Sometimes you just need an IP address to be check your internet connection. My current favourite IP address is to use the Google DNS servers. which are the IPv4 addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
I have a favourite IP address to ping in Australia at 139.130.4.5 which is the primary name server for the largest carrier in Australia. (And reminds me that latency of 500 milliseconds is normal for some people).
I’ve also used the servers at OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. OpenDNS provides a secure and safe DNS service which I recommend that you check out for home and commercial use. Norton Connectsafe also have secure DNS servers for home users at 198.153.192.1 and 198.153.194.2 that respond to ICMP requests.
DNSResolvers.com is another DNS servers 205.210.42.205 and 64.68.200.200 as a free service from EasyDNS.
| Host | IP Address |
|---|---|
| google-public-dns-a.google.com. | 8.8.8.8 |
| google-public-dns-b.google.com | 8.8.4.4 |
| ns1.telstra.net | 139.130.4.5 |
It should look something like this:
GF:~ etherelamind$ ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=0 ttl=47 time=66.060 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=114.892 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=47 time=103.609 ms
^C
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 66.060/94.854/114.892/20.875 ms
GF:~ gregferro$
If you don’t get a response
If you ping these addresses and get an error like this, then there is more than one thing that could be wrong with your connection.
GF:etherealmind$ ping 8.8.4.4
PING 8.8.4.4 (8.8.4.4): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
The most likely problem is that your Internet connection is down or broken. It’s also possible that Internet router or firewall is blocking ping packets. Many firewalls do block ping packets by default so this isn’t the only test you should do.
Let me know if you have any other favourite places that might be worth adding to the list.
About Greg Ferro
