MTR

Continuous traceroute with per-hop loss and Round-Trip Time (RTT) statistics.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is MTR and how does it differ from traceroute?

My Traceroute (MTR) combines ping and traceroute into a continuous probe. Where traceroute takes a single snapshot, MTR sends hundreds of packets and computes per-hop statistics — average Round-Trip Time (RTT), worst RTT, standard deviation, and packet loss percentage — making it far better at catching intermittent problems.

How do I read the MTR output?
  • Host — the router at this hop (or ??? if it doesn't respond).
  • Loss% — percentage of probe packets that got no reply.
  • Snt — packets sent so far.
  • Last / Avg / Best / Wrst — most recent, average, minimum, and maximum Round-Trip Time (RTT) in ms.
  • StDev — jitter; high values indicate an unstable link.
Is packet loss at a middle hop always a problem?

Not necessarily. Many routers rate-limit or deprioritize Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) responses — they forward traffic normally but don't always reply to probes. If only a middle hop shows loss while later hops and the destination respond fine, the link is healthy and the loss is just ICMP rate-limiting. Concern arises when loss persists from a hop all the way to the destination.

What does high jitter (StDev) indicate?

High standard deviation means Round-Trip Time (RTT) varies wildly between probes, which points to congestion, overloaded queues, or an inconsistent routing path. Jitter is especially damaging for real-time traffic like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video calls.