Are ICMP packets important?

[Steve Holmes]

My former ISP, Sprint Broadband, was blocking all pings as far as I
could tell.  They also claimed security reasons.  It is really a shame
as people go along and fuck things up.  First it is finger, then
e-mail with all that spam and viruses and such, and now ping.  Soon it
will be impossible to trouble-shoot your own network in relation to
the internet in general.  My current ISP, Cox Communications doesn't
block pings but they do block other popular ports on inbound to
prevent personal hosting of servers but there's ways around that too.

On Wed, Feb 11, 2004 at 05:41:14PM -0500, Alex Snow wrote:
> my isp blocked icmp packets 'because they use up bandwidth' but only 
> on their subnet. I can ping whoever I want and get a reply if they're 
> outside the subnet.
> On Wed, Feb 11, 2004 at 01:58:59PM -0500, Chuck 
> Hallenbeck wrote:
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> > Hi gang,
> > 
> > Now that I have a cable modem connection, I have implemented a
> > firewall and have been tinkering with it. I have been unable to
> > ping any hosts on the net, and have disected my firewall up one
> > side and down the other looking for the problem. Ping uses ICMP
> > packets.
> > 
> > Finally, out of either desperation or inspiration, not sure
> > which, I called my ISP and mentioned that I am unable to ping
> > anyone on other systems. He said that they have "disabled ICMP
> > packets" due to security concerns. Since ping is the only thing I
> > know about that uses ICMP, I decided I would not press the point
> > until something else came along.
> > 
> > Does anyone know what else I ought to be on the lookout for?
> > 
> > What about audio streams that persist over long periods of time?
> > I occasionally lose a connection to a realaudio stream with the
> > message "the server has timed out", and this seems sometimes to
> > happen right in the middle of playing something, not after a
> > lengthy silence. No more silences with cable modem. Is it
> > possible that a remote host might be trying to ping me to see if
> > I am alive, and my inability to send or receive ICMP packets
> > makes me appear absent?
> > 
> > If anyone has any light to shed on this issue of what trouble I
> > might expect with my ICMP packets blocked, I would appreciate
> > hearing about it.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Chuck
> > 
> > 
> > - -- 
> > The Moon is Waning Gibbous (70% of Full)
> > In a world without Fences or Walls no one needs Windows or Gates.
> > My home page is now at http://www.mhcable.com/~chuckh
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> > 
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> -- 
> Always borrow money from a pessimist; he doesn't expect to be paid
> back.
> 
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