Why Packet Loss Occurs and What to Do About it
What is Packet Loss?
Packets are small formatted units of data that you send and receive when accessing the Internet. In layman’s terms, Internet packet loss occurs when one or more of these packets fail to reach their destination on the Internet. For you, this means slow downs, disruptions, or even a total loss of connectivity.
Many activities and applications are do not handle packet loss well, notably real time audio or video, and gaming.
If you are on a Skype or VOIP phone call over a lossy connection, there isn’t enough time to resend the packets since your conversation is in real time. As packet loss increases, you’ll start to hear distortion, audio drop outs, or lose the call entirely. When video conferencing, packet loss results in blocky video and garbled or muted audio. Packet loss can have devastating effects on online video gaming, often leading to terrible lag and high latency making games virtually unplayable.
Quick answer
Should you have a backup 4G, 5G, Starlink, or cable internet connection?
Yes — every internet connection goes down, including Starlink, which drops for ~34 minutes a day on average. A backup connection from a different provider means one outage never takes you fully offline. The most common options are a 4G/5G cellular hotspot, a cable or DSL line, or a second satellite dish.
4G/5G cellular
Works anywhere. Just a SIM or hotspot — no installation needed.
Learn more →Cable / DSL
Best for fixed locations. Different network, so outages rarely overlap.
Learn more →Second Starlink
Adds redundancy and throughput for remote sites or heavy usage.
Learn more →Speedify bonds any two connections into one — automatic failover, more speed, no dropped calls.
Try free →Speedify
Speedify gives you faster, steadier internet by combining Wi-Fi, cellular, and Starlink
Speedify bonds Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, and Starlink into one connection at the same time, giving you more speed, automatic failover when one drops, and AES-256 encryption on every link.
Download Speedify ›More speed
Upload and download speeds combine across every active connection on your device.
Automatic failover
If a connection drops, Speedify moves your traffic to another in milliseconds. Calls stay connected.
Always encrypted
Every link runs through an encrypted tunnel, including public Wi-Fi, cellular, and Starlink.
Speedify Feature · Pair & Share
Speedify Pair & Share: share cellular between your devices, both ways
Most hotspots give. Speedify's Pair & Share gives and takes. Two devices running Speedify pair up and each uses the other's cellular connection simultaneously, so you both get faster uploads, faster downloads, and a steadier connection. No extra hardware, no new data plans, no setup beyond a tap.
Learn how Speedify's Pair & Share works ›More speed
Every device you pair with adds its cellular to yours, and yours to theirs.
Stays connected
If a paired device drops out, Speedify keeps you online on the remaining links.
Always private
Every shared connection runs through AES-256 encryption. Your traffic is yours.
No new gear
Runs on devices already running Speedify, over your local network. Pair once, reconnects automatically.
Common Causes of Packet Loss
Network Congestion
Faulty or Outdated Networking Hardware
It’s possible that with age your router, firewall, or any network switches simply can’t keep up with the demand you’re placing on it. This is especially true the faster your Internet connection becomes.
The end result is that any traffic that exceeds the capacity of the device will result in packet loss as you’ve hit the maximum throughput your hardware can provide.
Software Bugs
Developers work hard to ensure their code is well-tested, but nonetheless software bugs persist often leading to unintended and unexpected behaviors. Sometimes rebooting your devices, or updating firmware and networking drivers is all it takes to resolve issues with packet loss.
Speedify fixes Packet Loss
Regardless of the root cause, Speedify instantly detects packet loss on all available Internet connections, and will resend lost packets almost instantaneously. That way, Speedify prevents slowdowns before they occur. For you, this means solid redundancy in the face of slow or unreliable connections.
Get started with Speedify today!
With Speedify you can combine Wi-Fi, 4G / 5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and other satellites into one bonded super-connection to improve livestreaming, video calling, gaming, web browsing, and everything else you do online.
Speed
Stability
Security
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Got a tech question? Let's go deeper! Pop into Speedify Office Hours live every Wednesday at 10 AM Eastern. Speedify CEO Alex Gizis and our network engineers are standing by to break down your questions about networks, tech updates, and Speedify features.
