How to Use Traceroute to Find Network Problems
Learn how to use traceroute to find where network slowdowns, routing delays, and connection failures begin.
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How to Use Traceroute to Find Network Problems
Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that shows the path your data takes from your device to a destination on the internet. It displays each router, also called a hop, between your computer and the destination along with the response time for each hop.
Traceroute is useful for identifying where a network connection is slowing down or failing.
Example
Use this section as your baseline before working through the symptoms, commands, and fixes below.
When Should You Use Traceroute?
Use traceroute when:
A website loads slowly
You cannot reach a specific website or server
Online games experience lag
VPN connections are slow
You suspect packet routing issues
A ping test succeeds but performance is still poor
Traceroute Commands
Windows:
tracert google.com
macOS / Linux:
traceroute google.com
If traceroute is not installed on Linux:
sudo apt install traceroute
Example Output
Tracing route to google.com [142.250.190.14] 1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1 2 12 ms 11 ms 13 ms 10.1.1.1 3 18 ms 17 ms 19 ms 72.14.215.1 4 22 ms 21 ms 23 ms 142.250.190.14 Trace complete.
Understanding the Results
Hop Number:
Each line represents a hop. A hop is a router or networking device that forwards traffic toward the destination.
Examples:
Hop 1 is often your home router
Hop 2 may be your ISP gateway
Later hops may be ISP, regional, backbone, or destination networks
Response Time:
These values show how long it took each hop to respond.
General latency guidelines:
1-30 ms: Excellent
30-60 ms: Good
60-100 ms: Acceptable
100-150 ms: High
150+ ms: Poor
IP Address or Hostname:
This identifies the device responding at that hop.
Examples:
Home router
ISP router
Regional ISP network
Destination server
Example of a Network Problem
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1 2 10 ms 11 ms 10 ms 10.1.1.1 3 220 ms 245 ms 231 ms 72.14.215.1 4 225 ms 240 ms 236 ms 142.250.190.14
Analysis:
Notice how latency jumps dramatically at Hop 3:
10 ms -> 220 ms
This suggests the issue may be:
ISP congestion
Overloaded router
Routing problem
Long-distance network path
Because the high latency continues on all following hops, the issue likely begins at Hop 3.
What Do Asterisks Mean?
You may see output like this:
4 * * *
This means the router did not respond within the timeout period.
Possible causes:
Router blocks traceroute requests
Firewall filtering
Network congestion
Device not configured to respond
A single timeout is usually not a problem. However, repeated timeouts for multiple hops may indicate a routing issue.
Traceroute vs Ping
Ping:
Tests if a device is reachable and measures latency.
Traceroute:
Shows the route traffic takes and where delays occur.
A common troubleshooting process is:
Run ping
If latency is high, run traceroute
Identify which hop introduces delays
Troubleshooting Tips
High Latency at Hop 1:
1 150 ms
Possible causes:
Wi-Fi interference
Weak signal
Router issues
Network congestion
High Latency After ISP Hops:
2 10 ms 3 180 ms 4 190 ms
Possible causes:
ISP routing issue
Regional network congestion
Internet backbone problems
Destination Unreachable:
Request timed out.
Possible causes:
Server offline
Firewall blocking traffic
Incorrect IP address
Routing failure
Quick Summary
Traceroute helps you:
View every hop between you and a destination
Identify where delays occur
Troubleshoot slow internet connections
Detect ISP routing issues
Investigate packet loss and latency problems
Common Commands
Windows:
tracert google.com
macOS/Linux:
traceroute google.com