diff --git a/src/helpers/StaticPoolPacketManager.cpp b/src/helpers/StaticPoolPacketManager.cpp
index 7ef2dafa..b8926df0 100644
--- a/src/helpers/StaticPoolPacketManager.cpp
+++ b/src/helpers/StaticPoolPacketManager.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ PacketQueue::PacketQueue(int max_entries) {
 }
 
 int PacketQueue::countBefore(uint32_t now) const {
+  if (now == 0xFFFFFFFF) return _num;  // sentinel: count all entries regardless of schedule
+
   int n = 0;
   for (int j = 0; j < _num; j++) {
     if ((int32_t)(_schedule_table[j] - now) > 0) continue;   // scheduled for future... ignore for now