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Most of my work involves 802.11 PHY testing and only rarely do I test network performance.

Recently, while testing UDP, I found that my UDP throughput was slightly over 62 Mbps.   I was not especially surprised by this number, but the loss rate astounded me.   It was over 52% in either direction after reversing server/client roles.

For a second test I ran both PC's wirelesly, direct to the AP, and got over 28% loss.   I then tried Ethernet alone and got a loss figure in the high 30's, so it seems that each segment's loss was additive - which sort of makes sense. 

The test was set up using a PC over a 1 Gb Ethernet connection, thru a (supposed ) GB Ethernet network, and then wirelessly connected to an 802.11ac AP with an /ac dongle on a different PC.

I am well acquainted with the idea that UDP is unacknowledged, and that frame retry rates should not be over 10%.   I was (naively) expecting a similar number for the UDP loss measurement.

What percentage of wireless UDP loss should I be expecting, and what what point should I be concerned ?   Does it make any sense to have any loss on the Ethernet only connection ?   Would throttling at the switch, which I have no control over, cause either or both of these phenomena ? 

I am using a Tamosoft Client/Server pair on the PC's to make the measurements.   Cell Phones streaming Internet video thru the same Ethernet network and AP don't seem to be having any problems. 

Thanks!