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Test Latency and Packet Loss (MTR)

Early Access: Ultra.sh is currently in early access. Features, plans, and documentation may change as we continue to improve the service. If anything here does not match what you see, open a support ticket and let us know.

Test Latency and Packet Loss (MTR)

MTR is a network diagnostic tool that checks the route between your computer and a server. This guide explains how to test latency and packet loss on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and share the results with support.

  • Latency is the time it takes for data to reach the server and return, measured in milliseconds (ms).
  • Packet loss is the percentage of test packets that receive no response.

Prepare for the Test

  • Run the test from the computer and connection where you experience the issue, preferably while it is happening.
  • Use your server's IP address. Do not include a port, http://, or https://.
  • Find the IP address as Primary IP on your service page in the client area, or in the panel under Overview > Network > ADDRESS. The panel shows the address with a prefix such as /24. Leave out the prefix.
  • Replace YOUR_SERVER_IP in the commands below with the actual IP address.
  • Pause large downloads or uploads.
  • Test on the affected connection first. If that connection is Wi-Fi, you can run a second test over a wired connection to check whether Wi-Fi interference causes the issue.

Run MTR on Windows

  • Download WinMTR-v100-static.zip from the WinMTR (Redux) v1.00 release page. The static build runs without installing extra Visual C++ runtimes.
  • Right-click the downloaded ZIP file and select Extract All.
  • Open the extracted folder and run the WinMTR executable that matches your Windows version (64-bit or 32-bit).
  • Enter your server's IP address in the Host field, then click Start.
  • Leave the test running for 5 to 10 minutes, then click Stop.
  • Click Export TEXT to save the results, or Copy Text to clipboard to paste them into a support ticket.

Run MTR on macOS

  • Open Terminal.
  • If you do not already have Homebrew, install it using the instructions at brew.sh.
  • Install MTR:
brew install mtr
  • Run the following command to collect a report with 300 test cycles. This takes about 5 minutes:
sudo "$(brew --prefix)/sbin/mtr" -r -w -n -c 300 YOUR_SERVER_IP
  • Enter your Mac login password if prompted. Terminal does not display characters while you type your password.
  • Wait for the report to appear, then copy the full output into a support ticket.

Run MTR on Linux

  • Open a terminal and check whether MTR is already installed:
mtr --version
  • If a version number appears, skip installation and run the test command below.
  • If you receive a command not found error, install MTR using your distribution's package manager.
  • On Ubuntu or Debian, the mtr package works but includes a graphical interface. Install the command-line-only mtr-tiny package instead, which includes everything needed for this test:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mtr-tiny
  • On Fedora:
sudo dnf install mtr
  • Run the following command to collect a report with 300 test cycles. This takes about 5 minutes:
sudo mtr -r -w -n -c 300 YOUR_SERVER_IP
  • Wait for the report to appear, then copy the full output into a support ticket.

Read the Results

Each row represents a router along the route, called a hop. The final hop should be your server.

  • Loss%: The percentage of test packets that received no response.
  • Sent / Snt: The number of test packets sent.
  • Avg / Avrg: The average round-trip latency in milliseconds.
  • Best / Wrst: The lowest and highest recorded latency.

Some routers limit or block responses to diagnostic tests. Loss or high latency at an intermediate hop does not necessarily indicate a connection problem if later hops, including the server, respond normally.

Loss that continues through later hops to the destination may indicate a problem. However, even the destination can filter test traffic, so MTR results alone do not prove the cause of an issue.

Share the Results

Open a support ticket as described in Submit a Support Ticket and include the full text report along with:

  • The server IP address you tested.
  • The date, time, and time zone of the test.
  • A brief description of the issue.
  • Whether you used Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or a VPN.

If the report shows no responses, double-check the IP address and send the report to support. Do not disable your local firewall to run the test. The firewall on your VPS can also drop ICMP traffic, which can show as 100% loss at the last hop.

If you require further assistance, you can open a support ticket here.