topic Re: Packet Loss of upto 20% in Broadband

Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:00:29 GMT

I switched over to Sky a couple of months ago from Virgin. Since then I have noticed issues whilst online gaming, stuttering, lagging etc. i decided to investigate and it turns out Sky are dropping packets (20%) during peak hours. I have created a Thinkbroadband monitor to track this, the link is here to the live graph. It has only been running a day or so but you can clearly see the packet loss during peak hours...

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/36bf6bc03817bb89d606752175de1b93c9c67933

I'm starting to regret moving from Virgin as this was never an issue with them!

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Sayek — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:46:33 GMT

I also had similar issues also moving from Virgin Media back in April. My boys normally online gaming around 8pm onwards and they would scream some days about the internet being poor and we should change back to Virgin Media. I have a powerline connected to their PC instead of Wi-Fi but even that did not help.

I figured it was because the single 2.5Gb fibre shared among my neighbours and maybe few of my neigbours maxing out their Gigafast downloads during that time therefore the congestion.

My problems seem to have gone away after I connected the Sky router back to ONT. Previously I had TP-Link connected direct to ONT so maybe TP link did not 100% connected to ONT.

As you coming from Virgin Media, are you using your own router as most Virgin Media customers do.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Crazy-latency-spike-in-the-evening/m-p/5056304#M509475

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:53:17 GMT

Yes, I'm using my own router, its a Netgear R7000, old but still very capable. This was also used with the Virgin connection and at a faster speed when with Virgin. It performed perfectly. The only thing that has changed is Virgin to Sky.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Sayek — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:19:25 GMT

True Netgear make solid routers. I am on the cheap side with TP-Link 😀

Is your Netgear connected direct to the ONT or to Sky router and set as access point?

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:56:23 GMT

Direct to the ONT.

This is one of the reasons I moved to Sky. With Virgin I had to keep the Virgin router in Bridge mode. The amount of Virgin black boxes and cabling I removed when we switched to Sky was staggering!

I really hope this packet loss is not the normal with Sky, pretty bad service if it is.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Sayek — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 17:00:42 GMT

Thats the same vision I had to have single router instead of Virgin Media Hub 4 in modem mode and TP-Link connected to Hub 4. I even ripped off all the Virgin Media cables and socket from the wall so never return to Virgin Media.

For few months I had the TP link connected direct to ONT and noticed no issues for everyday use but boys were unhappy with gaming.

I would suggest you connect the Sky router back and repeat setup similar to Virgin Media. I have not heard any screaming from the boys since connecting the Sky router back and the broadband quality monitor also looks decent.

Yes its extra router but mine is tucked away inside TV cabinet out of site so I am not dissapointed overall. I know some users here are happy with Asus hardware direct to ONT.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 17:06:12 GMT

The thing is, the Thinkbroadband Monitor that I shared works by Thinkbroadband pinging my router then measuring the latency and packet loss. So, this removes anything I have in my house. It comes from the internet to my router. So the only thing that can be causing the packetloss is Sky's network intentionally dropping packets at peak times... load balancing. Plugging the Sky router in will not change that.

I urge you to create your own BQM, its free and easy to do. Leave it for a few days and you will see if you are getting packet loss during peak hours too.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Sayek — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:02:54 GMT

Its been running since when I joined Sky in April

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/cdcd72f0f66d5dff4a7494c120a7a394a2dc923c

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

JimM1 — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 20:24:30 GMT

@baldy1 That statement you made is all wrong!

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 11:40:39 GMT

@JimM1 Thank you for your outstanding contribution to the conversation. Your insight is astounding.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 07:42:13 GMT

It seems my posts giving further information on this issue are now being removed. See the below graph showing unacceptable levels of packet loss on Sunday 15th. This can only be expained as the Sky network dropping packets during peak times in an attempt to manage the level of traffic. Basically Sky are unable to handle the demand...

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 07:45:12 GMT

I think i will talk to OFCOM now, see what they can do

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

TimmyBGood — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:43:44 GMT

@baldy1

Ofcom typically doesn't intervene in technical disputes: it's a statutory regulatory body, not a troubleshooter. They might be interested if an ISP was intentionally throttling connections in contradiction of public statements that they don't do so, but that's very different to the normally expected network contention.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Sayek — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 08:51:08 GMT

Have you plugged the Sky router back to ONT or still the Netgear?

Another day with Sky Full Fibre 500 😊

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:31:44 GMT

No I'm still on the Netgear. I do not believe plugging in the Sky router will change anything. The BQM is just pinging the router, packets are being dropped within the Sky network.

It looks like your exchange is handling the traffic well, mine, obviously is stuggling!

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Sayek — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:50:30 GMT

I was also in the same position as you...as shown on the BQM on my 1st reply.

I think its worth try to plug the Sky router to ONT and connect the Netgear to Sky for couple weeks as a trial so you have proved your point. When I called Sky to complaint...the 1st thing they said plug the Sky router otherwise they won't assist any further.

Also I appreciate the Netgear is capable router..IMO its a 10 year old Wi-Fi AC1900 that was fit for purpose back in the days...maybe the router also getting tired.

Just my 2 cent 😊

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:39:49 GMT

I am not sure I can. I rely on VPN connections to my office which are configured on the netgear router. From what I have read, the Sky router doesn't support this nor will it support being put in model only mode. Unless someone has information on how to do this?

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

TimmyBGood — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:44:02 GMT

@baldy1

There isn't any domestic Sky Hub model which has a modem mode, not do they support on-router VPNs

Sky doesn't intentionally block software VPN use but their use of IPv4 address sharing on circuits arriving through a white Max Hub is known to cause issues with some business VPN solutions: customers can opt-out of this.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

baldy1 — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 06:48:29 GMT

Poor service continues. Last night was pretty bad, online gaming is just not possible on this connection.

Re: Packet Loss of upto 20%

Chrisee — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:19:00 GMT

@baldy1 couple of points the first is the packet loss appears to coincide with when you are using the connection and the Netgear router is busy. There are no losses at other times which if Sky's network were losing packets you would expect. Looks to me that your router is not responding to low priority ping requests when it is busy

Sky's diagnostic systems require a Sky hub to be connected to get this checked out you would ned to have data for several days before I would expect Sky to take your matter seriously.