Packet Loss - what's causing it??

[harris1986]

Hi guys,

Over the past month i've been getting a large amount of packet loss on my internet connection, it seems to be random when it happens but I notice it most in online games where the game will freeze/lock for a second then be fine.

I presumed the issue was to do with Bethere and after numerous support tickets sent they hadn't resolved my problem, i was getting it every 5-10seconds, I have since changed isp to Ukonline and the packet loss happens very rarely now however it does still happen. My understanding is that as i'm on a 8mb UKonline connection as opposed to the 24mb Bethere I will get less packet loss as less packets are being sent?

My questions is what could be causing this as i've never had this before and only recently started? I'm connecting using powerline adapters and my theory at the minute is the powerline adapters are overheating causing them to not work properly as they are located close to a radiator?

 

[bledd]

first point of call.

test with a cat5e cable.

 

[harris1986]

Agreed problem being as i can't predict when/if the spikes or packetloss is occuring it's hard to replicate the problem. Guess i'm just going to have to plug a Cat5 in and just game till my hearts content to see if I get any spikes.

 

[bledd]

sounds fun

 

[harris1986]

Well yes and no, there is worse ways of testing a net connection i'll give you that, however as I play online games at a competitive level gets a tad annoying when you see someone you need to kill and you spike lol then unfreeze and your dead

 

[Phal]

Ping your router IP from your PC. If youre powerline adapters are responsible for the packet loss then youll probably see something other than <1ms pings.

 

[wij]

Packet loss isn't going to be effected by the speed of your connection unless conversely your line stats were not up to standard and you were having large amounts of errors. A good 1mbit/sec connection should show no less signs of packet loss than a 100mbit one as long as the route is good.

What I would do would be when you start getting packet loss use a tool like trace route or even better pathping and run it to the IP you were having issues with. This should show where on the route you are dropping packets.

You say you can't predict it but is there any sort of pattern you might notice, i.e. is it mostly happening in the evenings when your ISP may be busier? When you start getting packet loss also try tracerouting to a site or something that is normally considered reliable and fast to respond such as the BBC.

 

[harris1986]

Hi Wij,

Thanks for clearing that up, the issue has happend on two seperate isp's so I am fairly certain it's not isp related, I'm at work during the day so my net is only used in the evenings and consequently me being in the house means the heating will kick in which is why i'm thinking it's causing the adapter to over heat as it starts off fine when i'm playing then after a few hours and later on in the evening kind of 8-9pm onwards it starts playing up.
I'm fairly certain it's my powerline adapter as i've never had this issue before

 

[wij]

I have a pair of the blue Solwise powerline adapters (200mbit ones) and yes they do seem to run a little bit warm so if they are close to a heat source I suppose that could make them a little unhappy

 

[harris1986]

Agreed, I have a fairly small box room and the adapter is within a metre from the radiator so i'm putting it down to this for the time being. I shall try testing with a Cat5 for a bit and see if this resolves the issue in which case i'll either have to get some new adapters or workout a way to cable Cat5 to my room lol.

 

[Skidilliplop]

if you can get at th interface statistics on your network card/router then you can try uploading and downloading a big file that will take an hour or so. Reset the interface counters and look for drops and errors. that'll clear up where the fault is. Be it inside/outside your administrative responsibility.

 

[harris1986]

strangely i upload/download fine, as i've tried this , i'm even getting high upload/download speeds above what line supports lol im supposed to be on UKonline 8mb down/768up and im getting 8.5mb down and 1meg up lol.
And i've also tried with and without interleaving on the line this makes no difference to the packet loss but as expected my ping does go up with interleaving on.

 

[harris1986]

hmm just done a ping to my router here are the stats -

Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 5ms, Average = 3ms

 

[wij]

That looks about right for home plugs to be honest, pretty similar to mine here.

 

[harris1986]

Ok just done a couple of tracert's, you can see from hop 5 in the bbc the spike however there is none on the google trace

C:\Users\weym0>tracert www.google.co.uk

Tracing route to google.navigation.opendns.com [208.69.34.231]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms 2 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 20 ms 19 ms 19 ms cr0.smbu.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.182]
3 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms ip-87-87-154-129.easynet.co.uk [87.87.154.129]
4 17 ms 17 ms 17 ms be2.er10.thlon.ov.easynet.net [195.66.224.43]
5 17 ms 17 ms 17 ms 195.66.224.185
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 18 ms 31 ms 17 ms opendns.demarc.cogentco.com [149.6.146.158]
8 10 ms 11 ms 11 ms google.navigation.opendns.com [208.69.34.231]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\weym0>tracert www.bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.251.197]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 5 ms 4 ms 4 ms 192.168.0.1
2 39 ms 20 ms 21 ms cr0.smbu.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.182]
3 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms ip-87-87-154-129.easynet.co.uk [87.87.154.129]
4 21 ms 18 ms 17 ms 212.58.238.190
5 137 ms 23 ms 76 ms 212.58.238.189
6 12 ms 11 ms 11 ms 212.58.238.129
7 13 ms 11 ms 12 ms 212.58.239.58
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

 

[uber_cookie]

hmm just done a ping to my router here are the stats -

Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 5ms, Average = 3ms

should not take this long for router to respond, how far from the router are you, cable lenth?
sorry nvm the cable lenth
i would say that you might have inconsistent electric current that is why the adapters some time lose packets... my theory

 

[tolien]

5ms is by no means abnormal to get an answer from a consumer-grade router. It's got better things to do like, y'know, routing...

 

[harris1986]

okies well just tried with ethernet cable direct to router and again i'm getting packet loss what could be the cause of this? 2 different pc's/ 2different isp's / 2different routers lol possibly time to phone BT and tell them to sort the line out?
Here is a ip where I just tested and getting the same packet loss as before (note I get packet loss on all servers)
C:\Users\weym0>ping 82.149.235.135

Pinging 82.149.235.135 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 82.149.235.135: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.149.235.135: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.149.235.135: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.149.235.135: bytes=32 time=25ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 82.149.235.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 25ms, Maximum = 26ms, Average = 25ms

C:\Users\weym0>tracert 82.149.235.135

Tracing route to 82.149.235.135 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 2 ms 1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 45 ms 12 ms 11 ms cr0.smbu.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.182]
3 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms ip-87-87-154-129.easynet.co.uk [87.87.154.129]
4 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms bu4.er10.thlon.ov.easynet.net [89.200.135.144]
5 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms bu4.gr10.telon.uk.easynet.net [89.200.135.145]
6 25 ms 25 ms 24 ms te0-0-0-7.er10.ixfra.de.easynet.net [87.86.77.24
9]
7 29 ms 26 ms 26 ms decix.fra1.tng.de [80.81.192.83]
8 27 ms 26 ms 26 ms decix.rt03.ix.aixit.net [83.141.1.41]
9 26 ms 26 ms 25 ms 82.149.235.135

Trace complete.

 

[tolien]

There's nothing untoward with any of what you've posted there, and no packet loss either

 

[harris1986]

getting huge stutters in games every few seconds and have only been getting them recently