How to fix packet loss: find where it starts, then fix it

What is packet loss, and how much is too much?

Everything you send online is cut into small packets. Packet loss is the share of those packets that never arrive. Web pages and downloads quietly send the missing ones again, so you rarely notice. Games and video calls can't wait for a resend: a lost packet in a shooter is a shot that never registered, and in a Zoom call it's a frozen face or a robotic voice.

A healthy home connection should show 0% loss on a cable almost all the time. The average can hide the problem: 0.5% over an hour might be ten seconds of 30% loss in the middle of a fight. That's why the pattern matters as much as the number.

How do I test for packet loss?

You need a test that sends many small packets and counts the ones that don't come back. A normal speed test won't do it: The Net Fix (thenetfix.com) speed test measures speed, ping, jitter and lag under load, but it has no packet-loss phase, and no browser can send the exact UDP traffic a game uses. These three checks fill the gap.

1. A 100-ping test from your computer

1. On Windows, open Command Prompt and type: ping -n 100 1.1.1.1
2. On a Mac, open Terminal and type: ping -c 100 1.1.1.1
3. Wait about 100 seconds and read the last lines. Windows shows "Lost = 2 (2% loss)"; a Mac shows "2.0% packet loss".
4. Run it once on Wi-Fi from where you play, and once on a cable plugged into the router.

2. Your game's own network overlay

Most competitive games can show live packet loss on screen. Valorant, Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, Apex, Call of Duty and Rocket League all have a setting for it, and the game pages list exactly where to turn it on. This is the most honest number you can get, because it measures the path to the actual game server.

3. The lag spike finder for loss that comes and goes

The lag spike finder sends about ten tiny requests a second and counts the ones that don't come back within a second. Leave it running while the problem happens. Bursts of timeouts every few minutes point to Wi-Fi scans or a device on the network; a steady trickle points to a weak signal or a bad cable.

Where is my packet loss coming from?

Compare the Wi-Fi and cable results. This one comparison tells you which half of the problem you have, before you change anything.

If you'd rather not compare by hand, Test & Optimize runs the lag checks one after another and says whether the weak spot is in your home, on your line or beyond it.

Fix 1: why does Wi-Fi cause packet loss, and how do I stop it?

Wi-Fi is the most common source of packet loss in US homes. Every wall, floor and neighbour's network makes the signal weaker or noisier, and the radio drops packets it can't decode. Packets are sent again at the Wi-Fi level, but in a game they often arrive too late to count.

• Use a cable for the gaming PC or console if you can. It removes the problem rather than shrinking it.
• Switch to the 5 GHz (or 6 GHz) network. 2.4 GHz travels further but is far more crowded in apartments and townhouses.
• Move the router out of cabinets and away from the TV, microwave and fish tank. Higher and more central is better.
• Try a different channel. A busy apartment block can have 20 networks on the same few channels.
• Check each room with the Wi-Fi room check: it shows where Wi-Fi starts losing packets and adding lag.

The Wi-Fi fix guide covers band, channel and placement changes in detail. If one room is always bad, a mesh point or a wired access point near it usually helps more than a new router in the same spot.

Fix 2: what if only one device has packet loss?

If your phone shows 0% and the laptop shows 3% in the same spot, the laptop is the problem, not the internet.

• Update the network adapter driver (on Windows, from the laptop or motherboard maker's site, not only Windows Update).
• Turn off power saving for the Wi-Fi adapter. On Windows it's in Device Manager → your adapter → Power Management.
• Forget the network and join it again, or restart the device. A long-running laptop can get stuck in a bad state.
• On a Mac, short spikes and loss every second can come from AirDrop and Handoff scanning. The background downloads guide shows the setting.

Fix 3: can a busy connection cause packet loss?

Yes. When a cloud backup, game update or 4K stream fills the line, your router's queue overflows and it starts dropping packets, including your game's. On many US cable plans the upload is a small fraction of the download, so a phone backing up photos can fill it in seconds.

• Pause big downloads and backups while you play, or schedule them overnight. The background downloads guide shows where the limits live for Steam, consoles, Windows Update and OneDrive.
• Turn on Smart Queue (SQM) in your router so it shapes traffic just below your line speed. The bufferbloat fix walks through it, and the router guides show the setting for each brand.

Smart Queue also lowers lag under load, so it's worth turning on even if the loss turns out to have another cause.

Fix 4: what if there's packet loss on a wired connection?

Loss on a cable with nothing else using the line means something in the wired path is failing. Work from the cheapest change to the most expensive, and test after each one.

1. Swap the Ethernet cable for another one (Cat 5e or Cat 6), and try a different port on the router. Bent connectors and cables under doors fail quietly.
2. Restart the modem and router: unplug both for 30 seconds, plug the modem in first, wait until its lights settle, then the router.
3. Check the coax or fibre cable into the modem. A loose coax connector or a splitter you don't need is a classic cause of loss on cable internet.
4. Look at the modem's signal page (often 192.168.100.1 on cable modems). Lots of uncorrectable errors there point to the line, not your home.
5. Update the router's firmware. If the router is more than five or six years old and the loss is still there, try another router to rule it out.

Fix 5: when is packet loss my provider's problem?

If you get loss on a cable, with nothing else running, after swapping the cable and restarting the modem, the fault is likely on the line: the drop cable to your house, a splitter outside, or a node that's overloaded at peak times. Loss that gets worse every evening, or after heavy rain, points the same way.

Your provider can only fix what they can see, so bring evidence. Run the 100-ping test on a cable at three different times, note the date and time of each, and keep the results. The Net Fix keeps your recent results in this browser, so you can show dated tests. Ask for a line check and a technician visit, and mention the modem's uncorrectable errors if you saw them. If your internet keeps cutting out as well, that guide covers what to ask for.

Fix 6: what if the loss is only in one game?

If 1.1.1.1 shows 0% but your game's overlay shows loss, the problem is between your provider and that game's servers, or on the servers themselves. You can't change the route from home, but you can work around it.

• Check whether the game or platform is having problems right now with Is it down?.
• Pick a server region closer to you. The game server check shows your ping to each region so you can choose.
• Try again later. Loss on the route to one game that disappears after an hour is usually a busy link outside your home that gets fixed without you.
• Follow the game's own advice. The game lag guide and each game page cover settings such as network buffering.

What won't fix packet loss?

• A faster plan. More Mbps doesn't stop Wi-Fi interference or a bad cable. It only helps if the loss comes from a line that's full all the time.
• Changing DNS. DNS turns names into addresses before the game starts; it doesn't carry game traffic.
• Pinging 127.0.0.1. That address is your own computer, so it always shows 0%.
• "Gaming" Ethernet cables or boosters. Any working Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable carries a home connection without loss.