When data is sent across the Internet, it is sent in “packets”. These small chunks of data are sent from one end of the connection to the other, and in both directions.

Occasionally, a connection will experience issues with the packets being transported. In the case of “High Packet Loss and High Latency”, some of those packets are not successfully reaching their destination, which may be responsible for (or will at least contribute to) an increased latency.

In typical packet loss scenarios, the cause of lost packets is due to network congestion. Modern networks are intelligent and, if too much congestion occurs, then some packets may be intentionally dropped in order to relieve this congestion. However, since not all packets are dropped, and since the successful packets will still take time to process, those processed packets are seen as “high latency”. Additionally, the cause of the high latency may be due to routing issues, which may lose packets altogether.

Keeping your devices updated to the latest operating system will ensure no bugs within your system will cause packet loss. Your device operating system is the first post in each packet's journey across the Internet. If your device is not operating optimally, then Internet connectivity may be affected.

A faulty router, broken cabling, and other such hardware conditions can all lead to packet loss. Ensure your router is of good quality and that your cabling is short, well maintained, and is of the Cat 6 variety, as Cat 5 has lower limit capabilities.

Restarting your router or connected device may also improve connectivity.

Using a VPN increases the complexity of the network and may mean the VoIP network is misinformed about the packets source location. This can lead to increased latency and packet loss, as the packet routing may not follow a predicted path.

If using wifi, consider switching to physically connected ethernet. Wifi is a less reliable technology than ethernet and may produce inadequate quality calls due to packet loss.

Strong electrical interference can affect both physical and wireless connections. Ensure strongly electrical devices such as cameras, speakers, power supplies, and phones are kept away from your router, cabling, and connected device.

Some modern routers are equipped with a Quality of Service feature (QoS). This feature requests the router to prioritise packets from VoIP calls over other Internet packet types, so as to ensure improved communications. Check to see if your router supports this feature and enable it if present.

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