Testing latency with ping and MTR
How to measure latency and pinpoint packet loss between you and WingNode — a 5-minute test that saves hours of false-alarm tickets.
Before opening a ticket about "lag", run these commands. They tell you whether the issue is on your side, on the transit, or on our network.
Ping — basic reachability
Windows: ping -n 20 wingnode.com
Linux/macOS: ping -c 20 wingnode.com
Look at the summary line — avg should match your expected latency from the location table. 0% packet loss means the path is clean.
MTR — per-hop analysis
MTR combines ping and traceroute. It shows every router on the path and per-hop packet loss.
mtr --report -c 50 wingnode.comInstall:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt install mtr - macOS:
brew install mtr - Windows: WinMTR
Reading the output
Each hop shows loss percent, average latency, best and worst. Key rules:
- Transient loss (e.g. 10–20% on hop 3 but 0% on hop 10) usually means that router deprioritizes ICMP — ignore it.
- Consistent loss on the final hop or last 2–3 hops is the real problem.
- Latency spikes on middle hops without spikes at the destination are normal.
What to include in a ticket
When reporting latency issues, always include:
- Full MTR output (not a screenshot — paste as text).
- Your ISP and approximate city.
- Time when the issue started (with timezone).
This triples the speed at which the network team can pinpoint the cause.