If you try to access a site but constantly receive errors, or you detect wide variations in the quality of your connection, there are some aspects that should be evaluated before calling your provider and demanding a solution. PingPlotter is probably one of the best allies you can have in such situations, thanks to its ability to analyze a connection, assist in its visualization, recognize the number of hops, and detect weak points such as latency spikes and packet loss.
Internet can be a true marvel, but I think we all agree that that expression depends purely and exclusively on its proper functioning. One of our most commented articles touches on nothing less than the topic of the average speed of Internet connections and their general quality. With growing pressure from online services (Netflix appears at the top of the list), providers throw all sorts of excuses against the wall, hoping that one will stick. However, there are times when the provider in question is only part of the problem, or has nothing to do with it. An unstable router, faulty cables, basic configuration conflicts, and even a remote server that demanded its early retirement add to the list of potential headaches.
How to trace your connection
How can we track all that? The main operating systems already have basic tools like ping and tracert, although there is another solid resource out there, and it is PingPlotter. The download is free and direct (it doesn't even ask for an email address), and once installed, all you have to do to start the trace is enter the address that is causing you problems. The developers of PingPlotter recommend keeping the process active for about ten minutes so the data stabilizes, but if there are very serious problems they will appear within seconds. When interpreting the information, you can be guided by the references that PingPlotter has published on its official page (saturation, hardware problems, WiFi interference), or why not, follow one of the many free tutorials that its users have uploaded to YouTube.
Interpreting the results
It must be recognized that a bad result in PingPlotter is not a direct equivalent of a failure. Under its factory configuration, PingPlotter uses ICMP, and if the remote server rejects those requests, they will surely be seen in the graphs as lost packets. In these isolated cases, the user has the option to combine PingPlotter with WinPCap or another similar tool. PingPlotter is available in three editions. The free build limits the graphics history to ten minutes, and only one address can be processed at a time, but this is more than enough for a personal real-time diagnosis.
