Understanding TRACERT, Hops, and Your Internet Connection

What Is TRACERT?

TRACERT is a Windows network diagnostic command that attempts to show the path packets take from your computer to a destination such as a hostname or IP address.

It is useful when troubleshooting connection problems because it can give you a picture of the network route between your location and the server. It can also help identify where a route appears to stop responding.

What Is a "Hop"?

A hop is one routing step along the path between your computer and the destination. A hop is commonly a router or another network device that participates in forwarding traffic toward the destination.

When TRACERT displays a numbered list, each numbered line represents a hop that responded to the traceroute probes.

There Usually Isn't a Direct Connection From Your Home to the Server

This is one of the most important things to understand when troubleshooting Internet streaming.

A listener may imagine the connection as:

In reality, the traffic normally crosses several networks and routing devices before reaching the destination:

The exact route varies. Internet routing is dynamic, and the path used by one customer may be completely different from the path used by another customer — even when they are connecting to the same SHOUTcast server.

A Typical Internet Path

Consider a listener connecting to a SHOUTcast server. Their traffic might pass through their home router, their ISP, one or more regional routers, a backbone or transit provider, the data center's network, and finally the network where the SHOUTcast server is located.

Those networks are not all controlled by the customer's ISP or by digiSTREAM. Each organization operates its own equipment and network infrastructure.

"But I Have a Very Fast Internet Connection!"

This is one of the most common things customers mention when troubleshooting a streaming connection — and having a fast Internet plan is certainly good. However, the speed advertised by an ISP does not create a dedicated high-speed path from your home to every server on the Internet.

For example, a customer may have a 1 Gbps Internet service and receive excellent results from a speed test against a nearby test server. That does not mean that every route across the Internet will provide a dedicated 1 Gbps path all the way to a particular SHOUTcast server.

Each network along the route has its own capacity, routing, congestion, equipment, peering arrangements, and policies. The customer's ISP can control the connection into its own network, but it cannot guarantee that every network encountered after that will provide the same capacity or performance.

So when someone says, "I have Gigabit Internet, so my connection cannot be the problem," the correct response is that the local access speed is only one part of the overall connection.

Bandwidth and Latency Are Different

Another important distinction is the difference between bandwidth and latency.

A customer could have a very high-bandwidth Internet connection and still experience increased latency or packet loss to a particular destination.

For Internet radio, remember that a 128 kbps stream is tiny compared with a 1 Gbps Internet connection. If a listener cannot reliably receive a 128 kbps stream, the problem is not necessarily a lack of overall download speed. The route, connection quality, packet loss, firewall, local network, server availability, or another factor may need to be investigated.

How to Run TRACERT in Windows

1. Open Command Prompt

Press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Enter. You can also search for Command Prompt from the Windows Start menu.

2. Run TRACERT

At the command prompt, type:

Replace your-server-address with the hostname or IP address you are testing.

For example:

If you are troubleshooting a digiSTREAM server, use the server hostname or IP address provided for your service.

How to Read the Results

A typical result contains a hop number, several response times, and the address or name of the device that responded.

The three time values are separate probe measurements. They are useful for seeing how the route responds, but they should not be interpreted as a simple "speed limit" imposed by that hop.

What Does * * * Mean?

You may see a line such as:

This generally means the traceroute probe did not receive a response from that hop within the expected time.

If later hops respond and the destination is reached, the asterisks at an intermediate hop may be harmless.

If the route consistently stops responding at a particular point and the destination cannot be reached, that information can be useful for further troubleshooting.

What TRACERT Cannot Prove

TRACERT is helpful, but it is important not to over-interpret the results.

• A high response time at one hop does not automatically mean that hop is causing the problem.
• An asterisk does not automatically mean the router is down.
• A successful traceroute does not guarantee that a SHOUTcast stream is working correctly.
• A failed traceroute does not necessarily mean the destination server is offline.
• The route can change over time, so two traceroutes taken at different times may not look identical.
• A speed test to a nearby test server does not prove that the route to a particular SHOUTcast server has the same latency, capacity, or packet-loss characteristics.

Save the Results for Support

If digiSTREAM Support asks for a traceroute, copy the complete command-prompt output and provide it to support. Include the destination you tested and, if possible, the approximate time the test was performed.

This gives support a much better picture of the network path than simply saying, "My Internet is fast."

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