Google ping test suggested by broadband company

I have been experiencing some problems with slow Wi-Fi using my iPad. So I used my Mac to test the network quality using the Terminal facility and entering networkQuality


Upload and download speeds are pretty much as advertised by my broadband company but I keep getting a result which states "low responsiveness"


I contacted my broadband company suggesting that this could be the problem with the Wi-Fi.


They responded that doing their own test they came up with the result of unusually high responsiveness.


They suggested that I do a different test in Terminal as below;


  1. Run the following commands one by one, and take a screenshot of the results after each command:
    • ping google.co.uk
    • tracert google.co.uk
    • ping 192.168.1.1
    • tracert 192.168.1.1


I don't understand why they are involving in Google or what tracert is.


Is it safe to try what they are proposing, and if so will the results give a fair and reasonable indication of whether there is any problem with responsiveness or not?


Thank you very much for any responses and ideas





Mac mini, macOS 15.4

Posted on May 7, 2025 03:38 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 7, 2025 12:32 PM

BillyBobGoat wrote:

1. I have been experiencing some problems with slow Wi-Fi using my iPad. So I used my Mac to test the network quality using the Terminal facility and entering networkQuality[...]

They suggested that I do a different test in Terminal as below;

Run the following commands one by one, and take a screenshot of the results after each command:
• ping google.co.uk
• tracert google.co.uk
• ping 192.168.1.1
• tracert 192.168.1.1

I don't understand why they are involving in Google or what tracert is.

Is it safe to try what they are proposing, and if so will the results give a fair and reasonable indication of whether there is any problem with responsiveness or not?

Thank you very much for any responses and ideas


These are benign tests that send data packet(s) to those destinations and measure the response times. There's no danger there. Google is not really "involved" other than as that website being a dependable target for such testing.


Tracert (trace route) is a Terminal application command used to determine the path that data packets take when moving from one computer to another.


This is a legit request from your provider to get useable information about your network performance.

Nothing nefarious going on here.

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6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 7, 2025 12:32 PM in response to BillyBobGoat

BillyBobGoat wrote:

1. I have been experiencing some problems with slow Wi-Fi using my iPad. So I used my Mac to test the network quality using the Terminal facility and entering networkQuality[...]

They suggested that I do a different test in Terminal as below;

Run the following commands one by one, and take a screenshot of the results after each command:
• ping google.co.uk
• tracert google.co.uk
• ping 192.168.1.1
• tracert 192.168.1.1

I don't understand why they are involving in Google or what tracert is.

Is it safe to try what they are proposing, and if so will the results give a fair and reasonable indication of whether there is any problem with responsiveness or not?

Thank you very much for any responses and ideas


These are benign tests that send data packet(s) to those destinations and measure the response times. There's no danger there. Google is not really "involved" other than as that website being a dependable target for such testing.


Tracert (trace route) is a Terminal application command used to determine the path that data packets take when moving from one computer to another.


This is a legit request from your provider to get useable information about your network performance.

Nothing nefarious going on here.

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Google ping test suggested by broadband company

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