There is a good PowerShell (PS) cmdlet to replace ping called Test-NetConnection. You can use it natively from Server 2012r2 PS.
You can use this tool to test internet connectivity, Ping a remote host, perform a trace route, check if a host is listening on a certain port, etc. It has an alias of “tnc”
Example: Test-NetConnection domain.com -port 80
See link below for more examples
