What Causes Packet Loss
and How to Fix It

Packet loss is likely a familiar issue if you’ve managed networks susceptible to slower network speeds, degraded data quality, or increased latency. It directly impacts network operations and digital experiences, which is why we recommend that you take the time to understand and prevent it.

At eG Innovations, we provide an end-to-end IT performance monitoring and optimization platform designed to help you manage packet loss and other IT performance issues. Join us as we discuss what causes packet loss, its effects, and practical solutions for mitigation. We’ll also look into how our platform can help you detect and analyze packet loss to guarantee reliable IT performance. Let’s begin by explaining what network packet loss is and offer some real-world examples.

What Is Packet Loss?

Data sent over a network or between devices takes the form of packets, which are small chunks of a larger piece of information. However, packet loss occurs when these data packets don’t reach their intended destination. This can happen at any point along the data path, and the consequences can be dire.

For instance, packet loss may slow down your application’s performance, leading to delays when transferring files, answering database queries, or providing cloud services. Similarly, it can cause issues like buffering and interruptions in playback for video streaming platforms, frustrating your users. In voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls, packet loss results in choppy audio, delays, or dropped calls.

Even a small amount of packet loss can drastically affect network efficiency and application reliability, particularly for real-time applications like video conferencing or online gaming. That’s why your IT team must monitor and address it accordingly to minimize downtime, maintain service-level agreements (SLAs), and optimize workflows.

Causes of Packet Loss

Grasping what causes packet loss is the secret to diagnosing and mitigating its impact on network performance. Below, we’ll explore some of the most common reasons why data packets transmitted over a network may fail to reach their destination.

Network Congestion

Just like on roads, a lot of network traffic results in congestion. Network congestion typically occurs when the amount of data packets being sent over a network is too high for it to handle. Routers may drop some packets to relieve the network load and maintain performance.

When is your network likely to be congested? During peak usage times, such as when streaming high-definition video and gaming online or when there’s a server overload. In the event of any of these cases, data delivery is delayed, and your users are likely to experience poor network quality.

Hardware Failures

Faulty hardware in your network devices, including routers, switches, and cables, can contribute to packet loss. Aging equipment, overheating components, or physical damage could cause these issues. Poor maintenance practices may also lead to malfunctioning network interface cards (NICs) and faulty ethernet cables that can cause intermittent connectivity, disrupt data flow, and lead to packet loss.

Software Issues

Software-related problems stemming from bugs, outdated programs, and misconfigurations in your network systems often lead to packet loss. For example, misconfigured firewalls may block or filter legitimate packets, disrupting data transmission. Similarly, outdated network firmware can fail to address bugs and recent security vulnerabilities, resulting in the loss of essential data packets.

Wireless Interference

Wireless networks are also susceptible to packet loss, which usually happens when the signal transmission of data packets is disrupted. This could be due to a signal overlap, where many wireless networks operate on the same channels, so data packets are distorted or lost.

Moreover, interference on your wireless network can be caused by physical obstacles, such as walls and furniture. Electronic devices like microwaves also commonly produce radiofrequency signals that interfere with data transmission over a wireless network.

Security Attacks

Computer crimes, mainly Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, can overwhelm your network with excessive traffic, causing packet loss. These criminal activities aim to disrupt network operations, mainly targeting high-profile servers. Often, they result in downtime, loss of sensitive data, and damage to network infrastructure. Detecting and mitigating their effects can be tricky without proactive monitoring and robust security protocols.

Effects of Packet Loss

Packet loss creates challenges that negatively impact IT performance and digital experiences. Its effects include the following:

• Reduced Application Performance: Packet loss affects applications that require stable data transmission, such as cloud-based tools, financial trading platforms, and web services. When data packets are lost, these apps experience lag, errors, or unexpected shutdowns, leading to problems like missed deadlines and/or financial losses.
• Poor VoIP and Video Call Quality: Real-time communication tools like VoIP and video conferencing depend on continuous and reliable data streams. Regrettably, packet loss can result in choppy audio, distorted sound, frozen video frames, or dropped calls. This impacts collaboration and your capability to meet your customers’ diverse needs.
• Delayed Data Transfers: Packet loss leads to incomplete or corrupted data, necessitating retransmission and slowing down processes like file uploads, downloads, and database syncing. These delays can be a big problem if you’re in an industry that handles large volumes of time-sensitive data, such as logistics, healthcare, and ecommerce.
• Frustrated Users and Decreased Productivity: Consistent network disruptions can irritate employees and customers alike. Your workers will likely spend a lot of time troubleshooting issues or waiting for systems to respond, reducing productivity. On the other hand, your clients will get poor digital experiences, potentially causing customer churn and reputational damage.

As we’ve seen, packet loss is not just a technical issue. It has real-world consequences for your company. Addressing the problem is the best action to improve business functionality, build user trust, and increase productivity.

Detecting Packet Loss

Packet loss can lead to network slowdowns, disrupted communications, and degraded application performance. To prevent these issues, businesses need a proactive monitoring and diagnostics solution that identifies packet loss at its source and provides real-time resolution strategies.

Comprehensive Network Performance Monitoring

eG Enterprise is an end-to-end IT observability and network performance management solution that offers real-time packet loss detection and automated root cause analysis. It ensures seamless data flow across servers, routers, firewalls, and load balancers by identifying lost packets, retransmissions, and network congestion issues.

eG Enterprise’s Packet Buffer Statistics Test provides deeper visibility into potential packet loss risks at the device level. This test continuously monitors the available memory in the packet buffer of different network devices, including switches and routers. A rapid decrease in buffer memory signals potential packet loss and delays. By detecting buffer depletion early, your IT team can proactively allocate additional memory and prevent network performance degradation.

Built-In Diagnostics & Automated Analysis

While traditional IT teams rely on command-line tools like ping and traceroute to manually detect packet loss, these methods offer a limited view of network issues. eG Enterprise automates network diagnostics by correlating packet loss symptoms with:

• Network latency
• Device health
• Bandwidth utilization
• Buffer memory depletion

Automated analysis allows for faster troubleshooting and reduces the amount of time it takes to identify and correct problems.

Intelligent Log and Performance Metric Correlation

Instead of manually reviewing network logs, eG Enterprise centralizes and analyzes network data from routers, firewalls, load balancers, and switches to detect packet loss trends. By continuously tracking throughput, retransmission rates, and error counts, your IT team gains a real-time, data-driven view of network stability and proactive recommendations to eliminate performance bottlenecks before they impact business operations.

How to Reduce Packet Loss

Learning how to fix packet loss should be a top priority if you want to improve network performance and enjoy reliable communication. Here are a few practical strategies you can use to reduce the network issue:

• Upgrading Network Hardware: Old, outdated hardware like routers and cables may struggle to handle your network demands, triggering packet loss. Replacing it with high-performance devices with greater capacity can ensure more efficient data transmission.
• Optimizing Bandwidth Usage: Excessive traffic can overload your network and cause packet loss. To reduce packet loss, we propose implementing multiple bandwidth management techniques, such as limiting non-essential applications and prioritizing critical traffic.
• Configuring Quality of Service (QoS) Settings: QoS settings allow you to prioritize traffic based on its importance, ensuring critical applications like VoIP and video conferencing get enough bandwidth. This can reduce packet loss, especially during network peak periods.
• Updating Software and Firmware: Obsolete software or firmware on network devices can contain bugs or compatibility issues, which may contribute to packet loss. To reduce the problem, update your programs and applications and confirm they’re secure and optimized for performance.

How to Prevent Packet Loss

The last thing you want is for packet loss to become a recurring issue. It can not only damage your brand’s reputation but also reduce productivity. Below, we’ll show you how to avoid packet loss and enhance network quality.

• Conduct Regular Network Audits: Frequently assessing your network infrastructure helps to identify issues that could lead to packet loss, such as outdated hardware or misconfigurations, and address them before the problem compounds.
• Invest in Robust Cybersecurity Measures: Cyber crimes like DDoS attacks can flood your network with internet traffic and cause packet loss. We recommend strong firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and endpoint security measures to protect your digital infrastructure and avoid network problems.
• Use a Performance Monitoring Solutions like eG Enterprise for Real-Time Insights: Performance monitoring solutions provide visibility into your network’s health and detect packet loss. At eG Enterprise, we provide proactive network monitoring that delivers end-to-end visibility, helping your IT teams quickly identify and resolve packet loss issues.

Combining regular maintenance, strong cybersecurity practices, and real-time monitoring is a tried and proven strategy for preventing packet loss and ensuring seamless business operations.

Address Packet Loss with eG Innovations

Understanding and managing packet loss is key to maintaining optimal IT performance and delivering smooth digital experiences. Let eG Innovations be your partner in combating packet loss and strengthening IT performance. Our cutting-edge solutions let you diagnose and address packet loss issues in real time.

Ready to enhance your network’s health? Book a free trial now and see how you can benefit from our unmatched IT performance monitoring services.

FAQs

What is network packet loss?

Packet loss occurs when data packets moving across a network fail to arrive at their destination, interrupting communication.

Why am I getting packet loss?

You could be experiencing packet loss because of network congestion, hardware issues, faulty configurations, outdated software, or cyberattacks disrupting data flow.

What does high packet loss mean?

High packet loss indicates significant disruptions in data transmission, causing noticeable performance issues, including lag, poor call quality, and delayed data transfers.