Latency: The New Web Performance Bottleneck – igvita.com
If we want a faster browsing experience then reducing the round trip time (RTT) should be near the top of our list. Or, as Mike Belshe put it: more bandwidth doesn’t matter (much).
Now, let’s be clear, higher bandwidth is never a bad thing, especially for use cases that require bulk transfer of data: video streaming, large downloads, and so on. However, when it comes to your web browsing experience, it turns out that latency, not bandwidth, is likely the constraining factor today. As a consumer, did you consider this when you picked your ISP? Likely not, I’m yet to see any provider mention, yet alone advertise latency.
Bandwidth vs. Latency
Akamai’s State of the Internet stats show that as of 2011 an average US consumer is accessing the web on a 5Mbps+ pipe. In fact, with the fast growth of broadband worldwide, many other countries are hovering around the same number, or quickly catching up. As it happens, 5mbps is an important threshold.