Ryzom

After spending (i kid you not) about 10 hours on the phone to AOL i've come to the conclustion that this game is having unwanted effects on my broadband connection.


The effects are that once i have played this game for any length of time my BB connection terminates and continues to do so over and ober every few mins.

The only way im able to re-establish (spell check) my connections is to perform the AOL disconnection auto fix...thus im unable to play this game. which is a shame as i like it so far.

Please can you shed a little light on my problem...


Matt..

Although this won't be too helpful, I'm afraid this smacks of a problem with AOL themselves. I'll also say that AOL are possibly the worst internet provider available, and there are many companies who provide a much better service and product.

Basically, internet connections all use essentially the same technology underneath. That is, 'Dial-Up Networking', or a PPP (Point to Point Protocol) Connection. These connections are very simple in nature, and if your modem and ADSL line are both working correctly, you should have no problems at all with using your internet connection.

Ryzom is identical to any other online game in terms of it's low-level networking - messages are sent to and received from a central server, which is identified by an IP address. At this level, Ryzom is no different to something like Half-Life 2, Doom 3 etc. - the only point to consider is that they all transmit and receive very large amounts of information.

I'm highly suspicious as to this 'disconnection auto-fix' you mention - I know of no other internet provider that uses such a utility. NTL provide a utility to fix a connection that won't even connect any more, but all this does is allow you to reset the username and password used by the modem, and possibly re-confirm your MAC address with the NTL network (if you don't know what that means, don't worry about it ) If a PPP connection fails, this is usually down to a problem at your service provider, or a problem with your own modem/ADSL line/telephone line. If a connection drops, it should be a simple case of making the connection again - there are no magical fixes that need to be applied.

To be totally honest, AOL are the spawn of satan - if you have the opportunity, I would recommend switching to another provider. For the slight increase in monthly cost (if there is one), you will get more peace of mind, get rid of any bizarre extra utilities that shouldn't be required anyway, and most probably avoid any other calls to technical support. Using BT, and more recently Bulldog ADSL, I haven't placed a single support call - ever

Are you using a simple PC and modem setup, or do you have a router on your network for multiple PCs to access the internet?

I have one PC and one piss poor connection. Thanks for your reply as i'm slowly but surely trying to eliminate everything that might have an undesired effect on my connection status.

I cannot beleive that i champoined AOL to my friends and family members. I know all in all they are 'hell spawn' but at least they are polite.


Matt..

Another thing to remember is that they will seize any opportunity to shift the blame elsewhere. If you mentioned Ryzom when you spoke to them, they will immediately say 'ah yes that must be causing the problem'. When in fact it probably isn't, apart from maybe highlighting a bug in their system.

A friend of mine had a similar situation with some software he wrote that saves emails from MS Outlook. A user was having a problem where some of the emails he saved were coming out blank. When he asked MS tech support about this, they said it was obviously a problem with the software. Turned out it was a bug in Outlook 2003 which installing SP1 fixed! Believe me my friend took great pleasure in pointing out (very politely!) who's fault it really was!

So don't always believe what tech support tell you!

If you're in the UK, you might want to consider getting your broadband from Tesco (of all places).

They've just introduced a reasonably priced broadband service which is provided either by BT or NTL (depending on whether you are in a BT area or an NTL cable area) and it's something like £17.99 for an unlimited 512k connection. If this service is like any of the other new things they're offering, like the music download service, if you're looking for a new ISP I reckon they're at least worth a look, especially if you already have a cable/ADSL modem, as usually that's the only thing you have to wait for.

I know there are many new ISP's popping up that may be cheaper, but at least you can be reasonably sure Tesco aren't going to go bust and leave you in the lurch in the next 5 minutes

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww AOHELL run from them fast ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun

Just switched from AOL to BT. Well worth it in my opinion.

AOL have tried so hard to be more 'family friendly' and forgotton about gamers and more experienced PC owners.

A lot of ISP are offering deals at the mo. unless you are stuck in a contract with AOL!!

Get rid of AOL and get a real internet provider and your problems will be over I guarantee it.

Well, it seems the general opinion of AOL hasn't changed much in the past 5-10 years

If anyone from AOL is reading these posts... pfffffffffffft

AOL? AOL? Werent they the people that decided that 80% of the content on the internet was not worth visiting and made their network function in such a way these pages could not be accessed?
It always struck me blind that it was an america based company that used these Chinese Communistic techniques.

I also trust AOL in giving away any client information to anybody if they can make a few bucks. The main message is probably that one should never trust a company that sells product with marketing focused on the marketing itself and not on the product. It is like buying artificial food with any connection to nature "because it looks good and makes me feel part of a certain group". But I doubt anybody would fall for that one...