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What Is Ping and How It Works

Ping tools, also called ping commands and ping utilities, are programs that use the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to determine the availability and responsiveness of network nodes. The ping command is built into Windows, Linux, and macOS and is easy to use, but it's also available in the form of third-party tools available for download.

Compared to the standard operating system ping commands, these tools typically provide a graphical interface and sometimes include charts to track the statistics of ping tests over time.

Computer Ping Tools

There's no shortage of Ping tools for desktop computers. Here are some of the most popular free network troubleshooting ping tools.

Manage Engine Free Ping Tool

ManageEngine Tools includes a polished, free ping tool as part of a suite of network tools. You can ping a single host, add multiples to the queue and run them all at once, and change the ping and web response times. There's also a traceroute tool and an option to check the responsiveness of a website in semi-real-time. The tool is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7 and some older versions of Windows.

PingInfoView

PingInfoView is a simple, non-bloated ping tool that lets you ping via hostname or IP address for as long as you like and see every success and failure message or save the results to a text file. PingInfoView is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, and some older versions of Windows.

PingPlotter Free

PingPlotter Free is a 14-day free trial version of a paid program that lets you visualize the source of problems and see a history graph of network performance. Versions are available for Windows, macOS, and iOS.

GPing (Graphical Ping)

With GPING (Graphical Ping), ping multiple hosts at the same time. You can import and export hosts from a text file, save the session, view ping results over time represented in a graph, and use the integrated DNS to resolve hostnames to IP addresses. GPing is compatible with Win32 computers.

Colasoft Ping Tool

The Colasoft Ping Tool shows you ping results in three ways: a timeline graph, text format, and a tree-like directory listing. Included in the results are the IP address, location of the server, packets sent/received/lost, and the minimum/maximum/average response time. Compatible with Windows 10, 8, and 7.

Mobile Device Ping Test Apps

You're not confined to computer ping tools. Several ping apps are available for mobile phones and tablets.

Ping

The Ping iOS app lets you scan a network to run the ping command against all the hosts it finds. It includes TTL, time-out, send interval, and packet size options. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6 and is available for iPhone and iPad devices with iOS 11 or later.

PingTools Network Utilities

PingTools Network Utilities is for Android devices. It performs network tasks like ping, port scanner, Whois, subnet scanner, and Wake-on-LAN. Its Watcher feature provides continuous monitoring of remote resources. It is compatible with Android 5.0 and higher.

iNetTools

iNetTools is a free iOS app that runs ping tests and also DNS lookups, traceroute, port scans, Whois lookup, and more. The app supports both IPv4 and IPv6. It requires iPadOS 13 or later for iPads and iOS 13 or later for iPhones.

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What Is Ping and How It Works

Source: https://www.lifewire.com/what-are-ping-tools-817744