Traceroute only making 2 Hops, incorrect ping data

[nat2r]

For some reason I haven't been able to perform tracerts. I call customer support, and the first representative didn't understand what that was, so she transcribed my issue to helpdesk and they didn't quite understand the issue. I sent over screenshots and they're like "you're pinging at 1ms, thats very good, i dont see the issue." Very concerning response considering none of the examples I sent them had more than 2 hops. 

Regardless, I'd love to know how to fix this issue. I've talked to support twice. 

Additionally, there is a problematic node in Philadelphia that needs to be looked at ASAP. Is there a single person I can contact regarding more complex issues unrelated to my home?

[smith6612 · Accepted solution]

This is a network configuration issue on Verizon's end which has been popping up in some areas. Basically, Verizon uses an MPLS backbone, but TTL Propagation isn't occurring (something tracert needs to work correctly) for ICMP traffic. If you have a Linux system or a Mac handy, these will be able to complete a traceroute correctly. You can also try using other tools like WinMTR or Pathping on Windows to see if those work.

[JC-NYC]

And Verizon tech swears this is not the case!

SMH ... this is getting pathetic.

[VinceF1]

I have the same problem (in Syracuse, NY) as the OP.  Here, the (only) problem seems to be at the second hop. [Is that the optical network terminal in my basement?]  If the ping expires there, it responds with the IP of the desired destination (and the RTT is impossibly low).  But if the ping doesn't expire there, it's forwarded (with TTL intact) and the trace proceeds as desired.  I wrote a NETTRACE.EXE which allows for skipping some hops.  It uses ICMP.  Below, if I don't skip any hops, I get the behavior described previously.  If I skip 2 hops, I get satisfactory results.

v:\> nettrace syr.edu

  1     0       0       0       Fios_Quantum_Gateway.fios-router.home
  2     3       6       6       syr.edu

v:\> nettrace /s 2 syr.edu

  3     9       3       7       B3309.SYRCNY-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net
  4     *       *       *
  5     16      13      13      0.ae2.BR2.NYC4.ALTER.NET
  6     *       *       14      verizon.com.customer.alter.net
  7     27      27      27      ae-0-11.bar1.Buffalo1.Level3.net
  8     26      21      27      SYRACUSE-UN.bar1.Buffalo1.Level3.net
  9     21      28      27      core2-cst-61-49.syr.edu
 10     27      27      20      gdc-40leaf1b-061-171.syr.edu
 11     23      20      20      syr.edu

 - Vince

[CRobGauth]

But are you experiencing performance issues otherwise?

If not, what's the impact of the trace issue?

[darby_malik]

I have noticed lately that tracert span only two hops. In the past, a tracert on my network varied based on the target and look something like this:

traceroute to 173.79.224.79 (173.79.224.79), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  static.33.75.46.78.clients.your-server.de (78.46.75.33)  0.300 ms  0.281 ms  0.288 ms
 2  core21.fsn1.hetzner.com (213.239.229.249)  0.350 ms core22.fsn1.hetzner.com (213.239.229.253)  0.337 ms  0.325 ms
 3  core1.fra.hetzner.com (213.239.245.218)  5.059 ms core0.fra.hetzner.com (213.239.252.29)  5.026 ms core0.fra.hetzner.com (213.239.252.33)  17.965 ms
 4  213.198.82.129 (213.198.82.129)  5.407 ms  5.410 ms et-0-0-47.cr10-fra2.ip4.gtt.net (77.67.76.141)  4.916 ms
 5  et-9-1-0.cr0-nyc2.ip4.gtt.net (213.254.214.2)  86.604 ms ae-4.r25.frnkge08.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.100)  5.328 ms et-9-3-0.cr0-nyc2.ip4.gtt.net (213.254.214.6)  86.567 ms
 6  ae-8.r22.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.96)  92.318 ms ip4.gtt.net (173.205.47.146)  84.075 ms ae-8.r22.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.96)  91.270 ms
 7  ae-7.r06.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.121)  90.629 ms  90.515 ms *
 8  ae203-0.WASHDC-VFTTP-323.verizon-gni.net (130.81.170.225)  91.803 ms xe-3-0-5.BR2.IAD8.ALTER.NET (204.148.79.149)  91.230 ms  91.206 ms
 9  * * *
10  ae203-0.WASHDC-VFTTP-323.verizon-gni.net (130.81.170.225)  92.668 ms pool-173-79-224-79.washdc.fios.verizon.net (173.79.224.79)  97.972 ms *

My tracerts used to look similar to the above.

Now all my tracerts look similar to this:
tracert www.kloth.net [78.46.75.45]

Tracing route to www.kloth.net [78.46.75.45]

1 8 ms 5 ms 5 ms FIOS_Quantum_Gateway.fios-router.home [192.168.1.1]
2 8 ms 6 ms 6 ms frog.qrq.de [78.46.75.45]

Can anyone tell why this is happening?

Thanks. 

[radon222]

I've recently started having trouble accessing a work VPN,  I was trying to use Traceroute as a diagnostic tool to help figure out where the connection failure was happening.  The two hop failure on Verizon's end made that a useless tool.

[gs0b]

Use Mac or Linux and it works fine.

On Windows, use a tracert tool that uses UDP packets instead of ICMP packets.  Again, works fine.  PingPlotter is one such tool.

Enjoy