Using Ping.

To help you test and survive the web

By Dannjr  

Due you really know what your Latency is.

Some people are under the impression that its the ping to a given web site or a tracert like in the first example below gives you your latency.

Normal tracert without a load

 6    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  0.so-6-3-0.XL1.CHI2.ALTER.NET [152.63.73.34]

 7    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  0.so-6-0-0.XL1.CHI13.ALTER.NET [152.63.70.101]

  8    20 ms    20 ms    30 ms  POS6-0.BR1.CHI13.ALTER.NET [152.63.73.18]

  9    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  chp-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.4.13]

 10    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  chi-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.220.61]

 11    30 ms    30 ms    40 ms  kcm-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.5.210]

 12    30 ms    40 ms    41 ms  kcm-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.29.126]

 13    50 ms    50 ms    50 ms  dal-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.8.141]

 14    50 ms    50 ms    40 ms  dal-edge-07.inet.qwest.net [205.171.25.58]

 15    40 ms    50 ms    50 ms  ci-dfw-OC12.cust.qwest.net [65.118.50.2]

 16    50 ms    50 ms    50 ms  core.propagation.net [66.34.255.6]

 17    50 ms    50 ms    50 ms  66.34.156.231

Trace complete.

Actually if you really want to test your latency you can do this below and its simple enough for all.

In Wndows XP 2000 and unfortunately for some ME

Goto

Start > Run > command

At the C:\>prompt type

tracert dslnuts.com

Or a site you frequent often

that will give you the trace like above

If your on Win98 one of my other favorites J

goto

Start > Programs > DOS Prompt

Now do this, go to a web site like C|Nets download.com fined a file thats about 2 to 4 meg in size.

Before you start the download start the tracert wait till the 4th hop and start your download

It should show up like this or similar if your connection is running properly

tracert under a load

  6    20 ms    20 ms    30 ms  0.so-6-3-0.XL1.CHI2.ALTER.NET [152.63.73.34]

  7    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  0.so-6-0-0.XL1.CHI13.ALTER.NET [152.63.70.101]

  8    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  POS6-0.BR1.CHI13.ALTER.NET [152.63.73.18]

  9    30 ms    30 ms    20 ms  chp-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.4.13]

 10    20 ms    30 ms    20 ms  chi-core-03.inet.qwest.net [205.171.220.61]

 11    30 ms    40 ms    50 ms  kcm-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.5.210]

 12    30 ms    40 ms    60 ms  kcm-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.29.126]

 13   200 ms    50 ms    50 ms  dal-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.8.141]

 14   301 ms   300 ms   291 ms  dal-edge-07.inet.qwest.net [205.171.25.58]

 15   301 ms   200 ms    50 ms  ci-dfw-OC12.cust.qwest.net [65.118.50.2]

 16   190 ms   180 ms   181 ms  core.propagation.net [66.34.255.6]

 17   210 ms   230 ms   210 ms  66.34.156.231

Trace complete.

As per what I and most of the team have been saying for a long time this can be the key to a good portion of your speed.

Using the on site Rwin calculator

Enter the information with the highest value of your tracert click on the calculator and there’s your Rwin. In my case 300ms is the given number based on my MSS of 1460 on my DSL line. You might find that Cable can be higher.

If you would like to save your tracert to a file.

At the DOS command type it like this

tracert dslnuts.com >C:\tracert.txt

That will create a a file on C: called tracert.txt with the results of the trace that you can copy and paste

If you have questions on this, feel free to start a new thread in the Discussion forum with your questions.

Also remember you have to base all your tweaking on your connection not necessarily mine or anyone else’s.

Because all connections are not equal. J

Finding your MSS is similar you need to have the command line open or be in the DOS prompt.

ping [www.isp.com] -f -l [packetsize]

[packetsize] = the amount of data you want to send ( between 0 and 1472 ) 

[www.isp.com] = your ISP's URL  you can also use your gateway, or any website your connection always passes through instead of your ISP's URL.

The largest value that does not give you the error "Packet needs to be fragmented, but DF set" will be your ISP's MTU - 28 excluding the IP [20 bytes] and ICMP [8 bytes] header), depending on how the ISP is set. Use the following examples to interpret the number you received and determine your ISPs MTU:

In some cases your command may have to be entered as follows

Ping –f –l [packet size] [www.isp.com]

Another example of this can be found at speedguide.net

Example of a MTU of 1500

C:\>ping dslnuts.com -f -l 1472

Pinging dslnuts.com [66.34.156.231] with 1472 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1472 time=80ms TTL=48

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1472 time=80ms TTL=48

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1472 time=70ms TTL=48

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1472 time=81ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 66.34.156.231:

    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 70ms, Maximum =  81ms, Average =  77ms

Example of when your to high.

C:\>ping dslnuts.com -f -l 1473

Pinging dslnuts.com [66.34.156.231] with 1473 bytes of data:

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Ping statistics for 66.34.156.231:

    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum =  0ms, Average =  0ms

C:\>

Examples of DSL on PPPoE with a connection on 1492

C:\>ping dslnuts.com -f -l 1464

Pinging dslnuts.com [66.34.156.231] with 1464 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1464 time=140ms TTL=51

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1464 time=140ms TTL=51

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1464 time=141ms TTL=51

Reply from 66.34.156.231: bytes=1464 time=150ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 66.34.156.231:

    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 140ms, Maximum =  150ms, Average =  142ms

DSL PPPoE to high

C:\>ping dslnuts.com -f -l 1465

Pinging dslnuts.com [66.34.156.231] with 1465 bytes of data:

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Ping statistics for 66.34.156.231:

    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum =  0ms, Average =  0ms

C:\>

Note: The examples above are from connections able to get to there amounts; based on their connections yours and others could vary.

Pinging to find more.

If you goto a web site frequently and notice you might have a problem getting to that site you can test it for packet loss and possibly report the problem

Note you should do a tracert to the site first to make sure the problem is at the site and not someplace on the way in one of the hops

The command would look something like this and please use your heads this might be looked at as flood from you so try to keep this to about 25 pings

The command is

ping broadbandnuts.com –t

It will produce something like this

C:\>ping broadbandnuts.com -t

Pinging broadbandnuts.com [162.42.208.37] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=51

Reply from 162.42.208.37: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 162.42.208.37:

    Packets: Sent = 19, Received = 19, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 50ms, Maximum =  70ms, Average =  59ms

Control-C

^C

C:\>

Hold down the Ctrl key and tap the C key on your keybord to stop the ping.

As seen above like this

Control-C

^C

That should do it and you have enough on this to help you check your connection using a DOS prompt or command line

 If you have question on this or anything else feel free to join the Discussion forum and post your questions.

Thanks

Dannjr