Packet loss: how to measure it, where it happens and how to prove it.
Packet loss is what makes a game teleport, a call's voice break up and a stream stutter without the internet going down. You can measure it, find out which side of the router it happens on and keep a record of every burst.
What packet loss is
Everything that travels over the internet moves in small packets. When a packet does not arrive, or arrives too late to be useful, it counts as lost. On a web page or a download, the computer asks for the packet again and all you notice is slowness. In a game or a call there is no time to wait: what was lost becomes teleporting, a shot that does not register, cut-off voice or a frozen picture.
1. Start with Windows ping
Without installing anything, open Command Prompt and run ping -n 100 1.1.1.1. At the end, Windows shows how many packets were sent, received and lost, with the percentage. Repeat with your router's address, which ipconfig lists as Default Gateway, and compare the two results.
This test has a limit: it only sees the loss over those hundred pings, about 100 seconds, or longer when there is loss, because Windows waits up to 4 seconds for each reply that does not arrive. A loss that comes in bursts, in the small hours or only in the evening, goes unnoticed.
2. Leave a tool measuring all the time
The recorder pings the router every second and three external destinations (1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8 and 9.9.9.9) every three seconds while the PC is on, and keeps every lost ping with its time. When you mark a lag with Ctrl+Alt+L, the report shows, for each destination, how many pings were sent, how many were lost, the percentage and the time of the first and last loss.
3. Compare the router with the internet
What matters is where the loss shows up in the same interval:
| In the report | Where it points |
|---|---|
| The router answers, and the external destinations lose pings together | The loss happens beyond the router: modem, ISP or external routes. |
| The router loses pings too | The stretch inside your home is a suspect: Wi-Fi, cable, network adapter or the router itself. |
| Only one external destination loses pings | A problem with that destination or the path to it, not a general loss. |
| Pings fail, but the game or the call carry on normally | Some devices limit or ignore ping. A loss that does not show up in what you use proves nothing. |
The report names each case, such as Packet loss, router normal and Packet loss, router losing too. It is a first reading: the report itself warns that these measurements do not identify the responsible component.
4. Look at the pattern over time
A burst of a few seconds and a small, constant loss have different causes. The report says in how many separate episodes each destination's losses happened, and the 30-day history PDF shows the loss of external pings by hour of day and by destination. If the loss always shows up at the same time of day, that is the pattern to take to your ISP.
5. Change one factor at a time
If the router loses pings too, connect the PC to the router by cable and record for a few days without changing anything else. If the loss goes away, the wireless stretch was the problem. If it continues while the router answers, the suspicion moves beyond the router. Wi-Fi or internet: how to tell which one fails.
If the loss only shows up when someone downloads or uploads, the cause may be the queue in the equipment. Bufferbloat: why ping rises when someone downloads something.
If pings arrive but with very different times, the problem is another one. High jitter: what it is, how to measure it and when it gets in the way.
Your next lag, recorded.
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The loss you did not mark
While the connection is up, the app saves a burst of lost pings on its own. At medium sensitivity, the default, it counts when 40% of external pings vanish within 10 seconds, with at least 3 lost and at least two destinations affected. At low sensitivity the limit is 60%, and at high, 25%.
That limit decides what the app saves, not what is acceptable. Smaller losses do not create an incident, but they are still counted in the 30-day history.
What the data doesn't show
The app measures pings between this PC, the router and three public destinations, not the path to your game server. Lost pings are not the same as lost game packets, and the records do not identify the responsible component. To find out whether the loss hits the whole household, compare this PC with a second device on the same network during the next incident.
Lag you felt with no loss on record may be high or unstable latency, not loss. Game lag: how to prove the connection wobbled.
If the loss is your ISP's
Repeated loss on the external destinations while the router answers is the kind of record that backs up a support ticket. Attach the report and the history, and ask for a reference number. How to prove your internet keeps dropping. How to file an ISP complaint with evidence.
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