EDIT: I really don't want this post to turn into a debate about the merits of doing this, I just want to discuss tools that are out there that could do this.
Too bad. ICMP echo requests to a local anycast server don't tell you anything about the service or a provider's ability to handle those connections.
As a small ISP, I would like to know what your goal is here, or at least what you hope to discover.
Ah, interesting. We switched transit providers a year ago and noticed a big improvement in routing efficiency. Small providers are usually at the mercy of their upstream peers unless they can build their own backbone links to an IX.