback to be of such poor quality.
I rang the support line the very day this started happening, Thursday 17th, and the day after, Friday the 18th.
I relayed my issues and directed the "Technician" to the thread on the LOTRO forums and he said he'll have the senior members of the Support staff look into the issue asap.
Lo and behold 11 days later and we are still being told that there is no update.
Is this because NOTHING is being done about it?
Have you cantacted Codemasters to better understand the situation? Probably not as customer satisfaction does not seem to be a priority here.
If Eircom cared about the service they provide to their customers they should be climbing over each other to get this fixed.
Can we get a reply from an actual Technician on this issue? Or is it just Representatives that browse though here?

Still awaiting some helpful news but as ever, none seems forthcoming...

*rant mode deactivated*
One VERY dissatisfied customer.

Hi shanous,

Thanks for contacting the Forum on boards.

I apologise for the delay in responding to your query.

We have checked with eircom Technical Support, but don't have a further update at the moment.

Kind regards
Ant

shanous

shanous wrote: »

Have you contacted Codemasters to better understand the situation?
Can we get a reply from an actual Technician on this issue? Or is it just Representatives that browse though here?

Still feels as if you did not actually read my post as the answer you gave has nothing to do with the questions I asked.

Lister1

Can you provide us with an update today?

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

Can you provide us with an update today?

Hi Lister1,

Apologies for the wait, I have received a response from the section looking into this issue as follows:

We have logged a case with crown alley, remedy ref 3990238. They replied back looking for the following information.

"There is too little detail in this case to troubleshoot. Can the Lord of the Rings hosters advise what changes were made their side on 16-17th feb. They should have logs of attempted connections from our customers. Also, we need to see how the udp connections are happening. Are there connections made on particular ports?"

Can you provide the above information required please.

Thanks, Mark

Lister1

Mark,

I can pass the request on but if possible would you be able to PM me with the details(email address and phone number) of the person involved who is trying to resolve the problem as I would be much happier if they dealt directly with Codemasters rather then using myself as a go between.

Welease

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Lister1,

Apologies for the wait, I have received a response from the section looking into this issue as follows:

We have logged a case with crown alley, remedy ref 3990238. They replied back looking for the following information.

"There is too little detail in this case to troubleshoot. Can the Lord of the Rings hosters advise what changes were made their side on 16-17th feb. They should have logs of attempted connections from our customers. Also, we need to see how the udp connections are happening. Are there connections made on particular ports?"

Can you provide the above information required please.

Thanks, Mark

So in essence, in 2 weeks .. no troubleshooting has been done because they dont have enough information?

super_furry

And haven't sought any information from Codemasters either.

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

Mark,

I can pass the request on but if possible would you be able to PM me with the details(email address and phone number) of the person involved who is trying to resolve the problem as I would be much happier if they dealt directly with Codemasters rather then using myself as a go between.

Hi Lister1,

I will ask the person dealing with the issue and get back to you.

Thanks, Mark

Lister1

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Lister1,

I will ask the person dealing with the issue and get back to you.

Thanks, Mark

Im still waiting for someone to make contact....

shanous

What do we have to do to get some ACTUAL technical support around here?
Almost 2 weeks of waiting is laughable really.
Lister1, thank you for trying your hardest, it seems all my questions are being ignored, I appreciate the effort.
Now if only the Eircom Reps could show the same desire to try to fix things...

(Vorongwë from the CM forums here)

eircom: Tony

Lister1 wrote: »

Im still waiting for someone to make contact....

Hi Lister / shanous
again our apologies for the delay in providing a conclusive reply to this problem. I can assure you that this issue has been raised with the appropriate technical support staff, however as yet the problem has not been identified to the extant that a fix can be implemented.
Though a few posts within this thread have pointed this as an eircom issue as yet we have not been able to identify where exactly this issue lies.
As soon as we have a response that does answer this issue we will post it here immediately.
We understand the frustration and will continue to push this issue to be resolved or explained as soon as possible.
Tony, Mark and Ant.
Moderators

Welease

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi Lister / shanous
again our apologies for the delay in providing a conclusive reply to this problem. I can assure you that this issue has been raised with the appropriate technical support staff, however as yet the problem has not been identified to the extant that a fix can be implemented.
Though a few posts within this thread have pointed this as an eircom issue as yet we have not been able to identify where exactly this issue lies.
As soon as we have a response that does answer this issue we will post it here immediately.
We understand the frustration and will continue to push this issue to be resolved or explained as soon as possible.
Tony, Mark and Ant.
Moderators

Maybe if someone from Eircom actually contacted CodeMasters then the issue may become somewhat clearer???

CM have attempted to contact Eircom (as per their posts) and received no response... Asking customers to contact CM for you is bordering on farcical now...

Lister1

I am still waiting for someone to contact me about this issue. I really dont wont to be the middle man on this as eircom and codemasters need to deal directly with each other on this issue. As such I will pm Mark(the most recent eircom rep who was active) with the email address of the Community Liason Officer in Codemasters. You can then put any further questions you need directly to him. But please do this soon as this issue has gone on far too long....

Edit: PM to Mark sent...

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

I am still waiting for someone to contact me about this issue. I really dont wont to be the middle man on this as eircom and codemasters need to deal directly with each other on this issue. As such I will pm Mark(the most recent eircom rep who was active) with the email address of the Community Liason Officer in Codemasters. You can then put any further questions you need directly to him. But please do this soon as this issue has gone on far too long....

Edit: PM to Mark sent...

Hi Lister1,

Thanks for PM with the information I have stressed that direct contact with codemasters is the best way to procced and I sent on all the details and contact information.

Thanks, Mark

Glebee

Looks like this is going to rumble on indefinitly..:(

Lister1

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Lister1,

Thanks for PM with the information I have stressed that direct contact with codemasters is the best way to procced and I sent on all the details and contact information.

Thanks, Mark

Can you make sure you keep us up todate on the resolution.

1. Can you confirm when eircom have made contact with Codemasters.
2. Can you confirm when the issue has been identified.
3. Can you provide an ETA for a fix at this stage also.

I know you are reliant on other people to do the work for you but can you make sure that you are kept in the loop and can provide feedback to us so that we can see that progress is being made.

Thanks...

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

Can you make sure you keep us up todate on the resolution.

1. Can you confirm when eircom have made contact with Codemasters.
2. Can you confirm when the issue has been identified.
3. Can you provide an ETA for a fix at this stage also.

I know you are reliant on other people to do the work for you but can you make sure that you are kept in the loop and can provide feedback to us so that we can see that progress is being made.

Thanks...

Hi Lister1,

When I get any updates as to what the problem is when a solution has been identified and when there is an resolution time-frame I will let you know.

I can not give an ETA at the moment I'm afraid.

Thanks, Mark

Lister1

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Lister1,

I can not give an ETA at the moment I'm afraid.

Thanks, Mark

I meant provide an ETA when the problem has been identified. Fingers crossed we reach phase one today and get confirmation that contact has been made...

Lister1

eircom: Mark wrote: »

.

Are there connections made on particular ports?"

Can you provide the above information required please.

Thanks, Mark

I would prefer that this info would be provided by Codemasters but to give you guys a head start(not sure if we can still call it that) to investigate lotro uses ports below. It uses the UDP protocol altough port 80 might also use tcp. I have my ports forwarded on my router yet they are being reported as being closed on a number of online checkers. Did eircom do anything recently to block any of these ports?

80
Range 2900 to 2913
Range 9000 to 9013

Lister1

Another day goes by and we are still having issues with little sign of any of any resolution. I am now actively looking to change provider. I have done all I can to assist in resolving the problem but sadly the effort on eircoms part is just not the same.

shanous

Lister1, thank you for all your efforts here and on the CM thread. I urge you to keep trying though as it seems you are the only one being listened to.
Eircom, please take your thumbs out of your proverbials, this is a farce, your Tech Support is non-existant as far as I can tell.
Customer satisfaction should be of upmost importance to a company of Eircoms size, but from what I see, there is nothing but complaints about your services.
As Lister1, I have already started to look for other providers, Eircom will lose plenty of subscribers if they don't wake up and smell there own ignorance when it comes to these matters.

eircom: Mark

Lister1 wrote: »

Another day goes by and we are still having issues with little sign of any of any resolution. I am now actively looking to change provider. I have done all I can to assist in resolving the problem but sadly the effort on eircoms part is just not the same.

Hi Lister1,

I appreciate that you are frutrated and looking for a speedy resolution. I can confirm we are investigating the issue. We are constant contact with the section looking into the problem and as soon as we have any updates we will let you know.

I am not able to give a time-frame so I ask that you give us some more time to complete a thorough investigation.
We will get back to you with any developments.

Thanks, Mark

eircom: Mark

shanous wrote: »

Lister1, thank you for all your efforts here and on the CM thread. I urge you to keep trying though as it seems you are the only one being listened to.
Eircom, please take your thumbs out of your proverbials, this is a farce, your Tech Support is non-existant as far as I can tell.
Customer satisfaction should be of upmost importance to a company of Eircoms size, but from what I see, there is nothing but complaints about your services.
As Lister1, I have already started to look for other providers, Eircom will lose plenty of subscribers if they don't wake up and smell there own ignorance when it comes to these matters.

Hi shanous,

As I outlined to Lister1 I am not able to give a time-frame so I ask that you give us some more time to complete a thorough investigation.
We will get back to you with any developments.

Thanks, Mark

Lister1

eircom: Mark wrote: »

I appreciate that you are frutrated and looking for a speedy resolution. I can confirm we are investigating the issue. We are constant contact with the section looking into the problem and as soon as we have any updates we will let you know.

I am not able to give a time-frame so I ask that you give us some more time to coplete a thorough investigation.
We will get back to you with any developments.

Thanks, Mark

We have yet to receive any confirmation that contact has been made with Codemasters about this matter which should have been the first course of action that should have taken. I know you are reliant on other people to do this and all you can do it pass on the reported issue to them and expect them to carry out their job. But when we are waiting this long for the first step to be taken it gives me little faith that the following steps will be followed up any differently.

shanous

Hi Mark/Ant/Tony,

Can you either confirm or deny that you have made contact with Codemaster about this issue? They have tried from their end but to no avail.

Please take time to actually read my post this time and give an answer to the question I have asked, I am sick of receiving answers to questions I HAVE NOT asked. Even worse is when a post is completely ignored.
Looking forward to a PROPER answer this time, not the generic and frankly useless "We are looking into it" reply.

Regards,
One extremely annoyed customer.

zirtek

I think eircom just dont seem to care enough about gamers,if it was a buisness sure they might be able to do something about it,but games?
Come on eircom this is affecting a lot of people all over ireland at this stage!

shanous

Can those of you who are following the thread and have these problems, please register and leave a comment here? Might be the only way to force Eircom to take their thumbs out.

Bosc

this is getting ridiculous, 2 weeks and they have still yet to find the problem. time to check out other providers me thinks

Timmyocal

Hey Guys this Lotr Problem is taking way too long been 15 days now and to be honest i want out of my Eircom contract as its not doing what i am paying for ...
It is a joke to be honest that the updates are vague and repeatative.... I feel as we are a minority this is being fobbed off as nothing ...
I think it is Time for Upc myself as people using it or 3g Broadband aren't having any problem !??

Ragnor

Timmyocal wrote: »

Hey Guys this Lotr Problem is taking way too long been 15 days now and to be honest i want out of my Eircom contract as its not doing what i am paying for ...
It is a joke to be honest that the updates are vague and repeatative.... I feel as we are a minority this is being fobbed off as nothing ...
I think it is Time for Upc myself as people using it or 3g Broadband aren't having any problem !??

yeah definately agree, getting really annoyed at this stage

Anamareth

There are now 35 pages on this topic with posts from very frustrated Eircom (soon to be ex-eircom) customers on the Codemasters forums. Thats 343 separate posts. And be sure thats not everyone who's having problems.

Can Eircom really afford to drag this out? Because 15 days and counting with no progress isn't good for business!!!!

Sort it out Eircom, get busy with Codemasters or I predict by this time next week you'll see a big drop in your profits.:mad:

DJ Gar

I too have this issue... going on 2 weeks now! I'm not surprised it not sorted, Eircom don't give a sh*t.

There's no reason why we should be the middle-men in this. Eircom, can you please contact codemasters directly!!