Packet loss occurs when one or more packets of data (a web page, an email...) travelling across a computer network (the Internet, home network...) fail to reach their destination.
Most online gamers will have come across this at sometime, high pings and packet losses tend to show up more in online games.
There can be various reasons why it's happening, some you can try to sort out others could be down to your ISP or even further afield. If you have wireless network, that can be affected by packet loss, but just looks like a slow connection because it has to keep re-sending the lost packets. Just by changing your wireless channel or moving the wireless router or aerial on the computer can make a difference. It could even be your router or the cable connecting it to your computer. Some software can cause packet loss if not set properly. Or maybe your ISP has a fault in your area causing high packet losses, try checking the server status page of your ISP to see if there are faults in your area. Hopefully some of this can help reduce your packet loss and speed up your internet.
