Intermittent Packet Loss

Question

I apologize for my lack of knowledge when it comes to networks.

Over the last few weeks, I've been experiencing off and on intermittent internet issues. I can go hours without anything then all of a sudden I will get a ton of packet loss. I have contacted my ISP multiple times and they believe that everything is fine on their end. I'm unsure what could cause this. My router is the one provided by the ISP and I only have 5 devices connected to my network at the peak times.

My questions is if there any programs or software out there that will allow me to see local network traffic coming from each device? I have 25 MBPS download and 2 MBPS upload so I don't think I have anything in my house that can take up that much bandwidth but stranger things have happened.

Below is a brief ping test I did with Google.ca(I Live in Canada). It seems almost rhythmic that it drops packets. I've tried this from multiple laptops as well and they all seem to detect it. I'm ruling out it being my single desktop PC.

Any help or suggestions would be incredible!

C:\Users\Me
λ ping google.ca -t

Pinging google.ca [207.47.131.217] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=2838ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=3130ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=2176ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=1979ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=2233ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=113ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=3215ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=3676ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=40ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=1797ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=40ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=3307ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=59
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=2811ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=59
Reply from 207.47.131.217: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=59
Request timed out.

Answer 1

The data your provided is not consistent with a traffic problem (not on your side anyway).

If there is traffic overload, the response time will usually increase up to a point when it drops.

What that drop looks like is a faulty connector.

To confirm this, when the situation re-occurs, just let one device that you know generates no heavy traffic connected, and disconnect the rest.

Also, make the same test against both an external source (like you did on the example) and the ISP gateway. That will detect if the problem is near you or somewhere further in the ISP network.

Answer 2

From the questions above i'd recommend the following.

Directly connect a Laptop / Computer and see if the problem remains.

I've had a case where while having friends stay over with a child their baby monitor would interrupt out wi-fi, causing it to randomly drop, I've also heard of radio transmitters/receivers (police radios) can interrupt Wi-Fi signals

To test this you can refer to this post here. Baby monitor interfering with wifi

You can use 5GHz wi-fi on Modern smart phones but it needs to be enabled on your router.

a simple > How to enable 5GHz on "Router Name" search on Google should show you how to do this.

If the problem persists than I believe it's an issue that your ISP have to deal with, their was an issue with out Local Exchange that would cause my network to become incredibly slow, was meant to be getting 240mb down and on a good day I was getting 2 - 3, after months of arguing they finally sent someone out and discovered the fault was on their end.

Document your tests and explain to the ISP the logical steps you took and see if they can send someone out to check the Exchange or find a reason as to why your network is dropping, but it does look like the issue is on your ISPs side.