Latency, Jitter and Packet Loss Explained

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Real-time media is unforgiving. Even small amounts of jitter or packet loss produce audible and visible degradation long before a file download would notice.

The three metrics that matter

Latency (round-trip time): delay between endpoints. Above ~300 ms, conversation becomes awkward.
Jitter: variation in packet arrival timing. Above ~30 ms, audio buffers struggle.
Packet loss: dropped packets. Above ~3% (0.03), audio breaks up and video freezes.

Locating the problem on the path

Work hop by hop from the endpoint outward: local Wi-Fi link, home or office router, ISP, then the path into the cloud provider’s network (ingress). Comparing metrics at each segment tells you whether the issue is local, at the ISP, or beyond your control.

Diagnosing Poor Wi-Fi Quality

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

For remote and home-office users, the Wi-Fi link is the most common blind spot. Tools that stop at the corporate edge never see it.

What to check

Signal strength (RSSI): weak signal forces retransmissions and lower data rates.
Channel congestion: neighbouring networks on the same channel cause contention.
Roaming: devices that cling to a distant access point instead of switching to a closer one.

Quick wins