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Customers often report packet loss after running traceroute or MTR tests and seeing 80% or even 100% loss on intermediate hops. In many cases, however, the final destination shows no packet loss at all. This article explains how to correctly interpret MTR results and how to distinguish between real connectivity problems and harmless artifacts of how routers handle diagnostic traffic.

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Quick summary

  • Packet loss on intermediate hops does not automatically mean a problem
  • The final hop (your VPS or target host) is what matters most
  • Many routers de-prioritize or rate-limit ICMP responses
  • Virtualized environments add additional layers where diagnostic ICMP traffic may be handled differently from normal application traffic
If the final destination shows 0% packet loss and stable latency, your connection is usually healthy.

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How packet loss measurements actually work

Tools like traceroute and MTR send diagnostic packets (usually ICMP or UDP) and measure how routers respond. Think of traceroute and MTR as asking every router along the path:
“Can you reply to me right now?”
Some routers choose not to answer — but they still forward real application traffic perfectly. Important: routers are optimized to forward traffic, not to respond to diagnostic probes. When under load, they may:
  • Rate-limit ICMP replies
  • Drop diagnostic packets
  • Respond inconsistently
This can appear as packet loss in MTR even when real user traffic flows normally.

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How to run proper tests

Before interpreting packet loss, make sure the test was run correctly.

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Using traceroute and MTR

Follow our step-by-step guide: 👉 Run MTR for at least 100 cycles to get meaningful statistics.

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Using ping.pe

For external verification from multiple locations: 👉 This helps confirm whether an issue is local or global.

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How to interpret MTR output

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Scenario 1: Loss on intermediate hops only

Example: 
Hop 1   80% loss
Hop 2   100% loss
Hop 3   0% loss
Final   0% loss
This usually means:
  • Intermediate routers are rate-limiting ICMP
  • Traffic forwarding is unaffected
  • There is no real packet loss to the destination
If the final hop shows 0% loss, the connection is working. If packet loss does not reach the final hop, your VPS is not losing packets.

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Scenario 2: Loss continues to the final hop

Example: 
Hop 1   0% loss
[..]
Hop 3   10% loss
Hop 4   10% loss
Final   10% loss
This indicates real packet loss, because it propagates to the destination. Possible causes:
  • Network congestion
  • Faulty links
  • Host or hypervisor issues
This is when investigation is required, because real traffic is affected.

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Scenario 3: High latency spikes without final loss

Occasional latency spikes on intermediate hops are common and often harmless if:
  • The final hop latency is stable
  • There is no packet loss at the destination
Routers may prioritize forwarding over responding to probes.

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Packet loss in virtualized environments

In virtualized environments, network traffic passes through:
  • Guest virtual interfaces
  • Hypervisor networking layers
  • Host networking stacks
These layers may treat diagnostic ICMP differently from normal traffic. As a result:
  • Intermediate packet loss may appear exaggerated
  • Real application traffic may remain unaffected
Always judge connectivity based on the final hop and application behavior, not intermediate ICMP statistics alone.

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When to contact support

Please contact our support team if you observe:
  • Packet loss on the final hop
  • Persistent high latency to the destination
  • Application-level connectivity issues
When reporting issues, include:
  • Full MTR output
  • Test timestamps (UTC)
  • Source and destination IP addresses
  • ping.pe results if available
This helps us diagnose problems quickly.

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Final takeaway

MTR is a powerful tool, but it is often misunderstood. 👉 Packet loss on intermediate hops alone is not a reliable indicator of network problems.
👉 The final destination’s statistics are what truly matter. If the destination shows stable latency and no loss, your connection is healthy — even if earlier hops look alarming.