I ran the trace route command for a few websites I frequent as well as my iPhone (its local IP from the same LAN as my computer). Below are some snippets and here is the link to the google sheets doc with the complete results. Note: all the IPs that were received are visible in the screenshots. Two traceroutes came back inconclusive having used up all 64 TTL counts.
www.soundcloud.com
not very exciting spitballing between NY, NJ and VA
My Digital Ocean Server
The location does not match the chart because I used a different IP address lookup service for this map
www.cy-kim.com
My iPhone connected to the same LAN
Observations
The TTL is limited 64 counts and my traceroute to my Digital Ocean server and Squarespace website maxed out those counts. Also, a majority of the returns out of the 64 for those connections had the return packet blocked and the servers did not self-identify. I’m not sure if the results for these two traceroutes actually took 64 hops or it has been intentionally obscured.
Lines 3-4 are the same regardless of the URL meaning that packets from my computer go through the same pipeline of Spectrum routers in NYC before getting sent a Spectrum router in Newark or Dallas (line 5) before being to outside of my ISP’s network. I wonder what physical setups are involved in lines 2-5.
Some of the Tier1 providers: Amazon.com, Charter Comm (Spectrum), Level3, Vodafone, Akamai Tech.