Acceptable packet loss on home LAN?

[rpeters83]

I'm trying to figure out why I'm losing packets. I wrote a script that sends 100 pings (one every 500ms) every 5 minutes across a couple PCs (PC1 to PC2 in the attachment) and every so often I get a timeout. I'm ignoring the first ping already. All devices are gigabit and hard-wired.

I can't imagine 1 ping lost out of 100 is acceptable for a wired LAN.

 

[Keljian]

Sounds like a dodgy switch... buy a cheap dlink and see if that fixes it? If not that it’ll be a cable

 

[rpeters83]

Sounds like a dodgy switch... buy a cheap dlink and see if that fixes it? If not that it’ll be a cable

It stemmed from this issue: https://hardforum.com/threads/why-w...tch-only-get-full-speed-after-reboot.1980062/

I noticed after a reboot of the switch last night that I was still getting some ping loss, about 1 out of every 100 or so. I have since replaced the switch and still get some lost packets, though it seems like less.

I'm currently testing using a different port on the router, and if I see no difference, I'm going to replace the cable between the router and switch. I hope the issue isn't with the router itself.

 

[SvenBent]

Aruond 0

I have yet to see a packet lost on my wired lan from ping test
and idid run a 7 days ping test from my game pc to my server to establish a control check for the pings going to internet to show document outages for my isp

 

[Dead Parrot]

Any chance that wifi router is getting hit with a lot of traffic from near by wifi setups? Even if they don't have authorized access to your network, the router will still spend time figuring out that the packets are not authorized before dropping them. Depending on how the firmware prioritizes dealing with traffic, the bad wifi packets might be overriding the good wired packets.

2nd on also double checking cables and switches. Pets, kids, feet and time can be hard on cables. Don't overlook the possibility that you are getting small power blinks that are resetting the switch causing the packets to drop.

If the only symptom is the occasional dropped packet, watch for a sale and pickup a new switch and maybe a couple new network cables. Good idea to have a few testing spares if the price is right.

 

[rpeters83]

I've been running a ping test since yesterday evening. Every 5 minutes it sends 100 pings, 500ms apart, from PC1 to PC2. If at least one fails, it emails me. I just got one failure this morning, but it was from PC1 to the router (not even going through the switch in question), which was interesting.

1. I guess at this rate of pinging, even one timeout is fine?
2. Maybe the cord between PC1 and the router is bad?
3. Is the router switch OK?
4. Am I overreacting?

 

[Brian_B]

In order:

Fine for home, but it shouldn’t even be dropping one

If you haven’t checked all the cords that should have been step 1

Check your cords first. Then switch/nics

Yes

 

[deaedius]

What you have is a pretty typical. While I have been in networking and telecom for ages I do not think I have ever looked into packet loss on my home network. WiFi ALWAYS has risks of packet loss due to interference or wrong channel selected. I have a very similar setup but using 2 switches and 1 WiFi router. Overall packet loss with WiFi is not surprising and have never thought twice about it, it is why retransmits take place and other measures to keep data integrity strong. I would not worry about it.

 

[rpeters83]

What you have is a pretty typical. While I have been in networking and telecom for ages I do not think I have ever looked into packet loss on my home network. WiFi ALWAYS has risks of packet loss due to interference or wrong channel selected. I have a very similar setup but using 2 switches and 1 WiFi router. Overall packet loss with WiFi is not surprising and have never thought twice about it, it is why retransmits take place and other measures to keep data integrity strong. I would not worry about it.

I wouldn't worry either but this is for a wired LAN, not Wifi, though.