When data packets don’t reach their destination at all causing gaps in communication or information.
You’re on a call and suddenly miss half a sentence. There’s no delay or distortion it just disappears. That’s packet loss some of the data never made it through.
In digital communication, data is broken into packets and sent across the network. Packet loss occurs when one or more of those packets get dropped somewhere along the way due to:
Unlike jitter or latency (which delay or scramble data), packet loss means data is gone. In real-time systems like WebRTC or VoIP, there’s often no time to resend, so missing packets result in:
Acceptable packet loss rates:
In contact centres, persistent packet loss impacts call quality, agent performance, and customer satisfaction. Tools that monitor and surface packet loss are essential for CX observability and diagnosing root causes quickly.