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Troubleshooting Network Latency & Packet Loss (MTR)

If you are experiencing network lag, high latency, or connection drops, standard tools like ping or traceroute often don't tell the whole story.

We recommend using MTR (My Traceroute). This tool combines ping and traceroute into a single diagnostic report, showing you exactly where in the route packets are being lost.

1. Installing MTR

Windows

Windows does not have a native command-line MTR. You can use the portable application WinMTR.

  • Download WinMTR (or the modernized WinMTR Redux).
  • Unzip and run the application as Administrator.

macOS

The easiest way is using Homebrew (Terminal):

brew install mtr

Note: You will need to run mtr with `sudo` privileges.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/CentOS)

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt install mtr

# CentOS / RHEL
sudo dnf install mtr

2. Generating the Report

For a reliable result, we need to send at least 100 packets to gather enough statistical data.

On Linux / macOS (Terminal)

Run the following command (replace with your server IP):

sudo mtr -rwc 100 123.123.123.123

Explanation of flags:

  • -r (Report): Outputs a static text report instead of a live view.
  • -w (Wide): Ensures long hostnames are not cut off.
  • -c 100 (Count): Sends 100 packets for accuracy.

On Windows (WinMTR)

  1. Open WinMTR.
  2. In the Host field, type your server IP.
  3. Click Start.
  4. Let it run until the column Sent shows at least 100.
  5. Click Stop and then Copy Text to clipboard.

3. Submitting to Support

When contacting Tilaa support about network issues, please provide the raw text output of your MTR.

Crucial: Test Both Directions!
The path from your home to the server is often different from the path back. To pinpoint the issue, we need two reports:
  1. From You to Tilaa: Run MTR on your local computer pointing to the VPS IP.
  2. From Tilaa to You: Log in to your VPS (via SSH) and run MTR pointing to your local public IP.

4. How to interpret the results

Not all "Loss" implies a problem. Here is a quick guide:

  • Real Packet Loss: You see loss starting at a specific hop (e.g., Hop 4) and that loss continues or increases for every subsequent hop until the destination. This indicates a broken link at Hop 4.
  • False Positive (Deprioritization): You see high loss (e.g., 50%) on one specific intermediate hop (e.g., Hop 3), but Hop 4 and the final destination show 0% loss. This is normal; it simply means that specific router is configured to ignore ICMP test packets. This does not affect your traffic.