What Does Gateway Ping Mean?

Networks connect physical devices, such as routers, to host devices, such as computers and servers. Gateways, also known as nodes, are the access points on these networks, and pings test how reachable a host is on a network. When connecting two devices, such as a Blu-ray player with a television, a gateway ping test is conducted to measure how reachable each device is to each other on the network.

Gateway nodes exist in a TCP/IP network, which is a descriptive framework of standards for the Internet Protocol Suite of computer network protocols. The data flow in a TCP/IP network is a communication between four components: a host "A" device, two routers and host "B" device. The two host devices can't communicate over a network to each other directly, so routers are needed. The TCP/IP network is combined with other networks to create the Internet. The layers of the TCP/IP network consist of the IP, which moves packets of data from node to node, and the TCP, which verifies the correct delivery of data from a client to a server. However, data can be lost in the network, so the TCP adds support to detect errors.

A gateway is an aspect of computer networking. It is a node, or router, located on a TCP/IP network. Gateways serve as entry points to another network. The gateways known as default gateways are used with pings. Default gateways are the nodes located on the computer network used by the network software during a situation in which an IP address doesn't match other routes in the routing table. With a home computer and computer network, an ISP links to a physical device. The device connects local hardware to the Internet, serving as a gateway. The physical devices include DSL modems and cable modems. For other types of networks, a gateway is a node routing network traffic from one workstation to another segment of the network. Therefore, the default gateway connects internal networks and outside networks, such as the Internet.

Pings are computer network administration utilities. Pings test how reachable a host is on an IP network. A ping also measures the round-trip time for messages sent from originating hosts to the destination computer. Pinging sends Internet control message protocol echo request packets to the target hosts and then waits for the ICMP to respond. While waiting, the ping measures the time from transmission to reception, and this time is called the round-trip time. It records any data packet lost during the round-trip.

A gateway ping test between two devices on a network measures the ability of the host computer to send the data packet information, the ability of the network to send the information and the ability of the Internet network device to receive the information. A gateway ping error is an error in the communication of two devices, such as a television and a router, a Blu-ray disc player and a router, a computer and a router, or a smartphone with wireless Internet and a wireless router. The error with the gateway ping is a measure of connectivity and the length of the round-trip time.