A system and technique for analyzing incoming packets. The path taken by incoming packets can be analyzed from a near end without having access to the far end. This can be done even though packets sent to the far end from the near end, take a different path than that used by the incoming packets. The process is started by an RTP no op packet sent from the near end to the far end. The no op packet request the far end to initiate a trace using a series of media packets that have sequential values in the TTL field. The results of the trace are either send from the far end to the near end and a report is complied at the near end, or the results of the trace are compiled into a report at the far end and the report is sent to the near end.