Traveling Through a Network

     In this blog post, I explored how data packets travel across the internet using the ping and traceroute commands. These tools allow users to analyze the speed and path of their internet connection when accessing different websites. For this activity, I tested three different websites located in different regions of the world: google.com (U.S.), docomo.ne.jp (Japan), and chinadaily.com.cn (China). My goal was to compare the round-trip time and routing paths for each site and to better understand the relationship between geographical distance and network performance.

    I started by using the ping command to measure the round-trip time (RTT) it took for data packets to reach each server and return. Ping sends ICMP echo requests and listens for a response, giving an average time in milliseconds. The results showed a clear pattern: google.com, which is hosted closer to my location, had the lowest average latency, around 15 ms. docomo.ne.jp, a major telecommunications provider in Japan, returned an average RTT of about 140 ms, while chinadaily.com.cn, a Chinese news website, had a higher average around 210 ms. These results aligned with expectations—the farther the server is located geographically, the longer the round-trip time due to increased network hops and physical travel distance.

Here is a screenshot of my ping results:

    Next, I used the traceroute command to examine the actual path that the packets took to reach each destination. Traceroute works by gradually increasing the Time To Live (TTL) of packets and recording the IP addresses of routers along the way. For google.com, the traceroute showed a relatively short path of 8 hops, mostly within North America. The response times were consistently low, and each router responded promptly.

    In contrast, the path to docomo.ne.jp included about 17 hops, passing through multiple international gateways, including routers in Los Angeles and Tokyo. The latency increased with distance, particularly after the trans-Pacific jump. For chinadaily.com.cn, the traceroute path was even longer, with about 20 hops, and included some routers that did not respond, likely due to firewall rules or routing restrictions in place in China. There were also a few timeouts, but the traceroute ultimately completed.

Here is a screenshot of my traceroute results:

    Comparing these three paths and results, I observed that as the physical and political distance from the destination increased, so did the complexity of the network path and the round-trip time. The geographic location of the server has a strong correlation with latency—servers located closer to me responded faster and with fewer hops. International routes often introduce added delays due to long-distance undersea cables, routing through multiple ISPs, and network filtering policies.

    The ping and traceroute tools are useful for diagnosing internet connectivity problems. Ping helps determine whether a server is reachable and how quickly it responds. Traceroute is helpful when there is a delay or failure, as it shows where along the path the issue may be occurring. If packets are dropped at a specific router or if response times spike dramatically, traceroute can help identify the troubled segment of the connection.

    There are a few reasons why a ping or traceroute might time out or return an error. One common reason is that some routers or servers are configured to block ICMP traffic for security reasons, which results in timeouts or asterisks in the output. Another possibility is that the network is congested or experiencing a temporary failure, causing dropped packets or unreachable hosts. These tools don’t always provide complete answers, but they give valuable insights when troubleshooting performance issues.

    This assignment helped me understand how data moves across the globe and how even basic tools like ping and traceroute can reveal important information about connection health. I now appreciate the complexity of global networks and how small delays at each hop can add up. Most importantly, I learned how to use these tools to start identifying network slowdowns and connectivity issues, skills that are essential in any IT role.

References

Gaddis, T. (2021). Starting Out with Programming Logic and Design (5th ed.). Pearson.

Microsoft. (2025). Windows Command Line Tools. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/networking/