~ path guide

How To Read An MTR Report

An MTR report repeats traceroute-style probes so you can see packet loss and latency over time. The trick is not to panic at every noisy middle hop.

Start With The Final Hop

The final hop is the destination. If the final hop has clean latency and no meaningful loss, one noisy middle hop may not affect the application.

Look For Continuing Loss

• Loss at one hop that disappears later is often probe rate limiting.
• Loss that starts at one hop and continues through every later hop is more suspicious.
• Final-hop loss is usually more important than a single middle-hop loss number.

Read Latency As A Pattern

• A latency spike on one middle hop can be harmless if later hops return to normal.
• A latency increase that persists after one hop may point to congestion or a long-haul path.
• Compare multiple runs before blaming a transient result.