Lag Issues Since, At Least, the Last Three Patches

Problem
Intermittent and consistent latency issues that are unrelated to my (1) ISP, (2) security software and Windows Updates or (3) hardware. These issues have been occurring for about the past three patches and range from a delay in interacting with objects/enemies to rubber-banding to, today, a 10+ second delay that resulted in the death of a hardcore character after entering the Dark Forest. The most common issue is a roughly 500ms delay in interacting with objects/enemies.

Information on My End
-I play in Pennsylvania, United States of America and only from one physical location with a dynamic IP through Verizon. My playtimes take in every hour of the day and with the bulk of my playtime occurring between 4pm EST and 6am EST, viz. my playtime isn't dictated by a specific schedule even though the bulk of my playtime occurs within specific times. I have noticed these issues irrespective of the time I play;
-In relation to (1):
(a) I have had no similar issues with other games I play online, including but not limited to: League of Legends, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Killing Floor and EverQuest 2;
(b) I have had no similar issues accessing web pages and specifically web pages requiring a lot of resources (e.g. YouTube);
-In relation to (2):
(a) My security software (AVG) is scheduled to run at certain times and none of those have been during play;
(b) My security software has not attempted automatic updates during play;
(c) Windows Update has, thankfully!, not attempted automatic updates during play;
-In relation to (3):
(a) Speccy has demonstrated my system to be running cooler play Path of Exile than a few other games where I also have no latency issues, demonstrating that no strain on the system is causing potential issues;
(b) My computer has no physical damage;
(c) My computer has a wi-fi toggle switch which is in working order and is unable to be accidentally bumped to cause any type of error;
-I am not and have not had an active web browser session in progress at any time while playing Path of Exile, no music player in the background or any other programme that seems like it would necessarily interfere with gameplay.

Information on Issues
-Enemies regularly are 'missed' with melee attacks at a rate that is disproportionate to my characters' accuracy and will show damage (blood splatter and body impact) some distance away that is proportional to the latency. This latency issue affects my play with great frequency and in every play session over, at least, the last three patches and to varying degrees or lengths. To be clear, it is not the occurance of latency that is intermittent yet consistent, it is the extent of the latency that is intermittent yet consistent;
-Rubber-banding is quite rare and has happened, at most, 5 times over, at least, the last three patches;
-Upon entering the Dark Forest today at around 11:00pm EST, my character followed the road a short distance (about three-quarters of a screen away) to a tribal chest and I clicked it. Nothing happened and nothing continued to happen for about 10 to 15 seconds. At that point my character rubber-banded back to the entrance of the zone and then 'jumped' some distance above the tribal chest which aggroed enemies, then 'jumped' back down to the tribal chest with those enemies all around them. During the delay when I could not click the chest I attempted to use skills/abilities and they worked, the same for one use of a health potion. When the 'jumping' occurred I tried to use a health potion but, due to the quickness of my character's death, could not tell if it actually went off.

Questions
-Is this is a known issue and, if it is, for what regions is this a known issue?
-If this is a known issue, to what degree are the various regions affected by it?
-If this is a known issue, is there a fix incoming to address it?
-If this is not a known issue, is it only affecting a small portion of the playerbase and, if so, what might be causing the interference?
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Update #1 (26 March 2013 6:23am EST)
I am going to wait until this latency issue is fixed before attempting to play on a regular basis again, as it's simply not enjoyable to play the characters that I want to play in the specific way I want to play them at the current time. In the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, GGG announcements and giving PoE a go each time a new patch comes out in the hope that the the issue will be fixed. It didn't exist before it did, so I'm confident that GGG will do what they can to handle things on their end.

I'm using comcast here in cali. I've been getting this problem ever since 2 days ago.... I have lost several high level maps because my lag spikes to 1-2 minutes (yes, 1-2 min lag spike) during those instances and ONLY THOSE instances. It doesn't help even if I restart my computer/modem

Update

I've attempted to play from work (yes, I have a kickass job like that!) and I encounter the same issue I do at home. I've dabbled with the game off and on since this post, testing to see if things improve and I'm sorry to say that I have seen no improvement: the latency has yet to be resolved. As it stands, Path of Exile is simply unplayable for me.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who are able to find ways to cope with the latency but I just can't. Path of Exile will continue to be a game that I would love to play but simply cannot due to technical issues beyond my control.

Best of luck GGG. When you folks nail the latency issue(s?) please send out an e-mail to everyone with a registered account to let them know. I'm sure that most have slipped quietly into that goodnight away from Wraeclast without ever letting on as to why.

Update

Over the past few weeks I've been once again playing Path of Exile. The new Anarchy and Onslaught Leagues seemed like a fantastic addition to the game and, curiosity piqued, I jumped back in. I've noticed that the desync issues I've experienced remains unchanged, both at home and at work, and this is likely to remain a prevalent issue for an indeterminable amount of time.

It seems to me that there are three reasons for the latency and nevermind how the game handles the desync. (Chris wrote a great post explaining how PoE handles desync, something that is important and the only real thing that GGG can handle on their end.) First, there is the issue of the care the end-user takes of their equipment, from their rig to their router and modem. Second, there is the issue of the quality and proximity of GGG servers. Third, there is the issue of the media between the end-user and GGG's servers.

This last issue is the most important, especially for American players. Our infrastructure is notoriously bad and games like PoE that, for lack of a better word, are very sensitive to latency are going to feel the effects of infrastructure issues the most. This is because even if the end-user takes fantastic care of their equipment and the GGG uses quality servers, something that we will assume for the sake of argument, the x-factor is still the media between both of those points, the media on which the data is transmitted. Ultimately, it seems to me to come down to telecom companies needing to take proper care of their equipment and provide quality internet service over quality lines and GGG continuing to do their best with the PoE code. I have faith in GGG and that's why I'm playing PoE as an Open Beta Supporter.

Attached to this I've noticed one other issue that is just as important as recognising what's affecting desync other than the game's code. Me, the user. Characters in PoE become quite powerful and when I was bit by desync the most it was often because I wasn't following the maxim of festina lente, I was charging into shit because my character was a badass with badass AoE and badasses with badass AoE charge in like Leroy Jenkins. Stupidly. I'm not sure how many times I exacerbated the desync out of my own stupidity, rushing into groups because I could without a thought to whether or not I should.

I've been playing smarter and while I still notice the desync to be problematic I am able to handle it much better and without resorting to what many would consider boring play. I'm not willing to play in the Hardcore Leagues just yet because it seems to me that desync is still too much of an issue for them to be fun to me, however I'm at the point now where I can say that desync isn't a bar to me enjoying the game.