Study Shows Extent Of Consumer Intolerance To Network Delays

It is pretty sad that I remember thinking I was a bad ass when I upgraded from a 33.6k modem to a 56k modem. Back then, you could start your connection and go make a cup of coffee  while you were waiting to get online. Now a 400ms delay is too long.

It is possible that the widespread consumer base of the most popular sites – such as Facebook and Google – has ‘spoiled’ a net generation which does not remember the World Wide Wait under 56k modems, and that the sense of ‘community suffering’ can no longer be relied on to provide a level playing field. Sites at the scale of the social media giants have billions invested in content distribution networks, edge caching and other high-level resources to minimise latency, as well as failover in high demand conditions – unlikely contingencies for independent sites.