If a tester is attempting to ping a target that exists but receives no response or a response that states the destination is unreachable, ICMP may be disabled and the network may be using TCP. Which…

Traceroute by default relies on ICMP echo or UDP packets, meaning it would also be blocked or return unreachable responses in the same restricted environment.

Hping can craft and transmit TCP SYN or ACK packets directly to a target host, functioning as a TCP-based ping when ICMP is unavailable. A live host will respond with a TCP RST or SYN-ACK, confirming its existence without relying on ICMP echo requests. This makes hping a preferred tool for testers operating in environments that filter ICMP but allow TCP traffic.

TCP ping describes the technique or concept being applied, but it is not a standalone tool - hping is the specific utility used to implement TCP-based host probing.

Broadcast ping sends ICMP echo requests to a network broadcast address and still depends on ICMP, so it would not work when ICMP is disabled.