:: Eric Germann writes ::
Granted, ping tends to get dropped on the floor at overloaded points,
A common misconception. Hosts (including the host functionality
internal to a router) may deal with pings differently depending on load
-- for example, pinging a router might result in delayed responses if
the router is busy. But routers do not stop forwarding pings when they
are overloaded. In the absence of traffic filters, a router (in the
general case -- there's probably an exception to prove the rule) will
forward a ping (that is not addressed to the router) with the same
priority as it will forward a TCP frame (that is not addressed to the
router.)
- Brett (brettf@netcom.com)