How To Test for Packet Loss at Router
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I'm curious to know how I can test for packet loss that might be occurring at the router. Would the only way be to ping the router all day and see what kind of loss I get?
The reason I ask is because for sometime now I've been noticing packet loss on my speedtests, usually around 1% but sometimes I will get several tests back with 5%.
I did some tests straight from the modem and received zero packet loss and after reconnecting to the router I also received zero packet loss. I'm at a loss as to where this might be occurring, but my feeling is its happening at the router intermittently.
Some other information to keep in mind, I've had my ISP out and according to the techs my line is good, signal strength is good and there is no ingress/egress.
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First thing we would want to check is who is your ISP? Are they a cable provider? If so log into your modem usually 192.168.100.1. Look at the logs and see if you are receiving T3 or T4 timeout errors. These are service level issues on your line. They are not something that an ISP phone tech usually will look for, typically only T2 or T3 techs will know to look for these errors. If you are seeing this your ISP will need to send a Tech to your home and then they will request a maintenance dispatch to repair the issue, which is typically at what is called the Plant.
If you are not on a cable provider or you do not see the errors then you can preform a couple of ping test from the computer
1. ping 72.30.35.10 -l 500 -n 100 : This will do a 500byte per packet ping test to yahoo.com 100 times. This will show if you are seeing loss to the internet.
2. Ping 192.168.0.1 -500 -n 100: This will be a ping to your router again 500 bytes and 100 times. this will let you know if your pc is dropping packets to the router.
Log into the router. Go to advanced - system tools - diagnostics, click on advanced to open the drop down and set count to 50 and size to 500.
1. Ping the IP of different devices on the network to see if there is any loss internally.
2. Ping DNS address 4.2.2.2
3. Ping 72.30.35.10
Let us know the results.
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@Carl Hi! Thanks for the reply.
I have Cox cable and my modem does not have T3/T4 errors in the logs. The modem is in spec with SNR and dB.
I actually think I have another issue that needs to be addressed first. The router keeps losing connection to the internet even though my modem is connected and online. I just got home and turned my PC and wasn't connected to the internet. I checked the router and the internet LED was orange. I checked my modem and it was online with internet.
I guess I should open a new thread for this issue.
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Here are the screenshots of the tests.
I wasnt able to ping my PC from the router, every ping timed out, but that can't be correct.
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Likely that would be due to the windows firewall. One of my windows experts mentioned that windows firewall by default blocks pings, mainly to protect against a DOS attack. I actually was not aware of that when i suggested that particular test. You would need to go in and set the firwall to allow pings or disable it all together temoparliy to do the test.
As for the connection issue. T3/T4 timeouts or SNR levels off would cause that, since none of that appears to be the case and you are on the latest firmware i would say the next step would be to do a RMA and see if there is a hardware issue.
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@Carl I had the firewall disabled during the test. I'll check again though and look through the rules it is on.
Based on the many updated reviews on Amazon, I'm hesitant to RMA the unit as I dont believe it would fix the issue. The fact that the firmware hasn't been updated since 2017 is not a good look.
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Hi Matt i understand. Those reviews were actually due to a small batch of routers that received bad chips. We did a small recall last year and correct the problem. As for the firmware we typically only release firmware when a feature is being added or optimized, or a bug with a solution is being fixed.
There may be a possiblity of an alternative model though, we can discuss that further via the RMA process. We would want you to email us at ussupportteam@tp-link.com
We would need the serial number of the product and a proof of purchase just to show its still under warranty, then we can discuss options available to you.
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mattattack wrote
Here are the screenshots of the tests.
I wasnt able to ping my PC from the router, every ping timed out, but that can't be correct.
Pardon me for jumping in here, I was curious....
I looked at your screenshots. they all show LOST = 0. I'm on Windows and that is not what you get from PING timeouts. You get LOST = 100%.
Also YAHOO.COM could be different for you. I tried PINGing it and the IP Address is different:
C:\>ping yahoo.com
Pinging yahoo.com [98.137.246.8] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 98.137.246.8: bytes=32 time=114ms TTL=45
Reply from 98.137.246.8: bytes=32 time=113ms TTL=45
Reply from 98.137.246.8: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=45
Reply from 98.137.246.8: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=45
Ping statistics for 98.137.246.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 112ms, Maximum = 115ms, Average = 113ms
PING will give different results for an IP Address that doesn't exist:
C:\>ping 192.168.0.100
Pinging 192.168.0.100 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.10: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.10: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.10: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.10: Destination host unreachable.
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.100:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
The above is from my PC on the LAN, 192.168.0.10 to an IP Address on the LAN that is not assigned:
Going off my LAN to an IP Address that doesn't exist will yield TIMEOUTS and 100% loss:
C:\>ping 192.168.2.0
Pinging 192.168.2.0 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 192.168.2.0:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
Why are your screenshots not showing "Request timed out'? I get the same results when done from the Router GUI?
Again, I'm just curious. Feel free to ignore. Yes, I am on a different router. I've got no problems using the CMD prompt PINGing the router or another PC on the LAN::
C:\>ping 192.168.0.20
Pinging 192.168.0.20 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.20: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.20: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.20: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.0.20: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.20:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 3ms, Average = 2ms
C:\>ping 192.168.0.1
Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms 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 = 1ms, Maximum = 2ms, Average = 1ms
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@IrvSp I'm not following your question.
Im not getting timeouts on my pings, the only issue I had was pinging my PC from the router but that's due to the firewall not allowing pings as mentioned in the previous post.
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I guess I didn't fully understand? When you posted the screenshots you said this, " I wasnt able to ping my PC from the router, every ping timed out, but that can't be correct. " I thought that is why you were getting timeouts? Now I understand, you weren't, you just were not getting responses I guess?
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