Re: ICMP ping effecting network flow?

> I was told by someone at a systems conference about 10 years ago that if
> you ping a server over the Internet while downloading a file from it,
> your download will take place quicker. I thought it was bogus then and
> still kind of lean towards that. I see no difference from some simple
> tests I've tried. But, perhaps there's something to do with a common
> design of routers and traffic flows that I just don't get. The guy who
> told me got a knowing nod from someone else and neither were in a
> position to just be pulling legs. Were they both wrong and just trying
> to sound smart? Any (real) info would be much appreciated. It's
> tickled the back of my mind for a long time. :)

I've come across documentation that some routers place ICMP traffic in their high-priority queue. Both these guys were heavily certified (which I know doesn't always mean qualified), one of them was presenting on a loosely-related topic and the other troubleshot national banking networks. My guess is that they might have thought (wrongly?) that certain vendors' routers placed all traffic to/from a source address issuing echo_requests in such a queue, elevating lower-priority protocols.

I can't remember their names and I agree the time to ask was back then. Unfortunately, I didn't. :(


Roy
.