How to Fix Packet Loss & Improve Call Quality in 8 Steps
Corey McCraw is a staff writer covering VoIP and Unified Communications. Corey has over a decade of experience in marketing, tech writing, and corporate communications and has even penned content for the former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.
Marianne is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who covers business phone services, VoIP, and video conferencing tools.
This article is part of a larger series on VoIP.
Calls made over voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) services can degrade due to a data transmission problem known as packet loss. Some common causes include faulty hardware, software bugs, and network attacks. Fortunately, there are plenty of specific ways to address packet loss, such as a system reboot, hardware upgrade, and software update. Learn how to fix packet loss to ensure high-quality communications for your team and customers.
How to Fix Packet Loss: Steps to Follow
1. Restart Your Devices
In smaller network environments, restarting your devices, such as computers, modems, and routers, gives them a chance to reset. It also helps fix minor glitches, release memory space, and remove temporary files.
2. Inspect Networking Wires
Faulty networking wires like Ethernet cables cause packet loss if they are not connected properly, stretched too far, or placed under a heavy object. When this happens, data won’t be sent as efficiently. Perform a full inspection of your networking wires by making sure the Ethernet port is correctly plugged into the router, and all cables are placed into their corresponding ports.
3. Check Wi-Fi Signal
While Wi-Fi is exceedingly convenient for mobile-based devices, it does have its weaknesses. Wireless connections like Wi-Fi are more likely to cause packet loss due to the following factors:
- The Wi-Fi signal has to travel through thick walls
- Too many Wi-Fi-connected devices (router overload)
- A VoIP call is made farther from the source of the Wi-Fi signal
- Your office has multiple devices connected to Bluetooth
When the packets generated by VoIP encounter these interruptions, loss occurs. Fundamentally, switching to a wired Ethernet connection improves network performance since they are more stable than wireless connections. If the signal strength is still weak, here are other recommendations:
- Upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 or use a 5G connection
- Turn off Bluetooth devices or anything that causes static
- Reset the routers from time to time to clear any issues
- Add additional Wi-Fi routers or range extenders to increase the active range of your wireless networking signal
4. Replace Old Hardware
Packet loss also occurs if you’re using old physical components when deploying a new VoIP system. These include your firewall, routers, Ethernet cables, and wires. Outdated hardware doesn’t have much capacity to handle modern networking technologies, while others get damaged due to everyday wear and tear, especially if they are always moved around.
Another hardware-based issue, like a duplex mismatch, is a common cause of packet loss. In telecommunications, a duplex allows two connected devices to send and receive information. Bottlenecks and network inefficiencies happen if the two devices work in different duplex modes.
Replacing old hardware helps prevent packet loss issues. In case of damaged wires, replace them immediately to create a clearer connection path. When buying a new cable, check the jacket for durability and get a cable shield if you’re using multiple cables.
5. Configure Quality of Service (QoS) Settings
QoS settings help manage packet loss by sorting your network resources. This is especially useful if you want to devote more network traffic to resource-intensive data like voice and video. In case of network congestion, configure your QoS settings to prioritize voice and video traffic to enhance call quality.
6. Update Your Software
Bugs in business software can easily cause network issues. Updating your software regularly reduces the chance of bugs or glitches causing packet loss. To check if your software needs updating, check your task manager or activity monitor tool to see which apps are using a lot of bandwidth even when not in use. If software bugs still persist, upgrade to new, alternative software with fewer bugs.
7. Address Security Vulnerabilities
Sometimes packet loss is caused by unscrupulous people trying to hamper your connection speed. Distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks flood a target network with large volumes of traffic, leading to an increase in packet loss. In a packet drop attack, the attacker takes control of your router and sends commands to drop packets to infiltrate your data streams.
If you suspect an attack, utilize an access list (ACL) to block internet protocol (IP) addresses from outside the organization. This will stop the attack and allow the network traffic to return to normal. It’s also best to consult a cybersecurity professional if the company’s security is at stake.
8. Increase Your Bandwidth
If packet loss continues to occur after taking the above steps, take a VoIP speed test to check if your connection has enough bandwidth for VoIP.
Bandwidth congestion occurs when your network can’t handle the high traffic volume. When congestion becomes an issue, sometimes packet loss will occur. This is because the packets sent out may become lost in the stream as the entire office uses bandwidth. In this case, it may be worth increasing your bandwidth to support your VoIP service.
If possible, choose a less congested time to initiate VoIP calls and unified communication (UC) processes. If bandwidth congestion is consistent, consider upgrading to a higher-speed network.
How Packet Loss Affects VoIP Calls
VoIP sends calls over the internet by breaking down the audio from the call into data packets. A similar process is used with unified communications, where video data, team chat information, and shared files are converted into packets and transmitted. In both cases, this form of conversion reduces the size of the overall data while it’s transferring, and when it arrives, the data is unpacked.
For the most part, when data packets are transmitted, the most efficient path is taken so the recipient receives your voice data in short order. Unfortunately, for various reasons, voice and communications data might not arrive at your recipient as efficiently as it should. This is sometimes affected by factors like distance traveled and faulty hardware.
Regardless of the cause, poorly transmitted data packets adversely affect call quality. When part of the data packet goes missing, pieces of the audio information sound garbled or may be missing entirely. In this case, a packet loss fix will be required.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are VoIP data packets?
A VoIP data packet is a unit of audio data transmitted over the internet. In a VoIP call, voice samples are broken into small data packets for transmission over the IP network. Once the data packets are sent from the source, they will be reconstructed to enable the receiving end to hear the audio. The process continues in both directions until the call ends.
What is a packet loss monitoring tool?
It is a specialized tool that provides a real-time view of network performance for comprehensive packet loss analysis. This allows you to uncover the causes behind instances of packet loss and mitigate its effects. Many packet monitoring software includes a robust alert system for intermittent network problems.
What is the difference between user datagram protocol (UDP) & transmission control protocol (TCP)?
VoIP uses UDP or TCP to send data. With UDP, when packets go missing, it’s usually because they arrive at the destination with errors or have been discarded along the way. At worst, a telephony session using UDP will terminate if there’s too much packet loss.
TCP prevents packet loss by constantly retransmitting data. When the data is sent a second time, the VoIP system picks up the lost packets and reconstructs the data stream. However, retransmission slows down the network if there are multiple calls experiencing packet loss.
Bottom Line
Learning how to fix packet loss is required with VoIP and UC systems. These technologies are particularly sensitive to network complications, and knowing the root cause allows your business to implement a packet loss fix without wasting time.
If you’ve ruled out your internet provider and office setup as the cause, then it’s time to start looking for a reliable VoIP provider. Note that every solution produces the same call quality, so practice due diligence by evaluating each option before settling on a service. You may consider leading business phone systems like RingCentral and Nextiva, which are known for their reliability and enterprise-grade security.
