Has anyone contacted Comcast about connecting to PSO2?

[Dan Maku]

I have Comcast (I know, I'm not all that pleased myself) and have not been able to connect, even after maintenance, not to mention I don't want to risk losing my account using a VPN. I found a Reddit thread (http://www.reddit.com/r/PSO2/comments/29pjv5/issue_confirmed_to_be_ispside/) where someone said they contacted their ISP and confirmed the connection issue was on their end instead of from Sega.

Has anyone tried this with Comcast?

[Raid_Hirsh]

Likewise, I would be grateful if someone took the initiative to contact Optimum (a.k.a. Cablevision) about the whole connection issue as well.

Apparently, it seems that only a handful of members (including myself) within PSO-World has Optimum as their ISP.

[Shinamori]

Someone did actually, I think they(Comcast) said that it can take up to 30 days for the blacklist to clear.

[Maninbluejumpsuit]

Someone did actually, I think they(Comcast) said that it can take up to 30 days for the blacklist to clear.

Clarify; what blacklist?

[Sizustar]

Clarify; what blacklist?

Internet Backbone Blacklist.

[Punisher106]

Someone did actually, I think they(Comcast) said that it can take up to 30 days for the blacklist to clear.

30 days? I sure hope not. Let's hope they can straighten it out in a maximum of a week, seeing how everyone else said their ISPs said they could have it fixed in a couple days.

[Daiyousei]

Likewise, I would be grateful if someone took the initiative to contact Optimum (a.k.a. Cablevision) about the whole connection issue as well.

Apparently, it seems that only a handful of members (including myself) within PSO-World has Optimum as their ISP.

I got a responce saying that they tried pinging it and it's down for them as well, so now I'm sending them my tracert to see if they can check that out.

[MegaRocker1987]

i have optimum as my isp and im calling them tonight xD

[Velad]

I have an open ticket with them as of yesterday. I have yet to hear back from them.

[MasterGunz2345]

I have Optimum too, glad that someone's giving them a call about this issue

[Punisher106]

Got in contact with Comcast about this issue. They'll be looking into it.

[ArcaneTechs]

any results from Comcast you guys? gonna give them a call myself pretty soon

[Punisher106]

Waiting on the call. They said they're going to see what they can do, in the meantime.

[LonelyGaruga]

Contacted my local Comcast branch in person about the problem. Gave a guy the basic details, mentioned the most likely problem was that the website/servers were blocked in an effort to prevent the DDoS attacks from causing any more harm than they already did. The guy told me that it wasn't really something he was adequately informed enough to handle, but did comment that it seemed like it was indeed a likely response from their end. I had printed out a picture of my trace route attempt and showed it to one of the guys, who scanned it, made some notes about the connection problem, and told me he'd get into contact with his supervisor and the security department about it. Gave my contact information and was informed that they'd contact me for more details as they look into it.

I'm continuing to test the trace route now, and I'm getting different results each time so far. Here's an edited version of what I gave the Comcast guy (dunno which addresses are safe to leave alone).

[SPOILER-BOX]http://oi59.tinypic.com/js0feo.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

And here's my last two attempts in one, for comparison (again, edited).

[SPOILER-BOX]http://oi59.tinypic.com/2v7v2pw.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Not really sure what's going on, how internet connections worked isn't something that had ever held much importance to me before (not helped by having no control over them in the first place), so I'm pretty ignorant on the matter, much to my regret. Is there anything else I should have ready for Comcast to assist them in identifying and fixing the problem? And what's resulting in the different results while running the trace route? Wanna help out the best I can, but it's difficult to accomplish much without knowing what to do.

[EspeonageTieler]

they jsut told me that the site wasnt available to those outside japan

[Shinamori]

You got a low level tech person then. Go for someone higher who knows that they're talking about.

[EspeonageTieler]

i was wondering actully if people are saying that our isps provider has blacklisted segas servers becuase they got ddosd how come ive seen other games get ddosd for a week or 2 but they where never black listed?

[BahnKnakyu]

Please remember to push yourself to a level 3 tech. The level 1 techs just read off scripts and probably know LESS than you.

Offer to send a tracert of the route and make sure to give them information about the current situation. Don't just say "It doesn't connect", explain why you think it doesn't connect.

You have to be stubborn, but polite about getting to a level 3 tech. Being angry won't always get you what you want, and be expected to be thrown around for phone tag since most customer reps/front facing techs are straight out of high school or are more or less laymans.

Just keep trying.

[ArcaneTechs]

did a trace, gonna give them a call right now, see what happens, if nothing good ill try tomorrow

[Chik'Tikka]

Contacted my local Comcast branch in person about the problem. Gave a guy the basic details, mentioned the most likely problem was that the website/servers were blocked in an effort to prevent the DDoS attacks from causing any more harm than they already did. The guy told me that it wasn't really something he was adequately informed enough to handle, but did comment that it seemed like it was indeed a likely response from their end. I had printed out a picture of my trace route attempt and showed it to one of the guys, who scanned it, made some notes about the connection problem, and told me he'd get into contact with his supervisor and the security department about it. Gave my contact information and was informed that they'd contact me for more details as they look into it.

I'm continuing to test the trace route now, and I'm getting different results each time so far. Here's an edited version of what I gave the Comcast guy (dunno which addresses are safe to leave alone).

[SPOILER-BOX]http://oi59.tinypic.com/js0feo.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

And here's my last two attempts in one, for comparison (again, edited).

[SPOILER-BOX]http://oi59.tinypic.com/2v7v2pw.jpg[/SPOILER-BOX]

Not really sure what's going on, how internet connections worked isn't something that had ever held much importance to me before (not helped by having no control over them in the first place), so I'm pretty ignorant on the matter, much to my regret. Is there anything else I should have ready for Comcast to assist them in identifying and fixing the problem? And what's resulting in the different results while running the trace route? Wanna help out the best I can, but it's difficult to accomplish much without knowing what to do.

you edit your 2nd and 3rd IP i believe, in the 2nd pic, the 2nd trace-route ping came up with Whitewater, Kansas. the ones you blocked out were in Oregon, cites of Eugene and Troutdale+^_^+ the 1st ping is usually the local router which is almost always 192.168.0.1, but your on a 10.0.0.1 network, so a campus or large business of some sort, now someone could look up large businesses or schools in whitewater that have enough computers to warrant a 10.0.0.1 network scheme....

[ArcaneTechs]

do any of you guys know Sega's IP or w/e to the server so I can send it off in an e-mail to them?

EDIT: nm found it

[ArcaneTechs]

Okay so, I submitted the IP address to pso2.jp to Comcast, it's not on their block list, I submitted 2 more IP's from a team mate that wasn't sure if they had anything to do with Ship 2 or not and still nothing. I don't know whats going on anymore and I even told the guy that any IP's that may be coming from Sega should be checked out too but idk if he checked those out or not etc if you guys got more IP's PM me or try sending them yourself and see what goes on

[btw-Niji]

When are you guys going to give up and move on? Nothing is going to change if you call your ISP. There's absolutely nothing you can do about this...

[Reyva]

Nah they won't give up. I've seen worser cases of denial for..........well I can't think of many games lmao. Most usually just move on. However at the same time, people can do what they want..........as long as it keeps me entertained. I give another week or two and then the repeat threads will probably stop lol.

I used to work tech support, but just know even the highest "tier" can bs you just fyi. Most are concerned about their stats/metrics than anything else.

Not saying nothing is impossible with getting the issue fixed. Just that sometimes things are a bit over your head and this time, you're not getting your way. So instead of being so fixated on it, just move on lol. Or continue pressing F5 to refresh pso2.jp and pos-world until you fall asleep lol. Or keep calling your ISP up because I know the waiting time for that can be a bish. Or making the same tired ol threads on pos-world.

Lol go bug segac about a western release of the game now instead of this :P.

[NoiseHERO]

When are you guys going to give up and move on? Nothing is going to change if you call your ISP. There's absolutely nothing you can do about this...

So are you on the Sailor Moon villain side, the neutral bored side, the actually wanna be helpful side, or the "SOMEONE PLEASE FIX SOMETHING" side?

I'm stuck between first two- wait there's stuff I'm supposed to be doing why am I here. D:

[IndignationSWF]

>That moment when Square-Enix is more consumer friendly.

It's clear at this point that they really don't care outside of their own sphere of influence. Not surprising after the Shining bs on YT, but still disheartening. Way I see it now is if it get's fixed, great. If not, then I'll just ignore their releases for a while. Only thing they understand is Money, and we haven't 'chipped in' enough to matter seemingly.

[Skize]

Lol, I got a refund on my purchased AC. Jokes on you SEGA! Now I'm probably going to move on :D

[NoiseHERO]

Lol, I got a refund on my purchased AC. Jokes on you SEGA! Now I'm probably going to move on :D

I remember when they refunded like 1000000000000's of AC, when they first blocked foreign credit cards.

[Chik'Tikka]

I remember when they refunded like 1000000000000's of AC, when they first blocked foreign credit cards.

except they didn't block American Express fro a couple more months, and i bought AC via AmEx, and i never got refunded when they blocked it.... lucky ******** +^_^+

[IndignationSWF]

except they didn't block American Express fro a couple more months, and i bought AC via AmEx, and i never got refunded when they blocked it.... lucky ******** +^_^+

Wow, you should've kept on AmEx about that. They took your money but via their ToS disallowed you the service that you paid for, that's gotta be illegal.

At least that's how it worked where I used to live after an issue with a Korean MMO. *Shrugs*

[Z-0]

What? No, she got what she paid for.

See, what happened is that people bought AC using their debit/credit cards a while ago (summer 2012), and everyone who did so ended up getting refunded all their money, whilst still keeping the AC.

[IndignationSWF]

What? No, she got what she paid for.

See, what happened is that people bought AC using their debit/credit cards a while ago (summer 2012), and everyone who did so ended up getting refunded all their money, whilst still keeping the AC.

When I had my issue it was explained to me that because the ToS of the game disallowed foreigners, they couldn't legally make a profit off of them. I lost my account, but got my money back. I can't really speak to more than that, hence the disclaimer.

[Chik'Tikka]

Wow, you should've kept on AmEx about that. They took your money but via their ToS disallowed you the service that you paid for, that's gotta be illegal.

At least that's how it worked where I used to live after an issue with a Korean MMO. *Shrugs*

i got the AC too, so i figured fair's fair+^_^+ AmEx specializes in providing fast money access for Americans abroad, which is why i used it. the AmEx system doesn't have the conversion faults Visa/MasterCard has when transferring funds over seas (which is why those were banned, there were issues that SEGA had to pay the CC companies for, except AmEx, far as i know AmEx worked just fine, SEGA just blocked cause SEGAC)+^_^+

[Sp-24]

When I had my issue it was explained to me that because the ToS of the game disallowed foreigners, they couldn't legally make a profit off of them. I lost my account, but got my money back. I can't really speak to more than that, hence the disclaimer.
You are confusing the cause and the outcome. Sega isn't disallowed to make profit off the foreigners because they decided to forbid them from playing. Their ToS forbids foreigners to play PSO2 because Sega is not allowed to provide services outside of Japan.

[ArcaneTechs]

any of the users who were waiting for a response from Comcast get any results back yet?

[LonelyGaruga]

Still waiting. It is unlikely that anything will happen for a few days, what with the holiday and the weekend. Monday will, hopefully, see us getting responses from Comcast.

[reaper527]

Their ToS forbids foreigners to play PSO2 because Sega is not allowed to provide services outside of Japan.

i'd love to see an actual citation of this, since you keep mentioning it everywhere. it sounds a lot like the "you can download all the roms you want as long as you delete them within 24 hours" line of bullshit.

[gigawuts]

When I had my issue it was explained to me that because the ToS of the game disallowed foreigners, they couldn't legally make a profit off of them. I lost my account, but got my money back. I can't really speak to more than that, hence the disclaimer.

Not entirely.

I bought about 150 to 200 dollars worth of AC before they confirmed that foreign cards were going to be blocked (Maybe more? I really can't remember). I didn't really intend on it at first, but I was reasonably satisfied with the game and wanted extra inventory space, mags, premium, etc.

I noticed early on that I wasn't being charged, but figured I eventually would be so I kept the cash in my account just waiting for it to disappear. It never actually did, though. Or I think it did, but was returned when the transaction eventually failed.

This was explained at the time by a few people who seemed in the know as having to do with the way JP banks and western banks handle these kinds of transactions. Something about the western banks wanting shit done at the beginning of the month, and JP banks wanting shit done at the end of the month. The JP banks would receive a transaction thing, but not act on it for another 30 days. The western banks canceled the whole transaction after about two weeks with no sign of activity, as is standard procedure for them. Or something to that extent, it's been a while.

So instead of resolving this issue (which was totally possible, but would require work), Sega just said F it and said foreign cards weren't allowed and dropped that line in the EULA about having to be in Japan to play. We were only ever a convenient source of extra revenue - nothing more. If lifting a finger to fix something for us will cost them more than they stand to gain they won't do it, so I'm not going to be surprised if this is never fixed.

[blace]

i'd love to see an actual citation of this, since you keep mentioning it everywhere. it sounds a lot like the "you can download all the roms you want as long as you delete them within 24 hours" line of bullshit.

http://bumped.org/psublog/sakai-addresses-the-tos-change-and-future-updates/

Couldn't link you directly to the terms since Century Link is blocked, a blog post from bumped linking to Sakai's mention should suffice.

[reaper527]

http://bumped.org/psublog/sakai-addresses-the-tos-change-and-future-updates/

Couldn't link you directly to the terms since Century Link is blocked, a blog post from bumped linking to Sakai's mention should suffice.

that doesn't back up what he was saying though. that just says the TOS says japan only.

he is making the claim that the reason the TOS says that is because it's illegal for sega of japan to provide service to people outside the country (he's made that claim in multiple posts on multiple threads), and i have never seen anything that backs that claim up.

that being said, sakai's post sounds very friendly to those outside of japan. does he take fan questions directly (as opposed to through sega customer support), and if so has anyone asked him about the problems that we are having?

[blackoctober]

I have Centurylink just wanna know if anybody here have centurylink, if so his anyone trying calling them yet?

[The Walrus]

There's a whole thread about Centurylink (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220429)

[AoiKaze]

It's been a while since I've posted on the forums, but I do want to chime in on the situation and Comcast.

As with everyone with Comcast/Xfinity, I'm unable to connect to pso2.jp or the game servers. After a couple of days of contacting their support via chat (Which was pretty sad), and a few phone calls with support, I was able to connect to a person who understood the situation; tracert jargon and all. From what he understood from the tracert I supplied as well as his attempts on his end, it was possible that Comcast was blocking the connection, however with his current position he was unable to do anything on his end and directed me to Comcast's Security Assurance Department, which could possibly do something about it.

Talking to that department, apparently from what I've been told from their technicians is that Comcast is not the one actively blocking access to the game servers/site; that there is no IP Blacklist on record for PSO2's site/servers listed on their end. However, Sega isn't blocking access on their end too. The technicians also tried accessing the site using smartphone providers (Sprint and Verizon in particular), and advised me to do the same. Tried to access PSO2.jp via AT&T, and to my surprise I'm actually able to access it. Unfortunately, the techs aren't able to do anything on their end as well, and advise to patiently wait for access to the site/servers once more; that they can't do anything since they haven't implemented any sort of Block.

Now, this is my theory and it should be taken with a healthy dose of salt, but if what the techs are saying is true, and that Comcast isn't the one imposing the block, it's possible that the Internet Backbone Providers (i.e. Level-3 Communications) that's supplying Comcast as well as other ISPs access to the Internet are the ones who did. Unfortunately, from what I've read, the only way to contact the IBP is through the ISP themselves...and that's pretty much a challenge in itself to say the least.

TL;DR: From what I've been told, Comcast aren't the ones who imposed the block, and neither is Sega. I've been advised to patiently wait for access once more, whenever that may be. My theory is that it's more of the Internet Backbone Provider's end, and it's a nightmare to contact them via the ISPs they provide service to.

Again, take my theory with a grain of salt, and I do apologize if what I said has already been gone through. As for me, I'm eyeing my Smartphone; considering if I should tether it with my laptop...which I probably won't due to the high costs.

[Chik'Tikka]

*stuffs*

lol, then do you know what ISP the signal would hop to next? perhaps that ISP is what's causing all the issues+^_^+

[ArcaneTechs]

good info Kaze, you got a bit further than me talking through to them on the phone, pretty interesting to say the least but I suppose it's back to waiting, really surprised other phone networks are letting them through to the site, sadly my cellphone network won't let me

[Enforcer MKV]

Apparently someone in another thread with a different service provider who hasn't been able to connect the last few days was able to connect again today, so it seems like service actually is being restored, albeit slowly. Take it with a grain of salt, there's no other confirmation other than their word, and with this community...

[Who knows at this point, just fire up some single player games and wait it out for a bit more.]

[AoiKaze]

lol, then do you know what ISP the signal would hop to next? perhaps that ISP is what's causing all the issues+^_^+

Well, I'm not big on the technical jargon myself (it's way over my head lol), but if you're asking where my signal dies out in the tracert, the more recent ones I did today ends at "he-4-5-0-0-cr01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net", rather than the usual "Request Timed Out", and instead of 30 hops, it only does around half of that. I'll paste it.


Tracing route to gs016.pso2gs.net [210.189.208.16]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms router.asus.com [192.168.1.1]
2 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 10.0.0.1
3 40 ms 9 ms 15 ms 107.5.188.1
4 9 ms 8 ms 9 ms te-5-4-ur02.xxxxx.mi.michigan.comcast.net [68.85.48.229]
5 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms te-0-5-0-5-ar01.xxxxx.mi.michigan.comcast.net [68.85.222.154]
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 he-4-5-0-0-cr01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.221] reports: Destination net unreachable.

Trace complete.

(Edited out the location of the city servers i'm pinging.)

[Chik'Tikka]

indeed, mine stop at Charter's Illinois backbone as well.....
i wonder what's in between Il and the west coast??+^_^+

@Enforcer;

Just want to let everyone know that Cik Telecom can connect to PSO2 again without VPN. NOW REJOICE!

[AoiKaze]

good info Kaze, you got a bit further than me talking through to them on the phone, pretty interesting to say the least but I suppose it's back to waiting, really surprised other phone networks are letting them through to the site, sadly my cellphone network won't let me

Thanks! Yea, from what those techs did, Verizon and Sprint aren't able to connect at all, but AT&T is able to on my side. Although I'm still slightly tempted to attempt a tether, I do have a pretty crappy connection where I'm at; as well as those high prices for it lol.

[AoiKaze]

indeed, mine stop at Charter's Illinois backbone as well.....
i wonder what's in between Il and the west coast??+^_^+

I'm going to take a wild guess in that it would probably be the point between Comcast's and their Backbone Provider (considering the "ibone" part of the address); and that the Backbone would then deny access, hence the error.

[ArcaneTechs]

I was getting average 15 hops then it dropped to 5 when i was doing the Tracert yesteday, ill run another tracert in a little while

[Enforcer MKV]

...Honestly, I'm not sure what the point of quoting the post in question was. I mean, sure, if people didn't believe me and asked for it specifically, but....

[Chik'Tikka]

...Honestly, I'm not sure what the point of quoting the post in question was. I mean, sure, if people didn't believe me and asked for it specifically, but....

sorry, I already had it up in another tab so i just quoted it real quick+^_^+

[LonelyGaruga]

Talking to that department, apparently from what I've been told from their technicians is that Comcast is not the one actively blocking access to the game servers/site; that there is no IP Blacklist on record for PSO2's site/servers listed on their end. However, Sega isn't blocking access on their end too.

Now, this is my theory and it should be taken with a healthy dose of salt, but if what the techs are saying is true, and that Comcast isn't the one imposing the block, it's possible that the Internet Backbone Providers (i.e. Level-3 Communications) that's supplying Comcast as well as other ISPs access to the Internet are the ones who did. Unfortunately, from what I've read, the only way to contact the IBP is through the ISP themselves...and that's pretty much a challenge in itself to say the least.

From what I've been told, Comcast aren't the ones who imposed the block, and neither is Sega. I've been advised to patiently wait for access once more, whenever that may be. My theory is that it's more of the Internet Backbone Provider's end, and it's a nightmare to contact them via the ISPs they provide service to.

Makes sense to me, and it's certainly another step forward, I should think. I had thought Comcast, and ISPs in general, provided the IBP themselves, but it sounds closer to them providing access to the IBPs, not owning them. That's a rather important distinction that would definitely help to know when it comes to solving this problem. Thank you very much for bringing this up.

[Cadfael]

I was getting average 15 hops then it dropped to 5 when i was doing the Tracert yesteday, ill run another tracert in a little while

I just tried a tracert to sega.jp and got 16 hops, ending at 72.0.0.27 (http://www.whoisstuff.net/ip-lookup.php?domain=27.0.0.72). No idea what it means, but I still can't connect to the servers.

[Z-0]

Makes sense to me, and it's certainly another step forward, I should think. I had thought Comcast, and ISPs in general, provided the IBP themselves, but it sounds closer to them providing access to the IBPs, not owning them. That's a rather important distinction that would definitely help to know when it comes to solving this problem. Thank you very much for bringing this up.
Depends on ISP.

For example, Verizon and AT&T are their own backbones, while other ISPs such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable provide access to the large IBP companies.

Interesting to note though, that AT&T apparently was blocked at the same time as, perhaps, Level 3 was (server up), while Verizon only got blocked during the maintenance after. Very coincidental timing.

I've done theorizing though. It just keeps going in circles and it's not like we're going to get anywhere.

[PrinceBrightstar]

I'm going to take a wild guess in that it would probably be the point between Comcast's and their Backbone Provider (considering the "ibone" part of the address); and that the Backbone would then deny access, hence the error.

Let's not conclude only that. It's possible it's still on the other side. Not issued by Sega, but the ones who actually own the IP range where the game servers are housed, Yahoo Japan. When you spoke to the tech did they make any mention of trying to contact them?

[reaper527]

Thanks! Yea, from what those techs did, Verizon and Sprint aren't able to connect at all, but AT&T is able to on my side. Although I'm still slightly tempted to attempt a tether, I do have a pretty crappy connection where I'm at; as well as those high prices for it lol.

i find it very surprising that you are able to connect through att, because i haven't been able to connect to the servers on my phone since the problem began, even as recent as yesterday (and i do mean when the phone is using it's own data as opposed to a wifi connection).

att's routing must not be the same nation wide.

[BahnKnakyu]

It's been a while since I've posted on the forums, but I do want to chime in on the situation and Comcast.

As with everyone with Comcast/Xfinity, I'm unable to connect to pso2.jp or the game servers. After a couple of days of contacting their support via chat (Which was pretty sad), and a few phone calls with support, I was able to connect to a person who understood the situation; tracert jargon and all. From what he understood from the tracert I supplied as well as his attempts on his end, it was possible that Comcast was blocking the connection, however with his current position he was unable to do anything on his end and directed me to Comcast's Security Assurance Department, which could possibly do something about it.

Talking to that department, apparently from what I've been told from their technicians is that Comcast is not the one actively blocking access to the game servers/site; that there is no IP Blacklist on record for PSO2's site/servers listed on their end. However, Sega isn't blocking access on their end too. The technicians also tried accessing the site using smartphone providers (Sprint and Verizon in particular), and advised me to do the same. Tried to access PSO2.jp via AT&T, and to my surprise I'm actually able to access it. Unfortunately, the techs aren't able to do anything on their end as well, and advise to patiently wait for access to the site/servers once more; that they can't do anything since they haven't implemented any sort of Block.

Now, this is my theory and it should be taken with a healthy dose of salt, but if what the techs are saying is true, and that Comcast isn't the one imposing the block, it's possible that the Internet Backbone Providers (i.e. Level-3 Communications) that's supplying Comcast as well as other ISPs access to the Internet are the ones who did. Unfortunately, from what I've read, the only way to contact the IBP is through the ISP themselves...and that's pretty much a challenge in itself to say the least.

TL;DR: From what I've been told, Comcast aren't the ones who imposed the block, and neither is Sega. I've been advised to patiently wait for access once more, whenever that may be. My theory is that it's more of the Internet Backbone Provider's end, and it's a nightmare to contact them via the ISPs they provide service to.

Again, take my theory with a grain of salt, and I do apologize if what I said has already been gone through. As for me, I'm eyeing my Smartphone; considering if I should tether it with my laptop...which I probably won't due to the high costs.

You know what? This might explain why TWC is back up. I think TWC uses their own infrastructure for East Asia communications versus Comcast. I think Comcast routes their traffic through Level 3 before hitting East Asia. When TWC went down, it resulted in a routing loop that bounced between different internal TWC backbones, but I've never seen it hit any Level 3 backbones, and it eventually resolved itself by hooking up with a route through Hong Kong.

5 58 ms 63 ms 63 ms agg31.lsancarc01r.socal.rr.com [72.129.45.0]
6 61 ms 59 ms 60 ms 107.14.17.132
7 64 ms 63 ms 63 ms ae-0-0.cr0.lax30.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.5]
8 61 ms 61 ms 60 ms ae2.pr1.lax10.tbone.rr.com [107.14.19.54]
9 65 ms 140 ms 63 ms unk-426d075a.adelphiacom.net [66.109.7.90]
10 66 ms 66 ms 63 ms lajbb001.kddnet.ad.jp [59.128.2.173]
11 163 ms 159 ms 165 ms otejbb205.int-gw.kddi.ne.jp [203.181.100.165]
12 175 ms 168 ms 167 ms jc-ote302.int-gw.kddi.ne.jp [118.155.197.179]
13 163 ms 167 ms 163 ms 106.187.28.202
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 178 ms 175 ms 177 ms 61.202.251.198
16 162 ms 159 ms 160 ms po14.ta1ag01.idc.jp [158.205.192.102]
17 166 ms 172 ms 174 ms lag3.l303.ta1.eg.idc.jp [158.205.188.250]
18 172 ms 174 ms 173 ms 158.205.104.60
19 169 ms 169 ms 166 ms 210.189.208.16

If any of you Comcast users do a tracert to a random Japanese website (something that doesn't have an international site/version), do you go through the same Level 3 routes?

For TWC it looks like we don't go through Level 3 for any of the Japanese or Korean sites. Not sure about China, haven't bothered with them.

Wonder if BT (which supplies a majority of the Internets for the UK) goes through Level 3 to get to Japan?

[Shinamori]

My connection doesn't even leave Atlanta lol.

[BahnKnakyu]

My connection doesn't even leave Atlanta lol.

For Japanese sites in general? Not just PSO2.jp or the Ship 2 server.

[cheapgunner]

Well, I finally made it out of Houston and into Dallas when I tested "tracert pso2.jp" so I guess the problem is clearing up a bit more.

[Shinamori]

For Japanese sites in general? Not just PSO2.jp or the Ship 2 server.

Just for PSo.JP. Dunno the address for game server. However, I tried this site. "http://blog.livedoor.com/" and the first ibone is in Marietta(GA), Eighth Ave(NY),Los Angeles(CA) San Jose(CA), then Bryant(CA).