The purpose of TCP is to cope with links that may exhibit packet loss, or may even allow packets to arrive out of order or in duplicate.

The tweak tester can notice packet retransmissions during the test file transfer. This is not a disaster. The Internet has weather, and the weather is not always sunny. When there are storms (congestion or other problems en-route), packets can get dropped and must be sent again.

Persistent and high numbers of retransmissions may also be due to a high RWIN (receive window) on your end, which is why they are reported.

Retransmissions of data reduce throughput, reducing the speed at which you receive data. Particularly lossy links (perhaps representing ISP congestion, or even problems on your own line), wreak havoc on download speeds, even reducing them to a crawl.

A Line Quality Test may reveal more about the source of your packet loss problems.

got feedback? got feedback?

Any feedback you provide is sent to the owner of this FAQ for possible incorporation and shown publically as well.

by edited by JMGullett
last modified: 2007-02-23 16:43:58