What does packet loss mean?

Packet loss occurs when your network connection loses information during transmission. It can make your network connection appear slower than it should be and reduce the reliability of network communications with local and remote devices. Stopping packet loss should be top of mind for anyone looking to improve a troubled network.

#What is packet loss?

While running water is often used as an analogy for network traffic, information is not transmitted over a network as a continuous stream. Instead, it is sent as a series of discrete units, called packets. These units are like individual pages in a book. Together they make some sense, but only when they are connected to other pages in the right order can they create a coherent whole.

Complete books cannot be built when your network connection is losing packets. Packets may also arrive incomplete, corrupted, or otherwise defective, rendering them useless. The fix for this is usually to resend the lost packets.

Most networks have some very low packet loss rates from time to time. Changes in network connections make it inevitable to drop a packet every once in a while. In other words, in a normally functioning network, packet loss rarely occurs and does not affect the effectiveness of the network connection.

If you are seeing higher levels of packet loss in your network, you need to take steps to resolve the issue. Going back to our water analogy, significant packet loss is like a badly leaking pipe. It needs to be fixed before any other improvements can be made.

In subsequent articles, we will continue to explain the reasons for packet loss and solutions.

This article is an introduction to packet loss. I hope it will be helpful to friends in need!

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