About PacketProbe
Why I Built This
Your speed test says everything's fine. So why is your game still lagging, your Zoom calls freezing, and your VoIP cutting out?
The answer is something most speed tests never show you: packet loss. Traditional speed tests measure throughput over TCP, a protocol that automatically retransmits failed packets. That hides the very problem you're trying to diagnose. A speed test might say you have 500 Mbps, but if you're dropping 3% of packets, your real-time applications will still suffer.
I built PacketProbe to answer the questions that speed tests can't. It uses WebRTC unreliable data channels — the same technology browsers use for real-time communication — configured to behave like raw UDP. When a packet is lost, it stays lost, and we count it. This gives you an accurate picture of what your connection actually does under real-time conditions.
Who's Behind It
I'm Patrick Miltner, a product manager with over 15 years of experience in software, with deep expertise in IoT, smart home technology, and Wi-Fi.
Over the years, I've launched smart home products you can buy at Best Buy, Target, and Amazon. I've built connected vehicle platforms for some of the most recognizable car brands in the world. And I've delivered mobile apps for home Wi-Fi platforms used by tens of millions of homes globally.
Through all of that, one thing has always stood out: even when you're the expert, diagnosing network issues is frustratingly hard. That's what drives me to create simple tools that answer complicated questions fast.
PacketProbe is a passion project — a way for me to exercise my own interests in programming and design while building something genuinely useful for anyone who has ever wondered why their connection feels slow when the numbers say it shouldn't.
What PacketProbe Measures
- Upload & download packet loss — packets that never arrived, measured with true UDP-like WebRTC channels
- Latency (RTT) — how long a packet takes to travel to the server and back, in milliseconds
- Jitter — how much your latency varies packet-to-packet, critical for real-time applications
- Late packets — packets that arrived but exceeded the acceptable delay threshold
Built for Real-World Testing
- Multiple global servers — US East, EU Central, and Asia Pacific for accurate regional results
- Tuned presets — profiles optimized for FPS gaming, VoIP calls, video conferencing, and streaming
- 18 languages — fully translated interface for users worldwide
- No install, no signup — runs entirely in your browser, instant results in seconds
- 100% free — no paywalls, no premium tiers