Why the Web Is So Slow

text only by David Strom
Web Informant #88, 23 October 1997

When it comes to using the web, the biggest complaint is how slow it is getting pages to appear on our browsers. No matter what we do to, we can't seem to get to where we are going fast enough.

Slow server

Trying to get into microsoft.com on the day of the IE download release, or IBM's site during a major chess match is asking for trouble. But there isn't anything you can do about this: if the server isn't able to handle all these connections, you will just have to wait.

The Internet Traffic Report

Track the performance of major Internet routers around the world once every hour. This performance data is then summarized as a consolidated Traffic Index. The next time your Internet connection is slow, check to see whether the problem is local or global. The examples below are from early March 1998.

trafficreport2.gif (2239 bytes)

Lots of network hops

If you have ever typed in tracert and the name of the site you are trying to get to, you can see for yourself the path that your packets take between your PC and the site. Sometimes it isn't a pretty picture: your packets can go across the country and back just to get to a site a few miles down the road. The more hops, the more latency you introduce into the browsing experience.

There isn't any way to fix this, unfortunately, short of getting another provider or moving the server you want to view. And the route (and the delays) that is reported by tracert command is dynamic and can change from one minute to another, as the Internet changes.

How to trace a route

In Windows 95, open a dos window and type "tracert" (without the quotes) followed by a location name which can be an IP address or number or even a website such as www.whatever.com. This is a useful utility to reveal some defunct site along the way.

How to trace a route in pictures

Neo Trace is a shareware utility that uses pictures and lines to display all the hops your transmission has taken as soon as you type in an address. Place your cursor over any of those icons and it will display the server's name and address. Neo Trace is very useful for tracking folks down or seeing where problems may lie along the way.

Congested hubs

The press has lots of stories about the congestion of various hubs or peering sites (where ISPs connect with each other). I've seen tremendous differences depending on the time of day -- just like rush hour at major tunnels and freeway intersections. trafficreport3.gif (1999 bytes)

Slow or congested name servers

This is an interesting problem, and one that hasn't been covered in the press. At Interop, Jon Stevens of ClearInk showed what happens to network latency when you place your name server deep down inside your network. Some ISPs do this for security reasons, while others just have forgotten the reason. This will add to the browser slow down if your name server is trying to satisfy thousands of requests and is five hops deep inside your network. It is relatively easy to fix, but hard to get the right person to fix it. trafficreport1.gif (2076 bytes)

All in all, we still really don't have a good intuitive notion of how to make the web browsing experience faster. Adding more bandwidth isn't always the solution. The only real way is to understand the topology and network characteristics of the piece of the Internet between your browser and web site, which takes time, tools, and trouble to really figure out.

text copyright 1997 by David Strom, Inc.
Web Informant is Ž U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Why else the Web is so slow
responses from industry experts

I've heard people blame their piece-a-junk desktop or laptop computer when the Web is slow. Or they blame AOL. Or Microsoft. Notice that the user's hardware never gets mentioned in the above. What are some of the incorrect things you've heard people blame their slow net connection on?

last update: April 27, 1998
http://toLearn.net/marketing/whysoslow.htm