Is this packet loss?

[cianc1324]

System and network details...

i5-4440 CPU, 8GB RAM running on windows 7

Router: Netgear WGR614v9
Wireless adapter: Netgear WG111v3

Hi all,

Recently I have been coming across problems with my connection. It is only really noticeable in online games and I think it has something to do with packet loss. It has only become a problem in the last few days. My ping to game servers has usually been pretty normal but I am still lagging out serverly on and off.

My setup at home has modem connected through an Ethernet cable to the router. When disconnecting the router and running off the modem through wireless, it is less noticeable, but still a problem.

I have done a few virus scans and they have come back all clear.

The only thing I can think of that might be causing this issue is maybe my wireless adapter. A few days ago I did accidentally knock it while plugged into my PC (It sticks out a bit) and the case around it sort of cracked off a bit and it sort of bent slightly (ever so slightly) but I managed to crack it back into place. Would this be a possible cause of this and if so, how can I test it to be sure?

 

[little_me]

open command prompt and use:
ping 192.168.0.1 -t

I am assuming that 192.168.0.1 is your routers IP address, if not, use the correct one.
The command keeps pinging the router and reporting packet loss too. (ctrl-pausbreak for in middle statistics, CTRL-C to stop it)
having it running for 10 to 20 mins, should tell you if the problem is on your wireless (command prompt has packet loss) or between the router and ISP.

 

[cianc1324]

open command prompt and use:
ping 192.168.0.1 -t

I am assuming that 192.168.0.1 is your routers IP address, if not, use the correct one.
The command keeps pinging the router and reporting packet loss too. (ctrl-pausbreak for in middle statistics, CTRL-C to stop it)
having it running for 10 to 20 mins, should tell you if the problem is on your wireless (command prompt has packet loss) or between the router and ISP.

Gave it a go and it said pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bits of data. After that most of the messages come back as "request timed out" and on the odd occasion may come back as "Reply from (My IP): Destination net unreachable."

Sounds kinda bad to me, weirdly enough though I am still able to stream low quality videos and reply to this from the same system.

 

[cianc1324]

open command prompt and use:
ping 192.168.0.1 -t

I am assuming that 192.168.0.1 is your routers IP address, if not, use the correct one.
The command keeps pinging the router and reporting packet loss too. (ctrl-pausbreak for in middle statistics, CTRL-C to stop it)
having it running for 10 to 20 mins, should tell you if the problem is on your wireless (command prompt has packet loss) or between the router and ISP.

Sorry, didn't press CTRL-C at the time...

Anyway it said out of the 256 packets sent , 98% was lost

 

[little_me]

"most of the messages" is indeed worrying, the ping should give you final statistics after CTRL-C and if you have anything higher than 1% of packet loss, I would be worrying (I would even at 1% but it should still work relatively well)

The "request timed out" kind of says it exists, but wont reply or reply was lost (packet loss)
"Destination net unreachable" means there is no connection at all. which could be a result from too high packet loss.

Have you tried the wifi adapter on another computer to see if it works same there? (to rule out possible problems with computer) or Are you able to temporarily use a cable instead to check with that since it could help you pinpoint if the problem is with the wifi or the router.

 

[cianc1324]

"most of the messages" is indeed worrying, the ping should give you final statistics after CTRL-C and if you have anything higher than 1% of packet loss, I would be worrying (I would even at 1% but it should still work relatively well)

The "request timed out" kind of says it exists, but wont reply or reply was lost (packet loss)
"Destination net unreachable" means there is no connection at all. which could be a result from too high packet loss.

Have you tried the wifi adapter on another computer to see if it works same there? (to rule out possible problems with computer) or Are you able to temporarily use a cable instead to check with that since it could help you pinpoint if the problem is with the wifi or the router.

Sorry my bad... I just assumed that the router IP address you mentioned was the one.. It turned out it wasn't.

Anyway I pinged my actually router and got pretty normal results with zero packet loss and 1ms reply time.

I then connected directly to my modem through wireless and the results were very random, the maximum ping at one point was 256ms with a lot of spikes. Packet loss was around 5%.

Would that be a modem issue?

 

[little_me]

The connection to modem having packet loss and high ping could be a result of long distance/too many walls in between.
Said bad connection would also explain why there is that wireless router in existence anyway.

Now, assuming I understood setup correctly:
You have a modem, that has a wired connection to the router.
You have tried pinging router through wireless, results were good. (1ms, no packet lotss)
you have tried pinging modem through wireless, while connected to modem, results were bad (250ms ping, 5% packet loss)

Above results claim that if you are connected to router and the connection between router and modem works, there should be no problems on the inside of the house.
you can find out the internal IP's of router and modem with following:
tracert www.google.com

step 1 is your computer
step 2 is the wireless thing you are connected to (assuming router)
step 3 is the modem
step 4 is ISP parts outsde the home.

Then run ping -t to the modem or.. ISP or google for a bit to see which part of it tends to fail.

tracert pings each step of the way 3 times so if connection problems are not persistant, it might not show them, which is why I recommend using ping.

the result might in the end be somewhat weird. For me at one point, internet connection was having packet loss to servers. Reason was congestation in germany at certain times of day.
So if the internal network seems to work, the way forward would be to tracert the server(s) you are using and finding out where the packet loss/high ping happens.

 

[cianc1324]

The connection to modem having packet loss and high ping could be a result of long distance/too many walls in between.
Said bad connection would also explain why there is that wireless router in existence anyway.

Now, assuming I understood setup correctly:
You have a modem, that has a wired connection to the router.
You have tried pinging router through wireless, results were good. (1ms, no packet lotss)
you have tried pinging modem through wireless, while connected to modem, results were bad (250ms ping, 5% packet loss)

Above results claim that if you are connected to router and the connection between router and modem works, there should be no problems on the inside of the house.
you can find out the internal IP's of router and modem with following:
tracert www.google.com

step 1 is your computer
step 2 is the wireless thing you are connected to (assuming router)
step 3 is the modem
step 4 is ISP parts outsde the home.

Then run ping -t to the modem or.. ISP or google for a bit to see which part of it tends to fail.

tracert pings each step of the way 3 times so if connection problems are not persistant, it might not show them, which is why I recommend using ping.

the result might in the end be somewhat weird. For me at one point, internet connection was having packet loss to servers. Reason was congestation in germany at certain times of day.
So if the internal network seems to work, the way forward would be to tracert the server(s) you are using and finding out where the packet loss/high ping happens.

Yeah I gave that all a try and typically everything was normal again (O% packet loss and normal pings). I started up Rust (the game I have been trying to play all along) and the packet loss was fine there too. It wasn't until I began using Skype that the problems started to arise again.

Really strange as I always use Skype on online games without issues.