diff --git a/client/zzz_evobackup b/client/zzz_evobackup
index 22b6b68..9f1b17a 100755
--- a/client/zzz_evobackup
+++ b/client/zzz_evobackup
@@ -746,10 +746,6 @@ test_server() {
     host=$(echo "${item}" | cut -d':' -f1)
     port=$(echo "${item}" | cut -d':' -f2)
 
-    if [ "${PING_BEFORE_SSH}" = "1" ]; then
-        ping -w 2 "${host}" > /dev/null
-    fi
-
     # Test if the server is accepting connections
     ssh -q -o "ConnectTimeout ${SSH_CONNECT_TIMEOUT}" "${host}" -p "${port}" -t "exit"
     # shellcheck disable=SC2181
@@ -1085,11 +1081,6 @@ SERVERS_FALLBACK=${SERVERS_FALLBACK:-1}
 # timeout (in seconds) for SSH connections
 SSH_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=${SSH_CONNECT_TIMEOUT:-90}
 
-# Send a couple of ping packets before SSH.
-# It comes from a weird bug in our network;
-# the connection could not be established without a ping in the preceding 5 minutes.
-PING_BEFORE_SSH=${PING_BEFORE_SSH:-1}
-
 # execute main function
 main