When your Internet connection is slow, it may be the result of packet loss. Knowing your packet loss ratio helps you determine if the problem is based on your connection to the Internet or something else. Poor Internet connections can be caused by a number of reasons, so using a packet loss ratio formula is a part of the troubleshooting process. If the results show a high packet loss, contact the support division of your Internet provider.
Step 1
Open a DOS command prompt by navigating to the Start screen and typing "cmd." Press "Enter."
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Step 2
Ping a location to obtain packets received and packets sent. In the DOS prompt, type the following:
ping -f server.domain.com
Replace "server.domain.com" with a location such as www.google.com. The return text from the ping request will look similar to this:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 130ms, Maximum = 143ms, Average = 137ms
Step 3
Verify or calculate the packet loss ratio using the following formula:
Number of lost packets / Number of received packets
In this example, the formula is calculated below:
1/4 = 0.25 = .25%
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