Ping package loss

Aproximate 15-25% ping packages are lost - what happen?

[FrankFlorida]

I am trying to run a test-server at my home location but I have not figured out what settings are wrong because I have with every ping test tool a 15-25% package loss.
Any advise what happen or what is wrong?

Ping #1: Got reply from 69.68.136.114 in 56ms [TTL=50]
Ping #2: Got reply from 69.68.136.114 in 56ms [TTL=50]
Ping #3: Got reply from 69.68.136.114 in 58ms [TTL=50]
Ping #4: * [No response]

Thank you.

[BertieB]

Before you start worrying, I would repeat the tests from another machine; preferrably on another ISP. Pinging a host is a good way to check packets can actually *get* there, but it doesn't necessarily say much about reliability.

For example, my ping 'test' of that host with a packet length of 20480:

Ping statistics for 69.68.136.114:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1203ms, Maximum = 1954ms, Average = 1642ms

Which would seem to show no problems. I don't know where the server is, so I can't even comment on latency.

Now, pinging my debian laptop from this (Windows XP) machine gives the following:

Reply from 192.168.0.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.4: bytes=32 time=-12ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.4: bytes=32 time=-12ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.4:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = -12ms, Average = 1073741818ms

Very odd numbers, but connectivity between the two machines is fine. Basically, either ping is reporting something wrong, or my LAN is capable of sending packets back in time. My money is on the former.

The bottom line is, you can't trust a ping test from a single machine.