How and Why to run a traceroute...
http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/index.blog?entry_id=1510938

My outbound "traceroutes" [aka "tracert"] all pass through 
IP addresses that fall between 12.122.0.0 - 12.123.255.255 
This IP range is publicly delegated to AT&T by ARIN.net
http://ws.arin.net/whois/?queryinput=!%20NET-12-122-0-0-1

The fact that all of my outbound traffic seems to pass through
this range of AT&T managed IP addresses is probably due to one 
or more of the following three factors:

1.) My ISP Comcast's upstream ISP happens to be AT&T. 
[They connect to the Internet exclusively through AT&T] 
2.) AT&T is an efficient path from here to the Internet.
3.) The NSA might be watching, in which case I'll behave..

I've documented relevant "hops" in several traceroutes..

6/28/06

To Stryder.com
...
12.118.38.5
tbr1-p010802.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.66]
12.123.12.1
...
~~~~~~~~~
To Google.com
...
12.118.38.5
tbr1-p010802.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.66]
gbr1-a80s6.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.26]
192.205.33.18
...
~~~~~~~~
To Russia.ru
...
12.118.38.5
tbr2-p032402.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.70]
12.122.82.149
...
~~~~~~~~~
To Microsoft.com
...
12.116.188.13
tbr2033201.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.126]
tbr1-cl10.st6wa.ip.att.net [12.122.12.114]
12.127.6.33
...
~~~~~~~~~~
To NSA.gov
...
12.118.38.5
tbr2-p032402.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.70]
tbr1-cl2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.10.41]
tbr1-cl4.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.10.29]
ar2-a3120s6.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.123.8.65]
12.127.209.218
...
~~~~~~~~~
To Whitehouse.gov
...
12.117.240.85
tbr2032701.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.53]
gbr2-a90s5.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.22]
sl-st21-sj-15-2-1620xT1.sprintlink.net
...
~~~~~~~~
To IFCtv.com
...
12.118.38.5
tbr2-p032402.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.70]
gbr1-a90s6.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.30]
att-gw.ashburn.eli.net [192.205.32.74]
0.so-2-0-0.XL2.SCL2.ALTER.NET [152.63.57.102]
...
~~~~~~~~~
To Yahoo.com
...
12.117.240.85
tbr1012801.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.49]
gbr1-a80s6.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.12.26]
att-gw.sea.level3.net [192.205.32.206]
...
~~~~~~~~~~

The example below is unedited output of a traceroute from a Windows 2000 command prompt:

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\>tracert boingboing.net

Tracing route to boingboing.net [204.11.50.136]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2   <10 ms     *      <10 ms  GE-2-2-ur02.hayward.ca.sfba.comcast.net [68.87.196.157]
  3    10 ms     *        *     10g-8-2-ar01.oakland.ca.sfba.comcast.net [68.87.192.90]
  4     *       20 ms    10 ms  68.87.226.134
  5    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms  12.127.32.65
  6    70 ms    70 ms    70 ms  tbr1-p010501.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.13.173]
  7    90 ms    70 ms    71 ms  tbr1-cl1.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.5]
  8    70 ms    70 ms    70 ms  tbr1-cl14.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.10.1]
  9    70 ms    70 ms    70 ms  sar1-a300s3.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.123.0.153]
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11    80 ms    80 ms    90 ms  3.ge-3-0-0.gbr2.nwr.nac.net [209.123.11.189]
 12    90 ms   111 ms   100 ms  0.so-0-3-0.gbr1.tto.nac.net [209.123.11.226]
 13    90 ms   100 ms   120 ms  gi-1-1.msfc01.tor1.prioritycolo.com [204.11.48.2.49]
 14    90 ms   100 ms    90 ms  boingboing.net [204.11.50.136]


~~~~~~~~~~