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deleted
(deleted) Thu 05-Nov-09 12:11:20

Packet loss...... what is the problem

[link to this post]

My download speeds have been fairly mediocre recently. My line is supposedly capable of 4.5mb but I'm getting anything between 0.5 and 2mb using Speedtest.net. I tried the "pingtest" beta and I got 96% packet loss and 36ms ping.

I'm not terribly knowlegible about these things but I did a quick google which suggested that my wi-fi link to my router could be a possible cause. So I dug out a cat 5 cable and connected directly to the router. I then ran speedtest again. I got 3.7-4.3mb which I thought was great because it is close to my theoretical maximum. Pingtest still showed 88% packet loss and 27ms ping though so where lies the problem with my packet loss?

Thanks in advance.

MrSaffron
(staff) Thu 05-Nov-09 12:27:13

Re: Packet loss...... what is the problem

[re: deleted] [link to this post]

Pingtest appears to use TCP packets for the testing, i.e. not an ICMP or UDP ping which is what you normally do.

Also I've seen it give a A grade followed by an F grade a few seconds later.

Open a DOS command prompt, i.e. in the Start | Run menu type cmd and press return
In the window that appears type

ping -t www.thinkbroadband.com

and let that run for a minute or so and then press CTRL C and you will get something like

Text

C:\Windows\system32>ping -t www.thinkbroadband.com
 Pinging www.thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.130] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=56Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=56
Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=56Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=56
Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=56Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=56
Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=56Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=56
Reply from 80.249.99.130: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=56 
Ping statistics for 80.249.99.130:    Packets: Sent = 9, Received = 9, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:    Minimum = 29ms, Maximum = 31ms, Average = 30ms

Paste your results into a reply and we can take a better look.

Andrew Ferguson, [email protected]
www.thinkbroadband.com - formerly known as ADSLguide.org.uk

The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.

deleted
(deleted) Thu 05-Nov-09 13:11:45

Re: Packet loss...... what is the problem

[re: MrSaffron] [link to this post]

Thanks Andrew.

I did that. I got 25ms average ping and 0% packet loss. Looks like a problem with pingtest.net.

Thanks.

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