URGENT: Comcast Routing Issues Causing High Latency & Packet Loss to Microsoft/Xbox Live Servers

I am experiencing severe latency spikes and packet loss when connecting to Xbox Live servers (20.70.246.20) through Comcast’s network. After running extensive PingPlotter and traceroute tests, I have identified that the issue lies in Comcast’s routing to Microsoft’s network, and I am requesting that this be escalated to your network engineering team for review and resolution.

Key Findings from My Tests: 

1. Comcast’s Local Network is Not the Issue:  •

Hops 1-9 (Comcast Network) show  stable latency (~6-18ms) and no packet loss.•

This confirms that the problem is not caused by my modem, local network, or last-mile infrastructure.

2. Severe Latency Spikes Begin at Hop 10 (Microsoft Network – 104.44.54.62) 

Latency jumps from ~15ms to 18.2ms, showing the start of an inefficient routing path

However, this alone isn’t the problem—the real issue worsens as traffic progresses deeper into Microsoft’s network.

3. Hops 12-17 Show Unacceptable Latency & Packet Loss:• Hop 12 (104.44.30.118) – Latency spikes to 204ms+.• Hop 14 (104.44.29.179) – Remains at 204-206ms, indicating congestion

Hop 16 (51.10.4.150) – 203ms with 37.6% packet loss.• Final hop (20.70.246.20 – Xbox Live) – 200ms+, making gaming unplayable.

Massive performance degradation starts at Hop 12 and continues through the final destination.

Why This is a Comcast Routing Issue & Not Just Microsoft’s Problem 

 VPN consistently bypasses the issue, proving that Comcast is routing traffic inefficiently. If the problem were solely on Microsoft’s network, a VPN would not help—yet it does.

Comcast has control over how my traffic reaches Microsoft’s network through its peering and transit agreements.

Other ISPs do not exhibit this issue, meaning Comcast is choosing an inefficient or congested route.

What Needs to Be Done:1.

Escalate this to Comcast’s network engineering team

2. Review the routing policies for traffic heading to Microsoft’s network (ASN 8075).

Investigate alternate peering or transit paths that do not experience this congestion.

4. Work with Microsoft to ensure Comcast is not sending customers through an unnecessarily congested route. This is a critical performance issue affecting multiple Comcast customers, and the evidence is clear that Comcast’s current routing path to Microsoft is inefficient. 

I expect a formal response on how this will be investigated and what steps will be taken to resolve it.

I demand that Comcast escalate this to its network engineers immediately and provide a detailed response on what steps are being taken to resolve this. I will escalate this issue externally if necessary, as this is an ongoing and unresolved problem affecting customers

I have conducted multiple traceroute tests to Microsoft’s network (Xbox Live, Microsoft.com, and related services), and the results consistently show severe latency spikes and inefficient routing through Comcast’s network before traffic even reaches Microsoft. Below are my findings: 

1.Traceroute to Xbox Live (20.70.246.20):

• Hops 1-9 (Comcast Network) are stable (~6-18ms), proving my local connection is fine.

• Hop 10 (Microsoft Backbone - 104.44.54.62) – Latency jumps to 204ms+, indicating inefficient routing.

• Hop 12-16: Latency remains between 200-370ms, making gaming unplayable.

• Final hop reaches 718ms! This proves severe congestion on the path Comcast is using to Microsoft.

2. Traceroute to Microsoft.com (20.70.246.20):

• Hops 1-9 remain stable (~7-23ms), confirming no local network issues.

• Hop 10 (104.44.32.46) spikes to 231ms, further proving routing inefficiencies.

• Hop 12-17 remain at 226-382ms, showing persistent high latency to Microsoft’s services.

3. Traceroute to Microsoft’s Network Edge (104.44.54.62):

Hop 6 (Comcast Backbone - 96.216.81.45) spikes to 373ms!

This proves that the issue starts within Comcast’s own network before even reaching Microsoft.

• Final hops remain unstable, showing network congestion or poor routing at the Microsoft handoff point.

Conclusion:

• This is NOT a modem, hardware, or local issue. My local connection is fine (proven by stable early hops).

• A VPN completely fixes the problem, meaning Comcast is choosing a bad routing path instead of a better alternative.

• Other ISPs do not have this issue, further proving that Comcast’s routing policies or peering agreements are at fault.

• Comcast needs to escalate this to network engineers, review its routing policies, and optimize traffic to Microsoft’s network (ASN 8075).

I expect Comcast to escalate this immediately and provide a real solution instead of recommending technician visits, xFi pods, or local troubleshooting—this is a network-level issue.

traceroute 104.44.54.62

traceroute to 104.44.54.62 (104.44.54.62), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets

 1  10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1)  7.528 ms  3.065 ms  2.112 ms

 2  172.20.43.67 (172.20.43.67)  14.051 ms

    172.20.43.66 (172.20.43.66)  12.703 ms

    172.20.43.67 (172.20.43.67)  14.932 ms

 3  po-309-339-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (68.87.131.213)  13.043 ms

    po-309-340-rur202.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (68.87.132.85)  8.311 ms

    po-309-339-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (68.87.131.213)  11.408 ms

 4  po-2-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (96.110.235.13)  13.455 ms

    po-200-xar01.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (24.124.153.113)  12.321 ms

    po-2-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (96.110.235.13)  10.361 ms

 5  be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  15.611 ms

    po-200-xar01.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (24.124.153.113)  13.803 ms

    be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  21.289 ms

 6  be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  373.200 ms

    be-31421-cs02.beaumeade.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.40.21)  22.146 ms

    be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  15.786 ms

 7  be-3112-pe12.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.34.114)  15.665 ms

    be-31421-cs02.beaumeade.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.40.21)  14.893 ms

    be-3412-pe12.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.34.126)  16.709 ms

 8  be-3412-pe12.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.34.126)  14.255 ms *

    be-3113-pe13.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.166.210)  14.578 ms

 9  ae24-0.icr04.bl20.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.54.62)  14.979 ms *

    ae24-0.icr03.bl20.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.54.60)  17.369 ms

traceroute xboxlive.com

traceroute: Warning: xboxlive.com has multiple addresses; using 20.112.250.133

traceroute to xboxlive.com (20.112.250.133), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets

 1  10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1)  2.801 ms  2.153 ms  1.487 ms

 2  172.20.43.67 (172.20.43.67)  20.799 ms

    172.20.43.66 (172.20.43.66)  14.630 ms

    172.20.43.67 (172.20.43.67)  13.368 ms

 3  po-309-339-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (68.87.131.213)  20.686 ms

    po-309-340-rur202.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (68.87.132.85)  22.630 ms

    po-309-339-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (68.87.131.213)  16.749 ms

 4  po-2-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (96.110.235.13)  10.969 ms

    po-200-xar01.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (24.124.153.113)  14.552 ms

    po-2-rur201.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (96.110.235.13)  10.695 ms

 5  be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  10.416 ms

    po-200-xar01.metrodr.md.bad.comcast.net (24.124.153.113)  13.339 ms

    be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  10.198 ms

 6  be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  14.604 ms

    be-31441-cs04.beaumeade.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.40.29)  18.366 ms

    be-397-arsc1.capitolhghts.md.bad.comcast.net (96.216.81.45)  18.690 ms

 7  be-3313-pe13.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.166.218)  15.048 ms

    be-31431-cs03.beaumeade.va.ibone.comcast.net (96.110.40.25)  17.406 ms

    be-3213-pe13.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.166.214)  16.185 ms

 8  be-3413-pe13.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.166.222)  14.871 ms *

    be-3113-pe13.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.166.210)  21.260 ms

 9  ae27-0.icr03.bl7.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.54.164)  18.326 ms *

    ae26-0.icr04.bl7.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.54.178)  20.349 ms

10  ae24-0.icr03.bl20.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.54.60)  28.256 ms

    be-164-0.ibr04.bl7.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.32.34)  42.268 ms

    ae26-0.icr04.bl7.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.54.178)  35.864 ms

11  be-4-0.ibr03.bl20.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.16.178)  52.629 ms

    be-164-0.ibr04.bl20.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.32.42)  107.086 ms *

12  be-8-0.ibr02.cle30.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.28.121)  48.236 ms

    be-11-0.ibr02.ch4.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.29.45)  72.757 ms

    be-8-0.ibr02.cle30.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.28.121)  60.349 ms

13  51.10.4.61 (51.10.4.61)  54.538 ms

    be-11-0.ibr02.ch4.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.29.45)  52.152 ms

    104.44.31.194 (104.44.31.194)  59.272 ms

14  51.10.4.61 (51.10.4.61)  58.181 ms

    51.10.9.232 (51.10.9.232)  63.175 ms

    be-6-0.ibr01.atl31.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.29.9)  63.812 ms

15  51.10.9.228 (51.10.9.228)  48.457 ms  40.769 ms

    104.44.55.8 (104.44.55.8)  52.691 ms

16  104.44.54.252 (104.44.54.252)  61.435 ms

    104.44.55.14 (104.44.55.14)  58.876 ms

    51.10.9.228 (51.10.9.228)  44.056 ms

17  * * 104.44.54.232 (104.44.54.232)  58.439 ms

18  * * *

19  * * 51.10.4.63 (51.10.4.63)  66.462 ms

Traceroute to Xbox Live (20.112.250.133) – Continued Evidence of Routing Problems

• Hops 1-8 (Comcast Network) are stable (~6-18ms), proving no local issues.

• Hop 11 (104.44.16.178) spikes to 107ms, showing poor routing.

• Hop 12 (104.44.28.121) spikes to 72ms, confirming instability.

Hop 14 (51.10.4.61) spikes to 63ms, proving congestion near Microsoft’s network edge.

Final hops (16-19) show packet loss and instability, further confirming routing problems.

Key Findings from Your PingPlotter Test:

• Hops 1-8 (Comcast network) appear stable (~2-18ms), proving there are no local network or hardware issues.

• Hop 9 (104.44.54.62 - Microsoft’s Network Edge) shows an initial jump to ~18ms, which is normal.

• Hop 11 (104.44.30.4) spikes dramatically to ~204ms+, proving inefficient routing.

Hops 12-16 show continued high latency (200-370ms), making gaming unplayable.

• Final hop to Xbox Live is at 206-211ms, far too high for real-time gaming.