High packet Loss

[Sleepy]

Been experiencing serious network lag showing continuous packet loss (excess of 30%) using an online system - Second Life (SL).
SL is based around Portland USA and uses Amazon Web Services.
I have the standard 'Talktalk Wi-Fi Hub', 60mbps fibre and speed test show excellent results.

What I've done so far:-
-reset / repower the router (a few times)
-tested with router plugged it into the main network socket
-tried both wifi and wired
-tested on both windows 7 and 11
-tested on both laptop and desktop
-and .. followed all configuration suggestions from SL forums re network issues.

One SL suggestion was to use Network software called WinMTR to trace network activity across to USA.   I've checked out many websites over there particularly in Portland.
The WinMTR results are interesting .. most sites show no packet loss .. not surprising as I don't have performance problems with most web sites, however I've found 2 that give me heavy packet loss (30% plus) - and both show the final destination hostname appended with 'amazonaws.com'.

One other suggestion was to try using a VPN .... EUREKA .. . NO NETWORK LAG, NO SL PACKET LOSS .. and this was the case whether I use a VPN region in UK, USA or even New Zealand.

Great result but obviously I shouldn't have to pay for a VPN and shouldn't need to use one to have a network without heavy packet loss. So, apart from VPN or giving up SL, what's the real solution ?

[Sleepy]

yes .. i've tried 2 different deskop systems and a laptop .. I've tried it on Windows 11 and Windows 7. I've tried it with and without my Norton firewall. I've tried it wifi and cabled. Same problem in every time.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Sleepy,

Do you experience the packet loss on more than one device?

Chris

[Sleepy]

Apart from using a VPN, the packet loss is always there, anytime I use SL.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for trying this. Does it seem to happen at specific times of the day or at random?

Thanks

[Sleepy]

HI .. thanks for the response .. I powered down router and desktop as you asked  (did it for or one  hour.).  Problem still the same.  Using VPN tried again and totally eliminates problem .. ie zero packet loss.   But without VPN  .. horrendous lag - packet loss 30%.    Done the speed tests you asked for ...   Talktalk speed test with Second Life running  is same as  it not running ie 62mbps .  Using ThinkBroadband speed test results were 60.4mbps d/load ..  18.4  u/load .. again same results with or without SL running. 

Please also note that the packet loss  isn't only Second Life ..I mentioned earlier  that I'd run some ping tests over to Portland USA - most error free, but  for example,  if I  ping Oregon Zoo over there,  I get similar packet loss ie 30 to 40 % .. (using either  the WinMTR app or windows command prompt ping, I get same results).    Fyi  ...  Oregon Zoo URL is " oregonzoo.org "and it's hostname according to WinMTR is  .   " ec2-52-36-131-229.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com "   As I mentioned earlier (and I've no idea if it's relevant) but  Second Life also uses the Amazon AWS

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for confirming. If you run a speed test at the same time that this happens, are the throughput ok? Did you try powering down the router for a full 30 minutes as this will reset the current session?

Thanks

[Sleepy]

Thanks for the response ..    I 've used SL for quite a while and network performance has never been a problem. This has started happening in the past few weeks.  Difficult to say exactly when it started because a bit of lag in online games and SL is always possible but recently got very bad .. that's when I started looking at networking stats and saw the horrrendous packet loss. Btw the VPN I use is from Norton and as I said in the blog the problem totally disappears totally when I use it.  I've also  run Second Life on a system without Norton in order to eliminate any firewall issues but makes no difference.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

I've run a test on the line now which hasn't detected a fault and the connection stats look ok. Can I just confirm, has this only just started to happen or has this always occurred when using this particular site?

Thanks