How ping to google server can exceed light speed?

0

when i try ping google server takes only 30ms. 

PING google.com (172.217.26.174) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from google.com (172.217.26.174): icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=31.2 ms
64 bytes from google.com (172.217.26.174): icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=32.3 ms

I did this from cochin,Kerala,India to a google server located in california, US. The minimum distance from this two places is 14,560 km.

So, light can do this two way trip in just 97ms.

(14,560 * 2 ) / c =~ 97ms

So how pinging google server can exceed the light speed? What is wrong in the assumptions/calculations?

EDIT

Hi i have found similar question here, Ping faster than light

But ping does not shows any cdn domain there, also iplocation of server belongs to the US. If server located nearby why ping is not showing the that nearby ip address?

JITHIN JOSE

Posted 2017-06-25T09:47:05.307

Reputation: 107

Question was closed 2017-07-04T08:19:50.893

2I suspect the one answering you is not the google server located in California, rather the nearest node, maybe in Singapore. – Vylix – 2017-06-25T09:51:29.660

172.217.26.174 is maa03s22-in-f174.1e100.net. Why do you think this is in California? – DavidPostill – 2017-06-25T09:54:55.407

Based on iplocation. – JITHIN JOSE – 2017-06-25T09:57:47.210

I have seen this as well. I suspect that the ping response is coming from a much closer location, possibly in your own city. Google has a large number of caching servers throughout the world, including many in India. DNS would route the request from google.com to this location. If it does not have the content requested it would be referred elsewhere. But ping requests would be answered by the local server. – LMiller7 – 2017-06-25T13:30:16.730

@LMiller7, while pining IP also i am getting same results. – JITHIN JOSE – 2017-06-26T04:50:38.623

It's a near-by server. – Overmind – 2017-06-28T08:10:05.097

Answers

1

We do know that we (has Google?) haven't yet achieved FTL communications, we can safely assume that one of the data items we're relying on is the source of inaccuracy.

IP GeoLocation records are notoriously inaccurate. So the first suspicion goes there. I would go with the hostname indication (maa03s22-in-f174...) as posted by @davidpostill.

Theoretically there could be other points of inaccuracy too (your OS clock, your OS network stack, a bug in ping, ...) but those are far less likely than the IP geolocation possibility.

[edit]

One simple explanation for IP location inaccuracies: IP Address blocks are often reallocated within large corporates and equally often leased out to others for revenue. In such cases, public records may not always be updated.

Sas3

Posted 2017-06-25T09:47:05.307

Reputation: 269

Asked: 2017-06-25T09:47:05.307

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Active: 2017-06-25T11:29:45.093