Information is traveling at high speeds on the internet every day. The data is a packet sent to different IP addresses and has information to direct it to the correct computer along with the many checkpoints. Vahid (2017) shows that this information may get directed to different routes because many transmissions are sent from other computers (section 3.1). Using the ping command shows the speed a network takes to send a signal from my computer IP address through routers to the IP address of the destination. Figure 1 shows that 32 bytes of data were sent four times toward google.com, and none were lost in transmission, and the minimum speed was 17ms, maximum 18ms, and average 17ms. When I pinged news.com.au shown in Figure 2, I was surprised that the speed did not change much, and the average was 17 ms with no messages lost. However, when I pinged yahoo.co.jp shown in Figure 3, the average time was 156 ms. Japan is a great distance away, and the traceroute command tracert is shown in Figures 1-3. Yahoo.co.jp had 14 stops along the way there and back compared to 9 to news.com and 8 to google.com.
Figure 1 Ping and Traceroute for Google.com
Figure 2 Ping and Traceroute for news.com.au
Figure 3 Ping and Traceroute for yahoo.co.jp
The response time from each device along the way is determined by traffic and the speed of the devices. I noticed that news.com.au timed out at specific stops in the route tracing. There are *s’ before the Request timed out. According to Xfinity (2022), “the final *s’ is due to a firewall blocking traceroute packets. This is perfectly normal.” (notes). Xfinity also explains that some websites do not “respond to ICMP or traceroute requests… at the beginning stops.” (2022). There could be a problem with a connection at one system or even the Hops on the way back.
Ping and traceroute commands are great to use to find out if a printer on a network is responding or if the error is somewhere along the way. When the latency is high, there could be problems with the local network or node level, and traceroute can help troubleshoot such an issue and let users know it is not the website.
Kaczanowski summarizes, “ping is a (very) fast way to tell if a host is reachable over a network, while traceroute can help you diagnose connectivity problems.” (Para 5). Ping is a great way to quickly verify through ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) that a destination can be reached. The default setting for message packets on my windows computer is four. There are also settings to do a continuous ping to see if there is trouble communicating with a particular device; the reply times may be high when a device is not working correctly.
Round trip time and distance are not like driving on the freeway inside a car, networks are much faster, and the distance to the final destination may be fast or slow depending on the route the network traffic is routed to and from IP addresses. I think it is because of location, routes, and internet speed connection. Google data centers (2022) are more on the east and west sides of the United States and less in the middle. This may be a determining factor based on which node is chosen compared to a closer node. For example, if the packet goes to several places in the United States before moving to another country, that could slow the process down. If a direct route is available, then the packet may be sent just as fast as sent to someplace closer. I have noticed that refreshing a site with an error can sometimes open the website, and the routing path may be one issue that causes delays.
There are many reasons for high ping times. Routers can be slowed by having too many devices connected, and connection speed can be a significant factor. For example, if an older computer connects through Wi-Fi and has a slower bandwidth device, the ping results may be high. Internet speed may be fast, but with many devices connected to a router, the total bandwidth can overwhelm the router and, in some cases, may crash or freeze. Mohta (2022) explains it “can be because of several issues such as slow or unreliable internet connection, outdated drivers, network congestion, firewall configurations, limited bandwidth, apps, etc.” (Para 2). Packets can be dropped or timed out if the receiving device does not respond. I booted up my old 2004 Dell Inspiron B120 with Zorin OS see Figures 4 and 5 and did a ping and traceroute to google.com on Wi-Fi and ethernet, and it was about the same as my faster laptop, and ethernet was the same.
Figure 4 Ping to google
on 2004 laptop Wi-Fi and ethernet comparison.
I conclude that the few milliseconds (ms) difference on my older laptop for ping might be because I installed a Wi-Fi card inside it without having an antenna, but I am close to my Wi-Fi signal. The route that information takes is dependent on traffic amount, distance, speed, and proper working equipment to speed a packet to its destination.
References
Google Data Centers (2022) Discover our data center locations. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/
Kaczanowski, M. (2021 October 04) How to Use the Traceroute and Ping Commands to Troubleshoot Network Connectivity Issues. Retrieved from https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/traceroute-and-ping/
Mohta, A. (2022) Fix Ping Spikes in Wi-Fi or Ethernet on Windows 11/10. Retrieved from https://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-ping-spikes-in-wifi-or-ethernet-on- windows-11-10
Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/
Xfinity, (2022) Traceroute Command Overview. Retrieved from https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/run-traceroute-command?view=app
Website References
https://www.google.com/
https://www.news.com.au/
https://www.yahoo.co.jp/
