THE INTERNET, HOP BY HOP
Follow a packet across networks and borders.
Discover the infrastructure between here and anywhere.
Measurements start at this probe.
Your own connection may take a different path.
Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool that reveals the hops toward a destination. See which networks carry the traffic and how long each reply takes.
Illustrative data · no network request| Hop | Router / network | Location | No reply | Avg RTT |
|---|
RTT is a round trip to each router, not delay added by that hop. Missing replies alone do not prove packet loss in forwarded traffic.
Router locations are estimates from hostnames, exchange prefixes and geolocation data. Lines connect estimates; they do not identify physical cables.
THE FIELD GUIDE
A few principles turn a list of routers
into a useful diagnosis.
Each router decreases a packet’s time to live (TTL). When it reaches zero, the router can send back an ICMP “Time Exceeded” reply. Increasing the TTL reveals successive hops.
TTL 1 expires at router 1. Its reply reveals the first hop.
Each RTT measures the journey from the probe to that hop and back. Routers may answer diagnostic probes slowly while forwarding traffic normally.
Look for increases that continue through later hops, including the destination. Repeat the measurement before drawing conclusions.
Investigate with an MTR report →An asterisk means no reply arrived in time. Filtering, rate limiting and hidden infrastructure can leave gaps in an otherwise working route.
Forward and return paths can differ. Anycast and load balancing mean another probe, or another moment, may reveal a different journey.
More on interpreting MTR ↗Diagnosing slow connections: Compare round-trip times across the route and look for changes that persist through the destination. Repeat the test with MTR before attributing congestion to a particular hop.
Investigating network outages: Identify which routers still answer, then compare with application connectivity. A silent hop can reflect filtering; traceroute alone cannot pinpoint a broken link.
Understanding CDN and anycast routing: A domain or IP may be served from different locations depending on the probe. Use DNS lookup to inspect records and compare traces from your own connection.
Checking geographic routing: Estimated router locations help explain long-distance latency. Hop count records the reported sequence; fewer hops do not necessarily mean a faster connection.
Packets can cross access networks, transit providers and destination networks. BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) exchanges reachability information between autonomous systems, while routing policies and peering agreements influence the path.
Internet Exchange Points such as DE-CIX Frankfurt, AMS-IX Amsterdam and LINX London let networks interconnect. An ASN change can reveal an operator boundary, but does not establish a particular commercial agreement or physical link. Explore the internet infrastructure map or use ASN lookup to investigate network ownership.
No. Measurements run from Linode - Newark, NJ using the HackerTarget API. To investigate your own connection, run traceroute or MTR on your device too, and compare the results.
The map connects estimated router locations. A geographic jump may suggest a long-distance link, but traceroute alone cannot identify a particular cable, physical fibre route or peering agreement.
An autonomous system (AS) is a network under one administrative policy. Changes in ASN help you follow the observed path between operators. Missing or repeated ASNs and hidden hops mean this is not a complete BGP path.