Hi
If you are getting "Failed to connect to server" error yet can play using a VPN or Hotspot via a different ISP the issue is with AO using Neustar to filter your ISPs connection. (No you did nothing worong AO just uses 3rd party tools and are a bit of a tool when implementing)

To work around this you can do several solutions ;

1. Uninstall the game (extreme but is useful if the rest are not possible below)
2. Pay to use a VPN or hotspot
3. Work with your ISP to change routes on AO/Neustar filter. To do this you will need to supply your ISP with the IPs (Example Below) and a trace will show the ISP the siteprotect.security.neustar is blocking;

IP - 185.218.131.120 <-- For example trace this AO IP or check with reource monitor for the albion EXE that has little bytes recieved. It will be the IP you need.

Results will show whats in the middle - IE Neustar and this needs to be routed around or changed (Example below)

Example.....
# traceroute -d 185.218.131.120 <-- use resource monitor in windows 10 to get the IP if its not this one. It will be the albiononline.exe that has zero bytes received
traceroute to 185.218.131.120 (185.218.131.120), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 172.17.47.254 (172.17.47.254) 0.192 ms 0.193 ms 0.176 ms
2 te0-0-1.920.pe2.530col.mel.core.otw.net.au (180.214.64.193) 0.500 ms 0.486 ms 0.469 ms
3 10.254.251.164 (10.254.251.164) 12.623 ms 12.612 ms 12.597 ms
4 * * *
5 siteprotect.security.neustar (111.119.10.17) 12.993 ms 12.969 ms 12.955 ms <-- THIS is whats blocking some users !
6 * * *
7 * * *
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *

Solution from my ISP level which allowed me to connect again;
Quote - All of their BGP announcements via Megaport are borked. So I've added a BGP filter to ignore them via that peering link

Hope this helps some people get back into the game. For me, a PITA to achieve when they could of advised what to do and more than likely now going to press Option 1.




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Hi, recently have started getting the error;

"Failed to connect to server. Please try again later."

Am new to AO and the game was working last week on my PC, however something has changed and now my PC can open steam, access/load the game but then generates the splash screen and after short time the error appears.

To confirm it was not my pc, I have a 2nd gaming pc with a different steam account. I downloaded, installed and ran AO on that PC. Same issue - steam opens - AO opens with splash screen. Circle of doom and then error. Thus leading me to suspect firewall or ports. To quickly isolate if this is a network error I used the hotspot on my mobile phone on one pc, and disabled firewalls on the other PC.
The hotspot PC works, the windows firewalll, AV disabled does not help and the same error occurs.

This lead me to think the errors is router firewall related. I checked and saw a thread about opening Ports on a firewall. (TP Link 450M Wireless N Router)

I set ports 5055 and 5056 UDP and 4535 TCP and even 64738 which I found in another thread. And set the IP to be either my PC A or PC B or router and nothing worked. Even toggles the ports to be set as TCP/UDP or ALL.

Does anyone have a work around to this error? A vpn or hotspot seems very extreme to make a game work; that was working last week for me.

I want the error gone and the application AO to work as it was before. Did some hunting around and looking through forums. Since AO had been hit by DDOS it may be that they are using DDOS protection service by neustar or similar service. Which is blanket banning some IPs. While the ISP the end user is on was harmless they get caught up in the same ban/blacklist.

This explains why a level one tech support response from the support desk team email will say to 'use a vpn' while it is a band aid fix is not a good solution.

In short, there may be more underlying problems than meets the eye. I have a support ticket in/escalated but I think this will be one of those games that may not survive in my steam library.

Hi Aldoborre, issue can be with IP geoblocking which is what is put in the middle of the AO servers and your client. Have found after looking around that they are using a 3rd party DDOS client however while it does the job, some smaller ISP and IP are being blocked. This explains why AO tech support ask you use a vpn and also explains why a mobile phone would work but a pc would get shitcanned unless using a vpn.

For example - home.neustar/ - is a blocking client who is used by other companies probable AO. If I try to access the neustar webpage its blocked and does not load. checking / tracing shows while I have done nothing wrong, I am blocked. Yet if I use a vpn, and i can load their websites fine I believe the same is occurring to other users who may be geoblocked also.

Moving forward, the solution is to either delete the game or use a vpn. Or read crazy shit from Qolkkalom, who knows, its some what entertainingly cryptic.

Updated with solution... editted top comment

You would need to do a tracert and see where you are being blocked if you cannot connect using the vpn and without the vpn. Use reource monitor to obtain the IP to tracert against and then work from there to see where the block is. If you have what I had you will need to work with the ISP (if they can help).
Another test is to use a different ISP - IE go to a friends place and see if they can access it. If you want to go extremes take your pc there and try it to see if its network related or not.

Cinder this would be a client side error. What I experienced was a WAN / ISP block by AO and I by chance I am friends with my ISP and asked for a change to get around it. To verify it was outside my network, I have 1 pc and 1 laptop on wifi and one PC on LAN. All 3 could not connect. I checked port forwards and host file to see if I had something that changed (unlikely as it was working then just stopped)

You would have to dig deeper into the PC and try to work out what is occurring. Try checking the event logs on the computer to see if the give a glimmer of hope into what is occuring and then work from there with some google fu.

To both, I understand this is not a solution, I can only offer advice as I do not play this game as the support and other aspects are toxic and poor and have made me drop it from my steam library. I do not think their own support team understands whats occurred but I will linger for a bit to offer some help before I move on.

Good luck on working this out.