HOME / TECHNICAL ISSUES / PACKET LOSS
Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data travelling across a network fail to reach their destination. Packet loss can be caused by many conditions, some common ones including:
- Signal degradation over the network medium
- Oversaturated network links
- Corrupted packets rejected in-transit by intermediary nodes or the destination node
- Faulty networking hardware
Lost (or 'dropped') packets can result in highly noticeable performance issues or jitter with Second Life.
To check for packet loss in Second Life in real time, hit Ctrl+Shift+1 to bring up the Statistics and Ctrl+Shift+M to remove the minimap so you can see them. If your Packet Loss meter is above 0.0%, that's bad!
You can also see your total packet loss under HELP ---> ABOUT SECOND LIFE. Anything above 1% total is troublesome.
You can contact your ISP and tell them you're suffering from packet loss. While most residential ISPs don't guarantee uptime, speed or ping times, they usually do guarantee against packet loss. Before contacting your ISP, do a traceroute to Linden Lab. In Windows:
- Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt
- Type the following command:
tracert sim400.agni.lindenlab.com > traceroute.txt - After a few seconds, the prompt will come back up.
- Type the following command:
type traceroute.txt - The problem point will either have very high numbers or astrices next to it. Since its a text file, you can also ISP this evidence to your ISP.
Packet loss will impact just about everything in Second Life if you're suffering from it and severely impact the simulation by creating latency. Your avatar may stop walking seconds after you hit keys, text may be delayed, or ever not appear at all. Solving these problems with your ISP will improve your overall experience significantly.