Packet loss is when packets of information that are sent by your device don’t reach their destination. They usually do, but they sometimes don’t.
Packet loss is usually measured in packet-per-second (or “pps”). It’s when packet per second count drops below 30% on average over a period of time. You can actually test packet loss on quickly using an online tool.
So packet loss can be very small or it can be pretty big, depending on the packet size and your packet loss percentage threshold.
If packet loss is tiny though, generally less than 1%, it’s not generally worth worrying about unless you want to compare packet loss with your friend or show off how good your internet connection speed test results are compared with someone else’s – then worry about packet loss more.
Otherwise, packet loss is normal and expected.
What is Packet Loss?
The rate of packet loss that can be considered to be within acceptable limits for what you’re doing (e.g., watching a movie on Netflix) varies depending on your packet size – but generally, packet loss rates under 2% are not normally noticeable. However, packet loss anywhere from 3-5% will affect the quality of your Internet connection. This is where packet loss is usually unacceptable and achievable only through new Internet service providers (ISPs).
High packet latency (a type of packet delay), where packets take a long time to reach their destination, may also be caused by packet loss. If you’re experiencing high ping times this could be why, especially if they go up and down throughout the day.
If packet loss is at 5% or higher, it can be detected with packet-loss testing tools like the one found on DeviceTests.com. Real packet loss is detectable via packet sniffer toolkits (software that automatically detects packet loss) like MPS (included in most Linux distributions), Cacti (including SNMP support), SmokePing, etc.
If you use DSL or Satellite Internet service, you’re more likely to experience packet loss than if you had cable or fiber optic service, although it’s still not extremely common on these services. Generally, your landlord, apartment building owner, ISP, and/or satellite company will need to fix the problem for you through repairs of the equipment before further packet loss can be fixed. You may want to contact your ISP or satellite company if packet loss is high and packet latency is also high.
Packet loss rates for DSL lines typically range from 0% to 2%, with typical packet latency of 20-130ms (milliseconds), but the packet size is usually much smaller than cable packets due because DSL lines are usually dialup analog lines that fit in telephone poles, which often don’t have room for larger cables/fibers/tubes that normal Internet companies use. Still, you’re likely to experience packet loss with any packet data transmission, including VoIP (Voice over IP) services like Skype due to analog phone line noise on your voice service – see the related articles section for more packet loss information.
Voice packet loss can be caused by packet delay sometimes because the packets of your voice data need to be sent and received in real-time for VoIP services like Skype to work. Sometimes old router firmware don’t support new features modern Operating Systems have, so an upgrade is needed there too. For ADSL modem gear that has routing capability DSL ISPs may provide customized firmware which must be installed on their specific model or family of ADSL modem.
Packet loss is a normal part of packet data transmission, so think of packet loss as a type of packet delay – both packet latency and packet loss affect your overall bandwidth because it slows the rate at which you receive packets from other computers on the Internet. If they didn’t do that, then packet data would be transmitted much more quickly and your Internet connection speed wouldn’t appear as ‘fast’ as it does now & the websites you visit would load very quickly.
Also Read:- 10 Best Routers for Satellite Internet
In general packet loss rates under 5% are not normally noticeable, but if you’re curious about whether packet loss is affecting anything specific on your LAN (local area network) try using a packet sniffer to see if there’s any packet loss when you’re playing games or watching videos. If packet loss is low but packet latency is high, it could be because you have packet delay due to packet queuing in your home network – if that’s the case then try using different wired/wireless cables for connecting devices at your LAN.
If packet loss occurs regularly on a DSL line sometimes it can indicate that there are problems with the telephone wiring in your building or neighborhood, so check with neighbors & landlords to see if they have similar problems too. Usually, this type of problem requires equipment repair by either power companies or telephone service providers depending on who installed the wiring originally, so contacting them may fix the issue without requiring any repairs being made by yourself. Note that this type of packet loss is usually typically packet delay as well because packet data transmission requires both packet loss and packet latency, so don’t ignore packet delay even if packet loss rates are reported as zero.
However, packet loss problems may also be due to a lack of QoS, which can happen when you have too many wireless devices trying to use the same channel in your building at once – for this you need to contact landlords or neighbors that might be using nearby channels & interfering with your connections. In addition, if you’re using older equipment from before 2006 then it’s likely out of date regarding its set of supported features and old firmware, so an upgrade may be needed there afterward.
In summary, packet loss is packet data packet loss along a network path from source to destination when packet data is sent from an IP host. Packet loss impacts the overall availability of packet data delivery between hosts, which may result in slow packet data transfer if packet delay is also present at the same time.