Ask Steve

There are two major causes for a specific web page coming up slower. If you are meaning why are ALL web sites coming up slow or why is my computer slow go here

1. Dilution - One thing that slows things down is something called bandwidth dilution.
a. As an example let’s say an internet service provider purchases a T1 from the HOP above them.
i. A T1 has the ability to transfer 1.45 Megs of data per second, every second of the day.
ii. This would be HOP1
b. For our example let assume that provider then sells a T1 to another one of their customers
i. They do this because it is typically safe to assume that in most cases no one customer will use a full T1 24 hours a day,7 days a week.
ii. Typically this same service provider will then sell another T1 to another customer. Keep in mind this is the same T1 they have access to.
iii. The HOP1 provider will do this anywhere from 10 to 20 times before going back and getting another T1 for their own access
iv. Each of the customers sold this same T1 are HOP2 providers
1. The next hop down the line does the exact same thing and sells T1s to 10 to 20 of their customers.
2. These are HOP3
3. HOP4 does the same thing,
4. HOP5 does the same thing and so on.
5. When the customer connects with a 56k modem what is left?
v. Assume that your modem is connected to a HOP5 provider
vi. If each of them is reselling only at 10 to 1 that allows 135 bytes (there are 1000 bytes in one K) per person if everyone was accessing it simultaneously. BUT KEEP IN MIND THIS IS EVERY SINGLE SECOND 24/7

2. Traffic – how many people are looking for the same thing you are?
a. Just as a computer has only so many things it can do at once the same thing is true with the computer the information you are asking for is coming from. This can be caused by:
i. A lot of people asking for the same thing at once. Like say information on who just won Survivor the day it is announced
ii. The computer being asked is old or not maintained well.
Though there isn’t much you can do about traffic in general it is always a good idea to check and be sure that your internet company has good up to date equipment so that they are not the reason for things going slow. Even more importantly, as you can see, it is extremely important to be sure that what the provider you are using has as a policy on dilution.