In today's modern working world, organizations are relying more and more on digital communication to stay productive and operational.
Globally, large and small business enterprises are no longer confined to working from a fixed address, nor do they depend on a wired connection to keep the lines of communication open. But sub-par network connectivity and poor call quality is a major issue for many businesses, and network problems can severely affect your communication and collaboration framework. This highlights the need for robust and comprehensive testing tools, and a network quality manager like IR Collaborate.
How can you optimize your VoIP network's performance? Read our guide
The Expert Guide To VoIP Testing - Ensuring Your Network Is Capable
Additionally, UC ecosystems consist of many different tools, devices and applications, all of which rely on a solid network infrastructure.
Vital components of a sturdy network are:
- A trustworthy internet connection
- The ability to detect and troubleshoot network congestion in real time
- The ability to monitor network bandwidth and control data transmission
- Robust network performance monitoring solutions to flag overall poor network connection and performance
One of the most common issues that IT professionals face is packet loss, which can significantly impact network performance. The right packet loss test tool can accurately measure packet loss, identify VoIP performance problems, and pinpoint issues with video calls.
In this article, we'll explain why it's vital to have a feature-rich packet loss test tool. With the right solutions, you can run packet loss tests to prevent network issues that can lead to constantly poor network performance and seriously affect your organization's bottom line.
Download our in-depth guide to packet loss
Packet loss explained
Network packet loss is a problem that occurs when, for any reason, data packets being transmitted over your internet connection are lost or dropped during transit and fail to reach their destination, leaving information gaps.
Lost packets traveling along a network path, or delayed data transmission can have a serious impact on network and application performance and not only affect the user experience, but jeopardize business operations.
When packet loss occurs, the best way to describe it is the 'choppiness' you may experience on a call, when parts of your voice or video communication get lost in transmission, resulting in fragmented video streaming, and unclear audio connection.
Packets are transmitted through Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which divides the file into efficiently sized packets for routing. Each packet has its own separate number, and includes the destination’s internet address. Each individual packet may travel a different route, and when they arrive they're restored to the original file by the TCP at the receiving end.
Packet loss is one of three major performance complications within your network, along with network latency and jitter.
Read more about latency and jitter in our comprehensive guides
What causes packet loss?
As mentioned, there are several causes for packet loss, and different ways to conduct a packet loss test.
Network congestion
The primary cause of network packet loss is congestion due to network space limitations, when network traffic becomes bottle-necked, and doesn’t reach its destination on time.
Congestion at peak times and maximum traffic means that packets may be discarded and must wait to be delivered. Fortunately, most software is equipped to automatically retrieve and resend those discarded packets, or reduce transfer speed to enable a better chance of delivery.
Network hardware and software issues
With the rapid advancement of digital transformation, hardware and software is becoming outdated or redundant faster than ever.
Firewalls, routers, and network switches consume a lot of power, and can considerably weaken network signals. Sometimes updating hardware or software during expansions or mergers can slip through the cracks, contributing to packet loss or connectivity outages.
Another common problem is buggy software running on a network device, disrupting network performance and preventing the delivery of packets.
Security threats
In high rates of packet drop, the problem could be a security breach such as packet sniffing.
Hackers can infiltrate your router and instruct it to drop packets, or even execute a denial-of-service attack (DoS), preventing legitimate users from accessing files, emails, or online accounts by flooding the network with too much traffic to handle. Packet loss can be difficult to fix during a full-blown security breach.
Overtaxed devices
Networks operating at a higher capacity than they were designed to handle, can drop packets when they become weak and unable to process them. Many devices have built-in buffers to assign packets to holding patterns until they can be sent.
What is the purpose of packet loss testing?
Packet loss is the main culprit behind many network issues, especially in WAN connectivity and Wi-Fi networks.
A packet loss test tool allows you to quantify packet loss performance, and confirm the reasons behind it, for example if the issue is due to the network connectivity or the quality of the network degrades due to TCP or UDP packet loss.
How to run a packet loss test
Packet loss monitoring solutions are the most comprehensive way to control and troubleshoot packet loss issues.
Most network administrators have a specialized network monitoring tool, or packet loss checker that can conduct regular testing, and diagnose problems with wireless signal coverage, insufficient bandwidth, and carry out root cause analysis throughout the entire network.
For everyone else, there are two standard tools to test for packet loss:
1. How to use ping as a packet loss testing tool
Ping measures the round-trip times it takes data to travel between your computer and an internet destination.
Ping sends special packets to a designated destination to see if the node at the receiving end responds correctly.
The best way is to send out a large number of pings to the destination, then check for failed responses. For example, if something has been pinged 50 times, and there are only 49 responses, packet loss can be estimated at around 2%. Packet loss over 5% is considered a cause for concern.
2. How to use traceroute to find network issues
Traceroute measures the response times of all the routers along the path between your computer and an internet destination, and can show where your connection is slow or unresponsive.
The traceroute command prompt in Windows is: tracert destination or Mac OS X: traceroute destination.
Traceroutes determine not just what the problem is, but where it is on your system. This means it can identify whether it's your ISP, your service provider, or your own equipment that's responsible.
If a traceroute shows that your connection is having trouble with devices associated with your ISP, you may need to review your Service Level Agreement.
MTR
My Traceroute (MTR) is a dynamic performance diagnostic tool which combines the functionality of ping and traceroute.
MTR checks the connection between destination host and source server. In other words, it analyzes the response time and packet loss on route to destination and back through TTL (time to live) using ICMP.
If you’re having trouble connecting to a website, traceroute can identify the source of the problem, while helping to visualize the path that traffic takes between your computer and a web server.
Network monitoring with IR Collaborate
Network conditions can vary from moment to moment. High uptime is crucial, and any interruption to network function can quickly derail business operations.
An integrated performance management solution like IR Collaborate is designed to monitor performance in all your key network locations and help you manage problems like packet loss, latency and jitter.
It can also help you establish and maintain VoIP deployment performance baselines and monitor performance metrics throughout your whole network.
Delivering on SLAs
High-end monitoring solutions like IR Collaborate are essential to keep track of the overall health, performance, security and functionality of your network devices.
Improvement of user experience (UX)
A good user experience is vital in any unified communications and collaboration environment. By monitoring end-to-end performance and user experience metrics, administrators can pinpoint areas for improvement.
Want to know know more about packet loss, jitter, and latency? Download our in-depth guide.
