What is Packet Loss?

Packet Loss

Packet loss is measured between two points, usually your router or network and a web address (URL) or IP address on the internet. This usually affects a specific site or service.
If you are experiencing intermittent problems it is important to test when the service is running normally and when the issue occurs.

To check for packet loss you will need the URL or IP address of the point to test to, eg. google.co.za or 172.217.170.67. There are a couple of tools that you can use to check for packet loss from your network.

Ping

1. Open a command prompt in Windows or a terminal in MAC OS
2. Type in Ping and the URL or IP address that you would like to test to.
3. Push Enter.
4. In Windows you can add -t to run a continous ping eg. ping google.co.za -t. Press Ctrl-C to stop the command.
5. On MAC OS you will need to push Command-C to stop the command.
6. On completion or when cancelled there will be statistics at the bottom for all the packets sent.
7. Below is some sample output.
   

Windows-How To Use Ping

Tracert or traceroute

1. Open a command prompt in Windows or a terminal in MAC OS
2. Type in tracert for Windows or traceroute for MAC OS, then URL or IP address that you would like to test to eg tracert google.co.za or traceroute google.co.za
3. Push Enter
4. The trace will run for a certain number of hops, until it reaches the destination or for 30 hops on Windows and 64 on MAC OS, which ever comes first.
5. Below is some sample output.

Windows Tracert
MAC Traceroute

WinMTR or MTR

1. This is a program that combines the trace route and ping function in one test.
2. It does not come installed on Windows or MAC OS but can be found here WinMTR for Windows or here MAC MTR for MAC.
3. Below is some sample output from Windows.