TCP/IP packages sent from my computer to a remote server does not always reach destination and ends up being retransmitted sometimes several times before they succeed.

To troubleshoot this, I'm running a tracert to the server:

Tracing route to <site> [<address>]
Over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  mymachine
 2    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  gw.levonline.com [217.70.32.30]
 3    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  81.201.213.218
 4    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  bmf1-hmf1.driften.net [81.201.213.12]
 5    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  10ge-2-4-cr2.a1.sth.ownit.se [84.246.88.157]
 6    <1 ms     *       <1 ms  netnod-ix-ge-b-sth-4470.microsoft.com [195.69.11.181]
 7    26 ms     *        *     ge-3-0-0-0.ams-64cb-1a.ntwk.msn.net [207.46.42.1]
 8    48 ms    57 ms    56 ms  ten9-1.lts-76e-1.ntwk.msn.net [207.46.42.133]
 9     *        *        *     Request timed out.

In step 6 and 7, I'm seeing timeouts while waiting for the reply from the server (as seen above). Running the same tracert many times gives varying output, sometimes the response is fine, but sometimes I get this timeout 1, 2 and sometimes for all 3 packets. The timeout always starts at the same server, netnod-ix-ge-b-sth-4470.microsoft.com.

I've tried setting the tracert timeout to 10 seconds, but am still getting the timeout.

Running tracert towards other servers does not give me the same timeout. Microsoft network technicians tells me that the problem is not on "their" side.

Are these timeouts an indicator of a lost packet on the specific node which did not respond? Are the timeouts an indication of there being a problem, or is it normal?