Duplicate Packets

Duplicate packets are a common error encountered in digital communications. Together with other factors (network latency, packet loss, packet delay variation), duplicate packets can noticeably impair the quality of VoIP calls or other streaming technologies, such as video conferencing. A duplicate packet can cause an echo or noise in the connection, which is perceived as quite annoying.

Therefore, a good VoIP monitoring software has to include the ability to check for duplicate packets. The quality of a VoIP connection is measured by a set of QoS (Quality of service) parameters. PRTG Network Monitor offers a QoS monitoring sensor which determines jitter, packet delay variation (PDV), as well as lost, reordered and duplicate packets.

If you have IP-SLA enabled Cisco devices, you can also use PRTG's IP-SLA sensor for VoIP network monitoring.

What is the Benefit of Monitoring Duplicate Packets?

With PRTG, you can determine what duplicate packet rate, packet loss rate etc. you are willing to tolerate. The flexible alerting system allows you to configure alarms which will warn you when this threshold is reached or when you are coming close. You can then take steps to improve the quality of your VoIP calls, e.g. by prioritizing VoIP traffic in your network, or by buying or freeing up additional bandwidth.

PRTG Network Monitor

However, PRTG offers much more than packet loss monitoring or the ability to track duplicate packets. The powerful network monitoring solution offers availability and bandwidth monitoring, database and email monitoring and can be used as performance test software for your network.

PRTG is available in two editions. For basic, free bandwidth tracking and availability monitoring functionality, the Freeware Edition may be downloaded and used for personal and commercial use completely free of charge. Need more sensors to monitor a larger IT infrastructure? See our commercial licenses here.