Packet loss

[Barfy]

I've just switched from Sky to ADSL24, and according to pingtest.net I am suffering from a 70% packet loss rate. Is this bad? Should I be worried? Can I do anything about it?

 

Sky was 0% packet loss according to the same test, but as their peak speeds were in the region of 15Kbps I had to move!

[saint_stevo]

70% sucks and tends to suggest something isn't right somewhere....

 

Think of it like sending a mate a text message, but 70% of it was missing

[Barfy]

so a call to ADSL24 is in order then?

 

And I was so chuffed to have gotten away from Sky too

[saint_stevo]

yeah i would say so, expect they will try to troubleshoot your set-up etc first.

 

how long does it take to ping your router from a machine on your network?

[Barfy]

yeah i would say so, expect they will try to troubleshoot your set-up etc first.

 

how long does it take to ping your router from a machine on your network?

 

Pass, how do I do that?

[saint_stevo]

do you know the router i.p address? Not sure about that isp but most send them out at 192.168.0.1 or similar?

[badgerx16]

Pass, how do I do that?

Click on the START icon ( normally bottom left of the screen ), select RUN, then enter CMD. In the box that opens type in IPCONFIG, and look for the line showing Default Gateway.

Then enter PING xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -t ( where xx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the value showing for the gateway, as stated above this is usually 192.168.something ). This will give a series of response times for your home network. Let it run for about 10 to 12 lines and then press &C, which should stop the test.

EG:

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

 

C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner>ping 192.168.1.1 -t

 

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

 

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time

 

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:

Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

Control-C

^C

C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner>

 

The value given as 'time' should be as small as possible.

[Barfy]

I did the ping from the command prompt and the router, like Badger's, all showed

 

I then did the pingtest.net tests again and it showed 25% loss, so I'm wondering if there's something in the test that's causing a probem :confused:

 

If there was a packet loss issue, would it cause problems opening webpages? i.e. certain content (e.g. facebook apps) takes an abnormally long time to load?

[badgerx16]

I did the ping from the command prompt and the router, like Badger's, all showed

 

I then did the pingtest.net tests again and it showed 25% loss, so I'm wondering if there's something in the test that's causing a probem :confused:

 

If there was a packet loss issue, would it cause problems opening webpages? i.e. certain content (e.g. facebook apps) takes an abnormally long time to load?

Yes it would.

 

Have you tried one of the online ADSL speed checks on the new service ?

[Barfy]

Yes it would.

 

Have you tried one of the online ADSL speed checks on the new service ?

 

The speeds are good, anywhere between 4 and 7Mbps even at peak times - I downloaded Windows 7 (all 3GB) in about an hour and a half last night, but there are things (like facebook apps) that just don't load at all or just really slowly.

 

if this is likely to be the packet loss problem, might it clear up a bit as the line settles in? or doesn't that apply anymore?

[badgerx16]

The speeds are good, anywhere between 4 and 7Mbps even at peak times - I downloaded Windows 7 (all 3GB) in about an hour and a half last night, but there are things (like facebook apps) that just don't load at all or just really slowly.

 

if this is likely to be the packet loss problem, might it clear up a bit as the line settles in? or doesn't that apply anymore?

In my understanding.....

Technically the line into your house shouldn't change, it just gets patched into a different DSLAM in an upstream exchange, but as this can involve reconfiguring traffic balancing on the ISP's kit, they may well tell you that for about 7 days their automatic monitoring systems will be fine tuning things, and may transiently degrade or upgrade service as things settle in.

Ultimately, all DSL services are shared, so if an ISP is particularly heavily subscribed in a particular area, performance can be quite badly impacted.

This is normally seen at 'peak' times; between 18:00 and 21:00 in particular, though I think most ISPs are getting their acts together and putting in more capacity.

 

If it persists, yet seems to be with specific sites, it may be a routing or DNS issue with your ISP. Give it a couple of days, and if FaceBook is still effectively u/s, there may be some other tests that can be used.