OK, here's the tracert:
Tracing route to gene-tools.com [204.119.59.243]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms
2 8 ms 9 ms 10 ms
3 9 ms 10 ms 9 ms ge4-0-0.core1.lnh.md.rcn.net [207.172.11.13
4 10 ms 11 ms 9 ms ge0-0.border1.lnh.md.rcn.net [207.172.15.5]
5 14 ms 12 ms 11 ms 500.POS2-2.GW2.IAD8.ALTER.NET [65.195.230.2
6 12 ms 14 ms 17 ms 0.so-1-0-0.XR1.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.41.14
7 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms 0.so-0-0-0.XR1.IAD5.ALTER.NET [152.63.38.13
8 16 ms 15 ms 14 ms 300.at-7-0-0.XL1.DCA8.ALTER.NET [152.63.34.
9 14 ms 14 ms 13 ms POS6-0.BR1.DCA8.ALTER.NET [146.188.162.209]
10 15 ms 14 ms 15 ms uu-gw.wswdc.ip.att.net [192.205.32.133]
11 21 ms 21 ms 17 ms tbr2-p012701.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.11.23
12 22 ms 27 ms 19 ms 12.122.11.233
13 45 ms 39 ms 48 ms tbr1-p012401.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.9.141
14 40 ms 41 ms 40 ms tbr2-p012301.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.10.46
15 38 ms 56 ms 39 ms tbr2-p012702.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.11.20
16 78 ms 78 ms 79 ms gbr4-p20.st6wa.ip.att.net [12.122.10.62]
17 78 ms 77 ms 78 ms gbr2-p100.st6wa.ip.att.net [12.122.5.170]
18 221 ms 207 ms 218 ms ar1-p3110.ptdor.ip.att.net [12.123.203.37]
19 84 ms 84 ms 87 ms 12.124.160.62
20 94 ms 97 ms 95 ms gene-tools.com [204.119.59.243]
AT&T is so strange. Everything has to go to NJ.
There's another server in MD I frequent a lot
Oprhus.com. They're also hosted by AT&T.
*cough* guess who is #1 ranked *cough*
NOTE: Not crapping on NewsCE's server, just giving another example of AT&T's great routing:
3 | 207.172.11.131 | ge4-0-0.core1.lnh.md.rcn.net | Lanham, MD, USA | 9 | RCN
4 | 207.172.15.5 | ge0-0.border1.lnh.md.rcn.net | Lanham, MD, USA | 10 | RCN
5 | 65.195.230.249 | 500.POS2-2.GW2.IAD8.ALTER.NET | Vienna, VA, USA | 12 | UUNET Technologies
6 | 152.63.41.14 | 0.so-1-0-0.XR1.IAD8.ALTER.NET | Vienna, VA, USA | 15 | UUNET Technologies,
7 | 152.63.38.130 | 0.so-0-0-0.XR1.IAD5.ALTER.NET | Vienna, VA, USA | 12 | UUNET Technologies,
8 | 152.63.34.237 | 200.at-7-1-0.XL1.DCA8.ALTER.NET | Washington, DC, USA | 14 | UUNET Technologies,
9 | 146.188.162.209 | POS6-0.BR1.DCA8.ALTER.NET | Washington, DC, USA | 14 | UUNET PIPEX
10 | 192.205.32.133 | uu-gw.wswdc.ip.att.net | Washington, DC, USA | 15 | AT&T Data
11 | 12.122.11.237 | tbr2-p012701.wswdc.ip.att.net | Washington, DC, USA | 17 | AT&T ITS
12 | 12.122.11.186 | gbr5-p40.wswdc.ip.att.net | Washington, DC, USA | 16 | AT&T ITS
13 | 12.123.194.65 | ar1-p310.btmmd.ip.att.net | Baltimore, MD, USA | 16 | AT&T ITS
14 | 12.125.7.134 | - | ?Middletown, NJ 07748 | 19 | AT&T ITS
15 | 12.110.101.180 | - | ?HUNT VALLEY, MD 21030 | 22 |
Tonight they're surprisingly good. Usually I have to make at least 2 round trips between Baltimore and NJ before hitting MD.
Still ping 22 there though, lol.