You ping a distant router in your network and find that the TTL returned in 252. What can you conclude?

You can conclude the ping packet was routed through 3 routers, because the default TTL is 255. If the packet started with a TTL of 255 and a TTL of 252 was reported, 3 routers routed the ping packet (255 – 252 = 3). Time has nothing to do with TTL; therefore, the time and delay are not reported in the resultant TTL. The TTL decrements by one as the packet is routed by each router to its destination. Therefore, the answer of 252 routers is invalid.