How to Use Ping on Mac

Ping is used to check how fast and good your internet is. In this segment, we’ll talk about network ping testing and how to Use Ping on Mac . Ping is a way for computers to check to see if another computer on the network is responding to them. Ping is a message that one computer sends to another, and the second computer replies.

It is a basic network administration command that, like traceroute, is used to test if a host on an IP network can be reached. It works by sending an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request to a specific IP or host address, waiting for the ICMP echo response, and timing how long it takes for the reply to get back to the source. Once the connection between the two computers is made, a ping test is run over and over to see how long it takes for the two computers to talk to each other.

How to Use Ping on Mac

Using Terminal

• Open Spotlight Mac Spotlight. Click the Spotlight icon, which resembles a magnifying glass, in the top-right corner of the screen. This opens the Spotlight search feature.
• Type terminal into the Spotlight search box. This displays a list of apps that match “Terminal.”
• Double-click TerminalMac Terminal. It’s below the Spotlight search box. Doing so will open the Terminal app.
• Type in ping [address]. This is the Terminal command to ping a computer or website. Replace “[address]” with the address of the computer or website you want to ping.
• Press Return. Doing so will prompt your Mac to begin pinging the address.
• Review the results. Below your “ping” command, you’ll see several lines of ping results begin to appear. You can read these results to get an idea of the connection strength between your computer and the address you pinged

Using Network Utility

• Open Spotlight Mac Spotlight. Click the Spotlight icon, which resembles a magnifying glass, in the top-right corner of the screen. This opens the Spotlight search feature.
• Type network utility into the Spotlight search box. This displays the Network Utility app in the search results.
• Double-click Network Utility. It’s below the Spotlight search box. Doing so will open the Network Utility app.
• Click Ping. This tab is at the top of the window.
• Enter an address or website. Use the white box at the top of the page to enter a computer address or website you want to ping.
• Select a specific number of pings if necessary. By default, your Mac will send pings until you close the Network Utility window. You can set it to ping your selected address a specific number of times by using the following steps:
• Click Ping. It’s a blue button on the right side of the page. Your Mac will begin pinging the address.

What is a Ping Test?

When you do a ping test, your computer sends a small packet of data to your host, a web domain, or another device on your network. The results will tell you how many milliseconds it takes for your computer to send back a “pong” message. A ping test measures latency, which lets you know how good your connection is. Low latency is important for online gaming, quickly loading web pages, video chatting, and more.

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