Devastating server issues

Support
1

Many might know, that on the 17th of August, 2023, the server of IF went through an update. People who were in flight during the time received a message stating something along the lines of “The server will be updated, and you’ll be disconnected for a few moments”. Well, my problems started from after that. At the time, I was doing a flight from Doha to London Heathrow. While on Approach, I saw that all the other planes in the area were marked “Unknown”. I contacted the Heathrow Director Approach, headed by @Aryan_789 at the time, and checked in. I heard nothing back. I couldn’t hear others either. I kept sending the same message, in hopes that it would reach, but nothing happened. Next thing I knew, I had had a Level 2 violation for Spamming the frequency.

Being the idiot I am, I deleted my app, thinking this would cure the problem, not realising that would also delete the replay file. Thus, I could not produce it when I appealed my Level 2 violation. Anyway, today I downloaded the app again, and it seems the problem is not gone. I’m facing the same server issues I faced at the time.

Just to test it, I spawned into KLAX, controlled by @JackH, and asked for pushback, while having explained my situation to him on a Private Message thread. He said that he had seen me on his map, and had also replied to my request, but the problem was that I could not hear him.

This is what I saw on the map. You’ll see the other planes marked “Unknown”. I could not see their type, their FPL., nothing.

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Many might also know that Dan had also hosted an event from MMMX, to LEMD a couple days ago. Well, I really wanted to join it, and was looking forward to it since the timing of the event was just perfect. I joined, thinking the problem must have been perfected by then. IT WASN’T!

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These are pictures as to what I saw on the map that day. Thus, I had to end the session.

This problem is eating me up. PLEASE, FIX IT!

Device: Realme 8 5G
OS: Android 13

Just so that no one asks, my internet speed is terrific.

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This speed is on the lower side. Most of the time, I get around 600-750 Mbps.

5 Likes
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This does seem like some sort of server issue.

Level 2 violations can’t be appealed.

Was this an issue pre update?

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I didn’t know that. Although, the guy who handled by appeal didn’t tell me that.

Absolutely not. It was perfect, down to the last minute detail.

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@DavBarsco @MagiK remember this issue I once had during our event?
Seems like I’m not the only one having these issues as the server got updated too back then.

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Yes they can. Only Level 1’s can’t be appealed.

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Okay, so what did you do to fix it?

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I need @schyllberg. Hey man, a little help here?

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8

Well, I had the luck that our guys where sitting at both ends as ATC so I told them what was going on on discord and kept flying. After the flight and restarting the app, the issue was gone and I could hear ATC again.
I went out of the app for a second to adjust my V Speeds in IFAssistant which may caused the issue on my side. But what triggers me is the fact that ATC sound went to 0 but all other sounds to 200% almost killing my headphones.

So from my side to the IF Staff in short:

  • Server update started, no connection to server, all other players not visible
  • Left app for about 5 seconds to adjust IFA
  • Opened IF again, update still ongoing
  • Server updated, connection stable, planes start to appear again
  • ‘ATC active’ appears on screen, 0 ATC sound, text still visible
  • Left app for IFA again to try fix the issue
  • Opened IF again, still 0 ATC sound but 200% engine sound

Not sure if I’m the only one with this exact issue but ours come very close

2 Likes
9

Hey, I understand the issue is frustrating - we’re happy to help, but no need to tag Seb less than 20 mins after making the first post :)

I can see you’re in India, are you using Jio as your network provider by any chance? We’ve had issues reported from users with 5G on Jio. Apparently, 4G LTE can work intermittently.

As this is a provider-specific issue, it’s hard for us to provide an immediate solution on our end. We believe this could be related to some networking stack changes anywhere between our provider and your network (as our code changes were not related to the underlying networking code).

A few things you can try:

  • Use 4G or 3G if you are using Jio to see if the experience is better
  • Try using a different provider if you’re able to
  • Try and use a VPN, as this may improve the stability (if you try NordVPN, be sure to check this info about which protocol to use)
3 Likes
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This issue is different. We’ve fixed the engine sound bug in the next update, and we’re investigating the ATC volume issue with iOS text-to-speech. Sorry about that!

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Yeah. Now I remember this. ((

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Yes, actually, I am using Jio. I can’t really just switch to 4G, because the speed on 4G is extremely poor, and it might not be enough to sustain the high load.

I can’t use another provider, because I have one one network on my phone.

I can try using a VPN. I will do a quick check, and let you know.

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For multiplayer, speed isn’t important, stability matters more (we only download about 50kb/s when the area is really busy, usually it’s way less than this)

If you can try WiFi too, that would potential be more stable. Unfortunately, since this issue only really seems to be affecting Jio at this time, there isn’t much we can do from our end :/

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I used a VPN. It didn’t work. I tried using a 4G connection, and surprisingly it did. I could hear ATC.

But, here’s the problem. I use IF on my main device, and i make it a floating window, while I use other apps. This requires that I have a stable 5G connection. Moreover, the way Jio’s policy works, it’s that with 5G you get unlimited data all the time, kinda like WiFi. With 4G, that’s not the case, and my data will get exhausted extremely fast with the way it is now.

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I’m sorry to hear that’s the case, definitely a weird policy on Jio’s part.

We can’t diagnose the issue with their 5G network unfortunately. We essentially establish the connection through the global internet backbone through to their network - as it’s working on 4G, it indicates that there is something not working with their 5G setup.

We are working on some long-term architectural improvements which should help improve the connection in regions further from our server in the US which could reduce the chances of this happening, but in the meantime, we’ll keep investigating from our end though I can’t promise this is something we can fix.

If you want to bring it up with Jio, you can mention that there is trouble receiving UDP packets on port 22 over 5G.

Which VPN did you use, out of curiosity?

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Hello @the_abducted_prince, I’m also using jio 5G at that time, and i am also having problem in playing infinite flight in 5g but when i use 4g then infinite flight works fine

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Thanks for the help, I guess. I will either call up Jio, or get on a chat with them to help fix this issue. Is this all I’m gonna have to say to them from my end?

I use a VPN called “Proton VPN”. I used to use “Surfshark VPN” until recently.

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I see. I guess I’m gonna either have to figure out a way to live with it, or contact Jio. Btw, man, still not over that violation you issued the other day 😂

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Focus on this when talking to them since that is the root cause of the issue :)

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I had similar issue but not exactly like that,
Whenever I tried to contact approaching airport
Can’t hear my voice and the tower too & other flights were quiet too, but that is resolved for me.
And working fine now.

1 Like