How to Fix Packet Loss – The Simple Steps to Improve Network Stability

Packet loss – the online equivalent of a nasty hangup – can kill any digital experience in its tracks. Whether you’re gaming online, trying to stream a video, or just having a video call with a friend or family member – nothing’s more frustrating than when packet loss brings your online activities to a grinding halt. Lag, buffering, and interrupted connections – it’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out. But what exactly is packet loss – and how the heck do you fix it?
In this guide, we’ll explore what packet loss is, why it happens, and most importantly, how to troubleshoot it. And, as a bonus, we’ll show you how a tool like VeePN can give your connection a boost and keep your data safe in the process.

VeePN Research Lab

Jan 28, 2026

8 min read

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Introduction to Network Performance

Your network performance is the actual MVP, as far as a smooth online experience is concerned. Each time you open a web browser, play a video or participate in a video call, your machine is actively transmitting and receiving countless streams of data packets in the network. Once any one of these packets fails to arrive at the destination to which it is intended, then you have lost a packet on your hands – and it is a real pain.

The loss of packets can be a significant distress to any users, ranging from online gamers to the business types who have to be constantly in touch with their coworkers. However, the positive aspect of it is that knowing the path taken by the data packets and what can go wrong on the path, you can take measures to correct the packet loss and ensure your internet connection flows like a top.

What Is Packet Loss and Why Should You Care?

So, how do data packets even work? Well, it’s all pretty straightforward – data travels across the internet in small units called “packets.” These packets are sent from your device to a destination – like a server or another user – and then they’re reassembled into the original data. Packet loss occurs when some of these packets never make it to their final destination, which can cause all sorts of problems like lag, buffering, choppy audio, and freezing video.

And the worst part? Packet loss can happen even if your internet connection is blazing fast. It’s not just about slow internet or faulty hardware – it can even occur due to network congestion. Even a tiny packet loss rate of 1-2% can cause problems with real-time activities like gaming or Zoom calls, and can even impact your computer’s performance. For example, during an online game like PUBG, your character might start “rubber-banding” around the screen, or during a video call, voices might cut out and video might freeze.

Understanding Network Congestion

Packet loss is also highly contributed by network congestion, which occurs during the times of large numbers of people attempting to access the Internet simultaneously. As far as too many data packets attempt to traverse the same network simultaneously, the available bandwidth becomes congested – and some packets are lost. This has been especially the case with wireless networks where congestion can be aggravated by interference and signal degradation.

Throughput intensive tasks such as video streaming or video gaming, or even just having a number of devices connected to a network can easily saturate your connection. This could cause real-time applications to have lag, buffering or disconnects. To correct the issue of packet loss due to network congestion, you must ensure you manage your network traffic intelligently – prioritise major activities, reduce unnecessary concurrent background usage, and consider increasing your internet plan in case you constantly cross the bandwidth boundaries.

This means that you can avoid packet loss, maintain the stability of internet connection, and make sure that the data packets get to where they are supposed to without being lost along the way by simply learning about the phenomenon of network congestion and applying preventive care.

How VeePN Can Help Reduce or Avoid Packet Loss

A VPN like VeePN can’t directly fix hardware or ISP problems, but it can help improve network stability by rerouting your connection through more efficient or less congested paths. Here’s how:

By avoiding congestion by going around your ISP’s regular routes.
By encrypting your traffic to keep it safe from interference from third parties or compromised networks.
By letting you switch servers to a closer or faster route, reducing hops and potential packet loss.
By protecting your data from being dropped due to network filtering or deep packet inspection

This is especially useful if packet loss is caused by routing issues, local network interference, or ISP limitations.

Common Causes of Packet Loss

Weak Wi-Fi signals or wireless interference
Overloaded networks or bandwidth congestion
Faulty hardware like old routers or damaged cables
Improper configuration of devices or routers leading to inconsistent network performance
Issues with network infrastructure like outdated switches or routers contributing to packet loss
Internal network problems like overloaded firewalls or routers causing data flow bottlenecks
Software issues including bugs or glitches in network device firmware or software
Outdated router’s firmware or drivers
System issues like needing a reboot or update to resolve packet loss
Upgrade old or faulty hardware to prevent packet loss
ISP throttling or poor routing
Malware or background apps are hogging your bandwidth

Home Network Optimization — Bring Your Network into Top Shape

Home network optimization is important in order to prevent the loss of packets as well as providing your internet speed with an overall boost. An easy solution to cope with the loss of packets is to abandon Wi-Fi in favor of a wired connection. Ethernet cables give you a straight path of communication between your device and your router and reduce the possibility of dropped packets and invasion.

Obtaining yourself a high quality router and ensuring that it is properly configured can also be a changing factor. It is important to update your router on a regular basis to ensure you are abreast with the latest security patches as well as performance optimization. Trust me to the fundamentals – make sure you have checked those cable connections and re-booted your router to get any little problems sorted out fast.

You can reduce packet loss, boost your internet connection and stream, game, and browse with ease by initiating the process of optimizing your home network regardless of the number of devices attached.

Step-by-Step: Fixing Packet Loss for Dummies

1. Check Your Internet Speed
Fire up a speed test and a packet loss test with sites like Packetlosstest.com or PingPlotter. On Windows, open up the command prompt and run those ping and tracert commands to see how your network’s doing. High latency, packet drops, or failed commands are all signs that something’s amiss.

2. Give Your Router and Modem a Restart
A quick reboot clears your router’s memory, refreshes your connection, and sorts out any temporary problems.

3. Ditch the Wi-Fi and Switch to Wired Ethernet
Wi-Fi is more prone to interference. Using an ethernet cable reduces signal loss and gives you a more stable connection. Try swapping out the cable to rule out any issues with the cable itself. If direct pinging is getting blocked by a firewall, have a look at the LAN interface on your router to see if you’ve got a connection problem there.

4. Update Your Network Drivers and Router Firmware
Outdated drivers can cause problems and packet misrouting. Get your network interface drivers updated and take a look at your network interface settings too. As for your device and your router, make sure both are running the latest firmware. And while you’re at it, updating your system (Windows or whatever OS you’re using) might also help sort out any packet loss issues.

5. Cool it on the Background Apps
Too many apps sucking up the internet at once can just bog your bandwidth down. Temporarily pause large downloads, torrents, or streaming services while gaming or working. If you’re feeling fancy, you could even use a network tap to sniff out the source of any packet loss and diagnose it.

6. Run Some Malware and Antivirus Scans
Infected devices are a common cause of packet loss – the malware can just hijack your connection or overload it.

7. Try Changing Your DNS or Using VeePN
Try using a public DNS like Google’s (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare’s (1.1.1.1). If you’re still getting packet loss or throttling, give VeePN a try to reroute your connection to avoid ISP-level issues. Sometimes, just tweaking your TCP settings can improve throughput and cut packet loss.

8. Get in Touch with Your ISP
If the problem’s still hanging around after trying out all these fixes, your internet service provider might be the problem. Get in touch with them to see if the fault lies with their host or server. They can check for line faults or congestion issues.

These steps cover most of the common ways to sort out packet loss, from running those ping tests on Windows using command prompt commands to checking those ethernet cables, LAN interfaces, updating drivers, using network taps, tweaking TCP settings, and working with your ISP to figure out what’s going on.

Bonus: Advanced Tools for Diagnosing Packet Loss – For the Real Tech Heads

These tools help you diagnose packet loss by letting you monitor and analyze your network traffic:

Traceroute – Gives you an idea of where your packets are getting dropped along the route
Wireshark – If you’re feeling adventurous, Wireshark can help you really dig into your network traffic and figure out what’s going on
Task Manager or Activity Monitor – See which programs are sucking up your bandwidth at any given moment
Network taps – Allows you to capture packets at multiple points in the network at the same time to really pinpoint the source of any packet loss

Final Thoughts: Don’t Let Packet Loss Get the Best of You

Packet loss is a real pain, but the good news is that it’s almost always solvable with a bit of TLC. Whether it’s tweaking your hardware or optimizing your connection with VeePN, you’ve got plenty of tools to get your network back in shape.

Don’t let packet loss get the best of you — grab VeePN right now and start taking control of your internet performance, your online security, and your peace of mind.