ADAM PULSE Ping vs traceroute vs MTR: which network troubleshooting tool should you use?
When a network problem occurs, IT teams often start with three familiar tools:
Ping
Traceroute
MTR
All three can provide valuable information, but they answer different questions.
Ping can help determine whether a destination is reachable and measure round trip response time.
Traceroute helps identify the path traffic takes toward a destination.
MTR combines repeated measurements with route visibility to help identify latency and packet loss patterns along a network path.
But there is an important limitation:
All three tell you what the network is doing while you are testing it.
What happens when the problem occurred 30 minutes ago?
That is where continuous network monitoring becomes critical.
This guide explains when to use ping, traceroute and MTR, how to interpret their results, common mistakes to avoid, and why historical monitoring can dramatically improve network troubleshooting.
What Is Ping?
Ping is one of the most fundamental network troubleshooting tools.
It sends ICMP echo requests to a destination and waits for replies.
Ping primarily helps answer:
Can I reach this destination?
It can also provide useful information about:
- Round trip time
- Packet loss during the test
- Connectivity consistency
A basic ping test can quickly tell you whether another device or internet destination is responding.
What Does a Successful Ping Mean?
A successful ping means the destination responded to the diagnostic traffic.
That is useful information.
But it does not necessarily mean the network or application is healthy.
A successful ping does not prove that:
- DNS is working
- A website is working
- A cloud application is healthy
- VoIP quality is good
- Zoom quality is good
- A VPN is functioning correctly
- Packet loss does not occur intermittently
- The connection was healthy 20 minutes ago
Think of ping as one piece of evidence rather than a complete diagnosis.
What Does Ping Latency Mean?
Ping commonly reports round trip time in milliseconds.
If a destination normally responds in 20 milliseconds but suddenly responds in 150 milliseconds, something has changed.
However, one measurement without context is difficult to interpret.
The more useful questions are:
What is normal latency for this site?
When did latency increase?
How long did it remain elevated?
Did packet loss increase at the same time?
Were other locations affected?
That is why establishing historical network baselines is so valuable.
Can Ping Detect Packet Loss?
Yes, ping can identify packet loss during the measurement period.
For example:
100 packets sent 95 packets received 5 packets lost
indicates packet loss during that particular test.
But a short test can miss intermittent problems.
If packet loss occurs for 30 seconds every few hours, a technician running a one minute test at the wrong time may see a perfectly healthy network.
What Is Traceroute?
Traceroute helps identify the network path traffic takes toward a destination.
Instead of simply asking:
Can I reach it?
Traceroute asks:
How am I getting there?
The output typically displays a sequence of network hops between the source and destination.
That can help identify:
- Unexpected routes
- Routing changes
- Where latency appears
- Potential network bottlenecks
- ISP path behavior
- Where connectivity appears to stop
How Does Traceroute Work?
Traceroute sends packets with progressively increasing Time To Live values.
Each router along the path reduces the TTL.
When the TTL reaches zero, the router can return a response indicating that the packet expired.
By gradually increasing the TTL, traceroute can identify devices along the path toward the destination.
This provides a map of the route being observed during the test.
What Do Asterisks in Traceroute Mean?
Asterisks often cause unnecessary panic.
An asterisk means the traceroute probe did not receive the expected response within the allowed time.
It does not automatically mean that router is broken or dropping production traffic.
Some network devices:
- Rate limit diagnostic traffic
- Deprioritize ICMP
- Do not respond to traceroute probes
- Treat diagnostic traffic differently from forwarded traffic
Therefore, never diagnose a network problem solely because one intermediate traceroute hop displays asterisks.
Look at what happens afterward.
If subsequent hops and the final destination respond normally, the intermediate device may simply not be prioritizing diagnostic responses.
Can Traceroute Find Packet Loss?
Traceroute can provide useful clues, but it should not be treated as definitive proof of packet loss at an intermediate router.
If one hop appears problematic but every subsequent hop and the destination remain healthy, the router may simply be limiting responses to diagnostic traffic.
A stronger pattern occurs when degradation begins at a particular point and continues through subsequent hops to the destination.
Even then, combine traceroute with additional evidence.
What Is MTR?
MTR, often called My Traceroute, combines characteristics of ping and traceroute.
Instead of displaying only a single path snapshot, MTR repeatedly tests the route.
Depending on the implementation, it can display information such as:
- Network hops
- Packet loss
- Latency
- Average response
- Best response
- Worst response
- Variability
This makes MTR particularly useful when a problem changes over time.
What Is MTR Used For?
MTR can help investigate:
- Intermittent packet loss
- High latency
- Routing problems
- ISP problems
- WAN performance
- Unstable connections
- VoIP problems
- Video conferencing problems
- Cloud application performance
Because MTR collects repeated measurements, it provides more context than a single traceroute.
Ping vs Traceroute vs MTR: What's the Difference?
| Tool | Primary Question | Best Use | | —- | —- | —- | | Ping | Can I reach it? | Basic connectivity and response testing | | Traceroute | How am I reaching it? | Network path investigation | | MTR | How is the path behaving over repeated tests? | Latency and packet loss investigation | | Continuous Monitoring | What happened over time? | Historical analysis, baselines and intermittent problems |
The tools complement one another.
They should not be viewed as competitors.
When Should You Use Ping?
Start with ping when you need to quickly test connectivity.
Useful targets might include:
Local gateway
Firewall
ISP gateway
External destination
Testing several points can help narrow the failure domain.
For example:
Local gateway responds.
Firewall responds.
ISP gateway responds.
External destination fails.
That tells you something very different from:
Local gateway fails.
When Should You Use Traceroute?
Use traceroute when basic connectivity testing suggests a problem and you need more information about the network path.
Traceroute is particularly useful when:
- A remote destination cannot be reached
- Latency suddenly changes
- Traffic appears to take an unexpected path
- One ISP path behaves differently from another
- You need route information for a carrier escalation
When Should You Use MTR?
Use MTR when the problem requires repeated path measurements.
It can be especially helpful for:
- Intermittent packet loss
- Latency spikes
- Unstable ISP connections
- WAN troubleshooting
- Route instability
- Performance problems that change over several minutes
MTR can make patterns easier to identify than running traceroute repeatedly by hand.
What Is the Biggest Mistake When Reading MTR?
One of the biggest mistakes is assuming:
Packet loss displayed at an intermediate hop = that router is dropping your traffic.
That conclusion may be wrong.
If an intermediate hop displays significant loss but subsequent hops and the destination do not, the device may simply be deprioritizing diagnostic responses.
Focus on whether the degradation continues toward the destination.
How Do You Find Where Packet Loss Starts?
Use multiple measurement points.
Imagine the path:
Device → Gateway → Firewall → ISP → Internet
Test each layer.
If you observe:
Gateway: Healthy
Firewall: Healthy
ISP Gateway: Healthy
External Destination: Loss
the evidence points differently than:
Gateway: Loss
Firewall: Loss
ISP Gateway: Loss
External Destination: Loss
The second example suggests investigating closer to the source.
The goal is not merely to find packet loss.
The goal is to identify:
Where does the degradation begin?
Can Ping, Traceroute or MTR Prove the ISP Is the Problem?
They can provide valuable evidence, but one diagnostic test should rarely be considered absolute proof.
Stronger evidence combines:
- Multiple destinations
- Multiple test points
- Repeated measurements
- Gateway availability
- Firewall availability
- Latency history
- Packet loss history
- Route information
- Incident timestamps
This becomes especially important when escalating intermittent problems to an ISP.
Why Do Network Problems Disappear Before IT Can Troubleshoot Them?
Because networks change constantly.
Imagine:
1:42 PM: Packet loss begins.
1:44 PM: Zoom calls start freezing.
1:47 PM: Users contact IT.
1:53 PM: IT receives the ticket.
2:02 PM: Engineer begins testing.
2:04 PM: Problem disappears.
The engineer runs:
Ping: Good
Traceroute: Good
MTR: Good
Was the user wrong?
No.
The engineer simply arrived after the evidence disappeared.
Why Isn't Ping Enough for Network Monitoring?
Ping is excellent for testing the network now.
Continuous monitoring answers a different question:
What has the network been doing?
That distinction is essential for intermittent problems.
A technician can run ping for five minutes.
A monitoring platform can collect network performance evidence day and night.
What Is Historical Network Monitoring?
Historical monitoring continuously records network health and performance so engineers can examine what happened before, during, and after an incident.
Useful measurements can include:
- Availability
- Latency
- Packet loss
- Jitter
- Gateway availability
- Circuit availability
- Device availability
- SLA performance
This turns network troubleshooting into timeline analysis.
Why Are Network Baselines Important?
Suppose a site currently has 75 milliseconds of latency.
Is that good or bad?
Without context, you may not know.
But if historical data shows that the site normally operates at 18 milliseconds, the change becomes meaningful.
A baseline helps answer:
What is normal?
Once normal behavior is established, abnormal behavior becomes easier to identify.
The ADAM Pulse Approach
Ping, traceroute and MTR are excellent network troubleshooting tools.
ADAM Pulse does not replace the need for diagnostic thinking.
It adds something these individual tests cannot provide by themselves:
History.
ADAM Pulse is designed to help organizations understand:
When did the problem begin?
Which site was affected?
Was the gateway reachable?
Was the firewall reachable?
Was the carrier circuit responding?
Did latency increase?
Was packet loss occurring?
Has this happened before?
Does the evidence point toward the carrier or local environment?
From Network Snapshot to Network Timeline
Think about troubleshooting this way:
Ping = Is it responding?
Traceroute = What path is it taking?
MTR = How is that path behaving while I test it?
ADAM Pulse = What has the network been doing over time?
That final question becomes particularly important when managing multiple business locations.
Stop Troubleshooting Only After Something Breaks
The hardest network problems are often intermittent.
They disappear.
Then they return.
Without historical data, every new incident can feel like starting over.
ADAM Pulse provides managed network monitoring designed to give IT teams greater visibility into sites, gateways, circuits, latency, SLA performance, and recurring network behavior.
Don't just test the network when someone complains.
Understand how the network behaves over time.
Learn more about ADAM Pulse and talk with USA Telecom about proactive network monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
What Is Ping?
Ping is one of the most fundamental network troubleshooting tools. It sends ICMP echo requests to a destination and waits for replies. Ping primarily helps answer:
What Does a Successful Ping Mean?
A successful ping means the destination responded to the diagnostic traffic. That is useful information. But it does not necessarily mean the network or application is healthy.
What Does Ping Latency Mean?
Ping commonly reports round trip time in milliseconds. If a destination normally responds in 20 milliseconds but suddenly responds in 150 milliseconds, something has changed. However, one measurement without context is difficult to interpret.
Can Ping Detect Packet Loss?
Yes, ping can identify packet loss during the measurement period. For example: 100 packets sent
What Is Traceroute?
Traceroute helps identify the network path traffic takes toward a destination. Instead of simply asking: Traceroute asks:
How Does Traceroute Work?
Traceroute sends packets with progressively increasing Time To Live values. Each router along the path reduces the TTL. When the TTL reaches zero, the router can return a response indicating that the packet expired.
What Do Asterisks in Traceroute Mean?
Asterisks often cause unnecessary panic. An asterisk means the traceroute probe did not receive the expected response within the allowed time. It does not automatically mean that router is broken or dropping production traffic.
Can Traceroute Find Packet Loss?
Traceroute can provide useful clues, but it should not be treated as definitive proof of packet loss at an intermediate router. If one hop appears problematic but every subsequent hop and the destination remain healthy, the router may simply be limiting responses to diagnostic traffic. A stronger pattern occurs when degradation begins at a particular point and continues through subsequent hops to the destination.
What Is MTR?
MTR, often called My Traceroute, combines characteristics of ping and traceroute. Instead of displaying only a single path snapshot, MTR repeatedly tests the route. Depending on the implementation, it can display information such as:
What Is MTR Used For?
MTR can help investigate: Because MTR collects repeated measurements, it provides more context than a single traceroute.
Sources
- IETF — RFC 792: Internet Control Message Protocol. The protocol underneath ping and traceroute, and why devices may deprioritise or drop ICMP.
- Cisco — What Is Network Latency? Definition, causes and the distinction between latency and bandwidth.
- Cisco — Troubleshoot Packet Drops. Congestion, buffer exhaustion and interface errors as drop causes, and their effect on throughput and retransmission.
Network symptoms should be interpreted in context. A single test from a single location at a single moment rarely proves where a fault sits — correlate against history, test from more than one point, and preserve evidence before changing configuration.
USA Telecom Consulting LLC is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business running a 24/7 NOC. We monitor networks, circuits and firewalls for regulated and defense-supply-chain organizations.