Packet loss around 7% normal? How to find loss point on Access Points MR86

[DepthCharge44]

We have no loss when looking at the MX appliance loss but some of our APs are listed at 25% packet loss in our warehouse giving us an average of 7% loss.   Is this normal.   How would the loss be mitigated in the high loss APs?

[alemabrahao]

Hi,

Packet loss around 7% is generally considered high, Ideally, packet loss should be below 1-2% for optimal performance.

Have you checked to see if there is any physical problem? Like the cabling, for example?

And regarding the network itself, have you checked the logs to see if you find any signs? For example, a network loop or something like that?

[alemabrahao]

Regarding Wi-Fi, I noticed that some clients are experiencing packet loss so check the connectivity status of client devices connected to the problematic APs. Look for devices with weak signal or high retry rates.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Tools_and_Troubleshooting/Troubleshooting_Pa...

[IvanJukic]

Hi @DepthCharge44 ,

Judging by the MX Uplink Tab screenshot. The traffic looks very bursty. Ensure that the configured WAN bandwidth is matching what the ISP is providing. i.e. If they say 200mbps Down and 100mbps Up. Then Configure the MX as such. This will ensue that the default Traffic shaping rules can apply properly and smooth out the the spikes.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MX/Firewall_and_Traffic_Shaping/SD-WAN_and_Traffic_Shaping

[Minse]

What FW version you are using today in your APs?  we have changed mechanism to count the packet loss in R30.  previously in R29, we only count the data plane retry rate, then in R30, it added management and control frame miss such as beacon miss.  especially since beacon needs to be sent in every 102ms, if over the air is congested, Beacon might be missed because AP can't send beacon due to over the air energy level (remember Wi-Fi is built on the principal of avoiding collision, (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) ) 

Having said that, 
We brought back r29 methodology, count only data pkt retry as pkt loss. in the latest R31.x firmware. so if you update their FW to the latest R31.1.7 (currently stable release) your pkt loss rate will be reduced.