My connection to a server is slow. Where in the network is the bottleneck?

Quick Linux Tip #36:

Try: mtr -rw -c 20 google.com

Info: mtr combines traceroute and ping. -r enables report mode, -w shows full hostnames, and -c 20 sends 20 pings per hop.

Examples:

  • $ mtr google.com  # Interactive real-time mode
  • $ mtr --tcp -P 443 google.com  # TCP mode on port 443
  • $ mtr -j google.com  # Output JSON for scripting

Note: Loss% at intermediate hops is often ICMP rate-limiting. Look for packet loss that persists through to the final hop for actual problems.




LinuxTeck.com
linuxteck@ubuntu:~$ mtr -rw -c 20 google.com
Start: 2026-07-30T10:45:23+0530
HOST: ubuntu
  1.|-- 192.168.1.1             0.0%   20    1.2    1.4    1.1    2.3    0.3
  2.|-- 10.0.0.1                0.0%   20    5.4    5.8    5.1    7.2    0.5
  3.|-- 172.16.0.1              5.0%   20   12.3   13.1   11.9   15.6    0.9
  4.|-- isp-gateway.net         0.0%   20   14.5   15.2   14.1   18.3    1.1
  5.|-- 203.0.113.1            25.0%   20   45.6   52.3   44.2   89.1   12.4
  6.|-- backbone.isp.com         0.0%   20   46.7   47.2   45.9   49.8    1.0
  7.|-- 142.250.68.100           0.0%   20   48.2   48.7   47.5   50.3    0.8
  8.|-- google.com               0.0%   20   48.5   48.9   48.1   50.1    0.6
linuxteck@ubuntu:~$

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About John Britto

John Britto Founder & Chief-Editor @LinuxTeck. A Computer Geek and Linux Intellectual having more than 20+ years of experience in Linux and Open Source technologies.

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