Due to users being booted offline, lagged, hung up, frozen, or attacked many Ants players left to find other sites to spend their time on; or migrated to other games on Microsoft Zone with less frequent interruptions from Denial of Service attacks. Collectively, Ants suffered a drastic decline in population starting in early 2003 which continued until its removal. Many users also had issues when using internet routers with Microsoft Ants. Since the game was not designed nor coded for the new wave of cable and DSL connections with people sharing their connection, the actual computer name instead of the signed-on MSN/Passport name would appear in the game's start screen. In most cases, players were unable to connect to each other while using a router, even after trying to open router ports and the like. This further lead to a decline in players.