4GEE/5GEE IPv4 gateway changes affecting Diablo4/WoW

[Uirel]

Sometime around June 1st 'something' changed inside the EE network. Ive noticed that my IPv6 address changed from 2a01 to 2a00 prefixed address at the same time, which i take as another flag that some EE network work occured.
I also note that the gateways IPs have changed and are now listed as BT IP ranges, previously they were EE ranges.
https://www.whatismyip.com/ip/31.94.37.42/ the same is true for our IPv6 address space, its now BT ranges not EEs.

So i assume BT brought the EE mobile BB network inhouse around this time.

In diablo4, connection stability is non existant, anywhere between 30s and 10mins ingame and the connection drops, changing the IP routing that the diablo.exe is following the 6to4 gateway being used changes and then Diablo just dies.
Other users are reporting the same issue -
https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/d4/t/connection-issues-with-diablo-4-using-mobile-hotspot-5g-ee-ne...

Same for WoW, Ipv6 connections nice and stable, but WoW is not ipv6 exclusive and you end up in a situation like this frequently.

 This occurs when the gateway changes and the game struggles to reconnect. It does eventually reconnect but this can be anywhere between 1-5mins just in time for the gateway to change again.

Outside of gaming, overall performance through the 5GEE hub has deteriorated massively, downloads swing back and forth betwen KB/s and MB/s, i started downloading a 21MB file as i started typing this post...its still going now almost 8 mins later. Steam which could normally sit steady at 15MB/s (yep 150mbs) struggles to get above 2MBs now and seesaws constantly.

Ive reset my 5GEE hub a few times, im not using a special APN. This occurs on wifi and on lan. Signal to the hub is strong, the tower is less than 500m from my house with direct line of sight and no occlusion from trees (its accross an open field).

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Uirel 

Welcome to the community.

This is a bit beyond my area of expertise, but, I know our mobile network uses dynamic IP, instead of fixed IP. This could explain a change in those stats.

Are there any maintenance works in your area that could explain the drop in connection speeds? You can check the 'status' of your postcode on our coverage checker.

Chris

[Uirel]

Hi Chris,

Ive had a look and there are no reported issues in my area. Additionally per the link to the battle.net forum this issue is being experienced by people around the country. So it does not appear to be a local or regional issue.

Although EE does indeed use Dynamic Ipv6 address space, the ipv6 address of the 5gee/4gee box remains static once it has connected to the network. The issue here is that the routing path and 6to4 gateways are changing mid session (the best analogy i can come up with is that the motorway you are driving along suddenly stops existing and a new one appears on a slightly different route with a different name). This is what is causing degredation of service.

[Uirel]

Heres another example of the problem just using google.com via an known static ipv4 address
Each red line is a route change occuring, the destination remains the same, but the gateway being used changes

[Christopher_G]

Have you spoken to our technical support team about this, @Uirel?

Chris

[sammmmm]

If I cant get this issue sorted I'm out, been using EE 4g in my office for almost 2 years now and the connection to games is the absolute pits. I have not been able to play Diablo 4 for any amount of time due to this issue. Tempted to go back to my old copper cables at this rate.

I have a log of speedtests ranging from 50mbps all the way down to 2... Beyond silly really its not a stable connection.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @sammmmm 

Welcome to the community.

Could you check your postcode on our coverage checker and hit 'check status' please? It will let you know if we're aware of any problems in this area and allow you to report one if we're not, to see if this could be a signal issue.

Thanks.

Leanne.

[sammmmm]

Yeah I don't think you are listening to what's being said. Read the evidence given by the other user here who has pretty much explained what is going on this is not a coverage issue it's a connection route issue down to the fact the service seems to swap gateways mid session. 

Oh and fyi, the coverage checker never shows any issues in my area, even when I'm getting 2mb slow speeds.

[Leanne_T]

Thanks for coming back to me @sammmmm 

Please report this to our tech gurus, they will be able to get this looked into in more detail. 

Leanne.

[sammmmm]

I would imagine you could report it? I've done the phone calls, and waiting, the logging of speed tests. I just want a connection that allows me to game online. EE 4G does not currently support gaming in any kind of stable manner. I think it should be made known prior to a customer getting this data connection that its not really fit for online gaming.