While countless Australian’s have been enjoying Titanfall, customers on the Optus Network have been experiencing ongoing difficulties and are unable to connect to the game’s servers. Even with Microsoft offering local Australian severs, Optus customers – including us at Rocket Chainsaw HQ – have been unable to play the game.
Connection issues on the Optus network were reported all the way during the Beta (via Kotaku and Stevivor), so it could be assumed the company has been aware of the problem for nearly a month.
When Titanfall hit the shelves last Thursday, users immediately began reporting connection problems. Optus encouraged users to check their internet settings and stated that the issue could be game-related. The company also thought the introduction of Australian servers would fix the problem. However, even with the Australian Beta servers going online on Friday, the problem continues.
Jason O’Callaghan of New Game Plus told Rocket Chainsaw: “Our studio uses Optus Cable, and TF has been unplayable even during beta. We originally thought this was a fault on our individual line, but members of our crew reported they had experienced similar issues, and only those on Optus cable were affected. The launch has been fraught with frustration. At select times of the day, usually 2am or later, you will be able to join and play 2-3 games. Then the game boots you to the title screen, and you face the gauntlet of loading screens once more.”
After two days of gamers complaining on Whirlpool and flooding social channels with their connection issues, the company finally seems to be taking the issue more seriously. A number of users have even also been investigating the connection problems for themselves.
Moderator Julz on the Optus forums recently provided the following update: “There are some key engineers working on a fix & I’ll see if I can provide a more solid update on Monday with their progress.” But Julz says, “There is currently no ETA for a fix.”
Stay tuned to Rocket Chainsaw for updates on the Optus Titanfail as they develop.
Update 17/3:
A number of Optus users have said they have been able to play Titanfall on and off, even during peak times. However, a majority of players are still facing connection issues. A number of users have been digging into the networking issues for themselves, and passing this information on to Optus.
According to Optus Mod Julz, speaking on the Optus Facebook page, “we’re pretty busy trying to figure this one out. I’m leaving it to the engineers & level 2 tech guys to work on the case”. On the Optus forums, Julz states: ” Thanks to those who have called in & thanks to those who provided traceroutes. We now have enough information to diagnose & work through the issue. We have lead technicians on the Optus network, testing the game as well. I’m unable to provide an ETR on a resolution however I’m confident on the progress. Thanks for hanging in there. ” Further, a now-deleted tweet from Julz asks users to “give us until the end of the week”.
Update 18/3:
Thanks to a tweet from PhilSpeak mentioning our original story, James Dominguez from Fairfax Media’s Screen Play has done some digging of his own and heard from both Titanfall‘s publisher EA and Optus. James writes: “An EA Australia employee on Twitter has pointed me toward an explanation from Optus that the issue is caused by Optus blocking TCP port 80, apparently because this port is necessary to host a website and Optus doesn’t want its domestic customers running websites off their home PCs. The trouble is that Titanfall uses the same port for multiplayer communications, so having it blocked makes it near-unplayable. Optus is reputedly working on a solution to allow Titanfall information to go through the port without unblocking it entirely, which appears to be the source of the delay.”
However, chatter among gamers on the Whirlpool and the Optus forums seems to question this explanation, as the game is playable at certain times of the day.
James was also contacted directly by Optus, who provided the following statement: “We’re aware there have been isues for some of our cable broadband customers accessing the game “Titanfall”. Our network engineers are continuing to investigate the issue, but have not been able to consistently replicate the issue and get to the root cause. We’d like to thank the customers that have got in touch and given us traceroute info and other specifics, as this is a great help. We’d encourage other customers still experiencing the problem to contact Optus directly on 1300 300 937 and give us the details, as this will help us gather more information, diagnose the issue and get a fix. We know it’s frustrating not being able to access this new game, and we apologise for the disruption to some of our customers’ “Titanfall” gaming experience.”
It should be noted that gamers on the Optus forums are still reporting connection issues, while some have been able to get into games by playing around with their network and connection settings. As of less than an hour ago on the Optus Facebook page, Dave posted the following update: “… our engineering team are investigating this issue currently… No further information we can supply at this stage”.
