Meaning – The term packet internet groper, or PING, refers to a program used in TCP/IP networks to test the ability to reach destinations by sending the destinations an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request and waiting for a reply.
A ping request can be performed using a ping command, which is a standard command in most command-line interfaces. Several network utilities provide a ping feature, which allows you to ping a server by simply entering the IP address or domain name.
The ping itself consists of a single packet (often 32 or 56 bytes) that contains an “echo” request. The host, if available, responds with a single packet as a reply. The ping time, measured in milliseconds, is the round trip time for the packet to reach the host and for the response to return to the sender.
Example of usage – “While Internet connection speeds can affect pings, ping response time is often directly related to the physical distance between the source and destination systems.”
