
#Check packets for mac internet mac
If a network adapter is receiving a packet, it is comparing the packet’s destination MAC address to the adapter’s own MAC address. Packets that are sent on the ethernet are always coming from a MAC address and sent to a MAC address. Network cards each have a unique MAC address.

MAC addresses are the low level basics that make your ethernet based network work. SuperUser contributor Werner Henze offers some insight into the function of the MAC address: Where indeed? What is the specific function of the MAC address? The Answer So my question is, where exactly does a MAC address come into play during a packet transfer? I don’t think it sits there for no reason. So, MAC addresses are not used for packet transfer.

With MAC addresses, there is no hierarchy, and thus packet forwarding would not be possible. I understand that IP addresses are hierarchical, so that routers throughout the internet know which direction to forward a packet.
#Check packets for mac internet how to
Often, the result is that you would contact your ISP and they would help you solve the problem.įor more details on finding latency and packet loss problems, visit our Getting Started Guide, or see our article on how to pinpoint the problem.SuperUser reader Vishnu Vivek is curious about MAC addresses and their function: Ideally, you'd be able to contact that provider and find out how to solve the problem. Once you've identified that, then you know where the problem is occurring. Start at the end and goīackwards till you find a hop that's not showing the problems that your final destination is showing. You're looking for big changes in latency and/or packet loss between two hops.

If you've determined that your latency is out of the normal realm, and if you're seeing problems with some aspect of your connection (unexpected slowdowns, disconnects, or that you are often forced to 'retry'), then looking at the PingPlotter data should help you understand the source of the problem. Using PingPlotter to measure latency and packet loss Anything less than this is showing a possible problem, but one that is probably not impacting your experience significantly at present (unless you're an online gamer or something similar that requires 'twitch' reflexes). Most internet protocols can correct for some packet loss, so you really shouldn't expect to see a lot of impact from packet loss until that loss starts to approach 5% and higher. Anything over 2% packet loss over a period of time is a strong indicator of problems. Packet loss happens when a packet doesn't make it there and back again. Packet loss is almost always bad when it occurs at the final destination. Tracing across an ocean, or through a satellite link, or some other link where the distance is further will certainly impact the expected latency more. This means that a DSL modem on the west coast of the United States, tracing to a server on the east coast of the United States should expect somewhere around 120 ms (depending on the route and a number of other factors, but this is a rough ballpark) - 25 ms for the DSL modem and 100 ms for the distance. Normally, it's more like 75 after the data zig-zags around a bit and goes through numerous routers. With traceroute, we have to send the data there and back again, so roughly 1 ms of latency is added for every 60 miles (96km, although with the level of accuracy we're using here, we should say '100km') of distance between you and the target.Ĭonnecting to a web site across 1500 miles (2400 km) of distance is going to add at least 25 ms to the latency. Data travels at (very roughly) 120,000 miles (or 192,000 kilometers) per second, or 120 miles (192 km) per ms (millisecond) over a network connection. For a cellular link, this can be from 200 to 600 ms. For a dial-up modem, this is normally anywhere from 100 to 220ms. For a cable modem, this can normally be between 5 and 40 ms. There are two normal factors that significantly influence the latency of a consumer device (like a cable modem, Green / yellow / red at the upper right corner) in PingPlotter and MultiPing frames a basic reference to what a good or bad latency might be, although it's not specific for connection type or distance to

What's a 'normal' latency (or good range) that I can expect to see?
