Perform a Trace Route
A trace route attempts to report on the current status of an internet connection at all locations between your computer and the destination.

1) Enter your DOS prompt: Click Start | Programs | Accessories | Command Prompt
2) Goto your base directory C:
3) Use the tracert DOS command.

For example, if you are testing the internet connection to this server:

C:>tracert 115.178.16.45 >> Trace.txt

If you are testing the internet connection to a different computer, you must specify its address instead of this servers address. This command will create a text file named Trace.txt that you can e-mail to the lagging node.

To find this file:

4) Goto your Desktop.
5) Double-click on My Computer.
6) Double-click on Drive C:.
7) Search in this folder for Trace.txt.
8) Open Trace.txt to view results.

Reading a Trace Route

For example, the trace route displays:
#    Latency    IP address
1    133 133    293.131.222.1
2    140 007    297.121.444.1
3    824 801    299.999.999.9
4    165 -665    204.146.98.4
5    180    206.112.96.1

The first number is the internet hop or node number (1, 2, 3, 4, ...).

The next numbers is the latency or lag (133, 133, 140, 007, ...), measured in milliseconds that it took to receive a reply (1000 ms = 1 second).

Any result over 500 ms, or any result that times out indicates that node has lag.

If some results display * (an asterisk) instead of milliseconds, then that node took much longer than allowed to respond. It timed out.

The last number is the Internet address (293.131.222.1 ...) of that internet node.

In this example, there is a source of lag of 824 ms. It is is underlined here:
#    Latency IP address     
1    133 133    293.131.222.1     
2    140 007    297.121.444.1     
3    824 801    299.999.999.9    < Lag Source
4    165 -665    204.146.98.4     
5    180    206.112.96.1