Ping Test, What, where & why

Hi & Good morning,
It may seem a daft question but im a bit daft anyway !
Could someone please explain the ping test.
What it does
What its for
How it works
what speed is normal
what the results mean

Thanks in advance

ping tests measure the time it takes a peice of data to travel between one computer and another

lower = better
and higher = bad

for low anything under 50ms is good but anything over 100ms is bad

normal ping times are usually under 50ms example mine from stoke on trent to the bbc in london takes 18ms avg

forgot to add the distance plays a big part too so pings to other countries will be high

Edited by deleted (Sat 26-Jun-10 09:13:12)

Thanks Ianph,
I will give it a go now
Regards

What Ianph has told you is true, but needs to be treated with caution.

The original function of ping was simply to see if a particular host was reachable/awake. It's a low-priority packet, so if a host is busy with other traffic it may delay replying (or even not bother).

It's also perceived by some as a security risk, so it will never reply (you get a "*" in the program output).

More information than you probably want.

Hi Bill,
So you don't recomend doing the test ? for security reasons

Thanks for the advice.
Regards

In reply to a post by donewalking:

So you don't recomend doing the test ? for security reasons

I didn't say that

Some people (and organisations) consider that allowing their own router(s) to respond to pings from other people (it's usually a user option) is a security risk, my opinion is that that's rubbish.

There's no risk at all in using the ping command from your own computer to check another one.

I tend to use pingtest.net on a regular basis to test my own connection's stability, shows me when its working well, or like a sack of hammers.

I don't like pingtest.net... it tends to return much higher ping times than I get from the ping command, and a run I've just done gave a 96% packet loss .

Probably because I'm streaming the F1 practice session.

I use the tbb Broadband Quality Meter, it's host-based and runs 24/7. Only any use if you have a static IP atm though.



edit- link

Edited by billford (Sat 26-Jun-10 10:30:13)

Hi Bill,
I did not say YOU said it was a security risk< i just asked for your advice as you said

"It's also perceived by some as a security risk, so it will never reply (you get a "*" in the program output)".

All i wanted to know was do you think its a security risk and is it worh doing.

I will now make up my own mind on the information i have & then i can't blame anyone but myself.

Don't some people get wound up in a morning !

Download a copy of PingPlotter from http://www.pingplotter.com/

Then select a site - such as tbb or bbc.co.uk and see how the ping times increase the further you get from your home. It does not just show ping time for the destination but for each node/router/switch/peering point on the route.

Then find a site based in East Coast USA ... you will see a big step as the packets transit the Atlantic, followed by West Coast and then Hawaii.

For someone with little experience but prepared to ask and investigate it will show a lot - including nodes which do not respond but the pings for more distant destinations still pass through.