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Cihan's avatar
Cihan
Guide
May 23, 2020
Solved

47% packet loss

I've RBK53 where RBSatellites are connected to RBRouter with ethernet backhaul. Wifi covers whole house & I can hit my bandwidth limit which is 250mbps everywhere but currently experiencing an issue while gaming; to much lag/ms/latency or video conferencing.

 

RBRouter is in router mode and connected to my ISP's modem which is in bridge mode. I'm running latest firmware V2.5.1.16 on all devices 

 

I have ran pingplotter to see where is the loss and below are the results. 

 

As seen on the pictures, I've ~47% package loss on 192.168.1.1.

Does that mean I've the loss in my local network? In router or satellites?

 

Thanks in advance.

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    May 29, 2020
    Cihan wrote:

    I've installed the replacement unit in AP mode as well and there was no package loss. Then I changed it to Router mode & bridged my modem today. Packet loss on 192.168.1.1 is back.

     

    Is this normal, anyone else is experiencing the same thing?

    Attached is a Ping Plot I just did to Google.com.  Zero packet loss to any node that responds to ICMP (notice that  node 2 does not).

     

    The Orbi has been replaced, but the problem remains and shows up only in router mode.  I wonder:

     

    • The Orbi router will still have an IP address, even when in Access Point mode.
      Can you run Ping Plotter against that IP address by itself?
    • It appears to me that the only "constant" in the problem is the Mac that is running Ping Plotter.
      Can you get access to some other computer? (invite someone over with a laptop - and a mask, of course)
      Would be useful to see if other devices report the same results.

    If packets are actually being "dropped", I would expect the reports for every node after the Orbi to also report packet loss.  Perhaps my understanding of how "ping plotters" function is incorrect.  PingPlotter provides a really slick description of the product here:

    https://www.pingplotter.com/fix-your-network/getting-started/how-pingplotter-works.html 

    But, they never say how those intermediate "hops" are discovered and measured.

     

    My understanding is that the program does a "Trace Route" to determine how many hops there are and the IP address of each hop.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/314868/how-to-use-tracert-to-troubleshoot-tcp-ip-problems-in-windows 
    It then looks up the DNS names of those IP addresses to create a more "user friendly" display.

    Then, it sends a series of ICMP requests to every hop in the router.  i.e. to hop 1, to hop 2, to hop 3, etc.and records how long it takes for each response to return.

     

    Something is going wrong with ICMP to hop 1, but not to any other hop.  If the Orbi is "dropping packets", then it should drop packets that are going everywhere, not just drop packets intended for the Orbi router.

     

    Sorry to go on (and on). I have a feeling the problem may be with the measuring process, not with the network.

     

17 Replies

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  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru
    May 23, 2020

    I believe "in line" images have to be approved by a moderator before we can see them.

    Perhaps you could "attach" them instead?

    • Cihan's avatar
      Cihan
      Guide
      May 23, 2020
      • First port of the router is connected to the unmanaged switch
      • Second & Third ports are feeding sat1 & sat2
      • They all are connected with cat6 cables.
      • Cihan's avatar
        Cihan
        Guide
        May 23, 2020

        also the used switch is this one; 

        NETGEAR GS308-300PES 8-port Gigabit Switch

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru
    May 23, 2020
    Cihan wrote:

    As seen on the pictures, I've ~47% package loss on 192.168.1.1.

    Does that mean I've the loss in my local network? In router or satellites?

    Thanks for providing the images (which I see have now "appeared" in the original post).  As an experiment, I downloaded PingPlotter for Windows on my PC which is connected directly to the Orbi RBR50.  My results with Google.com are attached.  I have zero losses to anywhere, and the latency to the Orbi averages 0.8ms.  My Orbi is in router mode connected to a Spectrum cable modem (which is "only a modem").

     

    The only obvious differences are (1) I am currently on firmware 2.5.1.8, and (2) my PC is connected directly to the router and there is no switch in between. The difference in firmware release might be responsible (?), which dampens my enthusiasm for updating firmware.  I do not have a Netgear unmanaged switch (I have a couple of TP-Links, and will try connecting through a switch to see if that changes anything.)

     

    Since your "problem is solved", there is little incentive to change the modem and router and run Ping Plotter when directly attached to the Orbi.  I, however, am not confident that the Orbi being in router mode is solely responsible for the issue.  There might be configuration differences between our Orbi's.  It might be load related (I have only about 30 devices and most of them are "nearly quiet" most of the time.

    • Cihan's avatar
      Cihan
      Guide
      May 23, 2020

      I get 0 ms on my ethernet connected pc as well so i guess my 3.2 ms average is caused by wifi.

       

      Other than that my Orbi satellites are not behind the unmanaged switch, they are directly connected to RBR50. One of the ports of RBR feeds the switch which feeds solar panel unit, alarm system (no wifi devices or ethernet backup). 

       

      I have 22 clients up all the time and could be more when some stuff turned on. Doorbell, Arlo base unit, lots of active IOT devices running at the same time. I don't know if they are making this conflicts. 

       

      My ISP had suggested to restart the modem and it have happened when they have changed it from bridge mode to router mode remotely, i don't know may be it was related to modem?

       

      Amazon has sent out a replacement and I'll be checking it out on wednesday if it behaves same. I'll do my tests without upgrading the firmware so it might give us a clue. If everything would be normal with the oob firmware, then I'm gonna try it with latest firmware to see if it is happen or not which will answer also if it is a hardware issue or not. 

       

      Btw I'll do my tests after removing switch from the network, to eliminate this parameter. If everything goes ok, I'll add it and test again to see difference.

       

      Once it is delivered & tested, I'll let you know the results so it will give you a clue if it is a bad firmware or not.

       

      Thanks for your interest.

      • CrimpOn's avatar
        CrimpOn
        Guru
        May 23, 2020

        Thanks for the additional information.  So, the "test path" is computer ->WiFi->Satellite-> ethernet backhaul link->router->modem, correct?

         

        I will reload PingPlotter on a laptop and connect to my satellite over WiFi.