Trace the Network Path to a Website

Find where a connection becomes slow by printing every router hop with traceroute.

macOSnetworktracerouteDiagnosticsLow risk

Run `traceroute -w 2 example.com` to list each hop with its response time.

01Command

Command

$ traceroute -w 2 example.com

02What it does

When a site is unreachable or slow, traceroute shows the chain of routers your packets pass through. If the first hops are fine but a later hop stops responding, the problem is outside your home network — useful evidence before blaming your router or ISP. The -w 2 option stops each hop from hanging for a long time on firewalled routers.

03Risk

RiskLow risk

!Warning: Many routers ignore traceroute probes, so stars (*** ) on some hops do not always mean an outage.

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

traceroute — print the route packets take to a host (macOS man page)
SS64 · technical · 2026-09-17
Evidence: Documents traceroute tracing the IP route to a host and printing each hop with timings.

Last verified: 2026-09-18 · Category: Network

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