What is a Trace Route?

Performing a Trace Route shows a more accurate picture of where latency may be occurring. Make sure to trace to sites that actually allow trace routing. Yahoo is one example of a site that allows a trace route.

• To perform a trace for Windows users
• To perform a trace route for Mac users

To perform a trace route for Windows users:

1. Open a DOS window by clicking on Start, then Run, and typing in either CMD or Command and hitting OK.  If using Windows Vista or 7, type cmd into the Search and then hit Enter. 

   

2. For Windows 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 at the DOS prompt type: tracert www.yahoo.com (please refer to your owners manual if you have a different operating system) then click the enter key on your keyboard.

   

3. The trace route will show the different hops to the destination and the time between each hop in milliseconds. Results should be anywhere from 10 to 100+ milliseconds. Generally speaking, any hop over 100 milliseconds may be a latency problem and may be a result of a particular site being congested.
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   To perform a trace route for MAC users (OS 10 or later):

   1. Click on the hard drive icon and open the Applications folder.

      

   2. Open the Utilities folder, and then open Network Utility. 

      

   3. Select the Traceroute tab. Type in the domain name/ IP address of the website and click Trace.

      

   4. As in Windows the trace route will show the different hops to the destination and the time between each.