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by Doug Lawson Site contacted... Waiting for Reply. And Waiting... and Waiting... and Waiting... Why, you're wondering, is the Internet so slow all the time? here are a number or reasons. But first, let's not blame the Internet. It could be you! If you're surfing the Internet using an older modem, you'll find things are slow. If you're using a new modem, but an older computer, you might also find things are slow -- though the Net may be able to deliver the information to your machine, your machine may only be able to process it all and display it to you so fast. Say you have the fastest computer in the world, and the fastest modem, though. If you use the Internet at different times of the day, you're still likely notice a substantial difference in performance. Why this happens has a lot to do with how the Internet works. When you're surfing the web, your computer sends out a command to the computer where the site you want to see resides, and says "Gimme some data." This call to server is a point at which you'll frequently get hung up. Is the site you want to see a popular one? If so, your request gets in line with all the other people around the world who want that very same data. Depending on how fast the host computer is, you can get a quick response, or you can find yourself waiting for a very long time. But hey — today's your lucky day. The host computer says back, "You sure you still want some data?" Your computer says, "Uh, yeah. That's kind of why I asked for it in the first place." So the host sends some data. But it doesn't send it as one chunk — it breaks it into smaller chunks, called "packets." These packets scramble out over the wires that make up the Internet, and each takes a different path to you depending on what the network decides is the quickest, most efficient way to get each packet to you. Then all the packets reassemble themselves back at your machine's party. It's as if you and all your friends are at a party, and you all decide to move to another house on the other side of town. So you all pack into cars, and each driver takes their own favorite shortcut. Then you all get back together at the new location. Fine, in theory — the network is designed so that if one highway gets blocked off, everyone can get there via another route. Eventually, all of the friends (packets) will get to the party. Here's the problem, though: all the highways are jammed! There are all kinds of vehicles zooming around out there. QuickTime movies are blaring by you at 90 miles an hour and encrypted pictures of cows are going in the other direction and part of a recipe for foie gras is doing thirty-five in the fast lane and just won't get out of the way. These days, it's rare for you to be able to download information at the highest speed that your modem is capable of handling. What's worse, though, is this — just like friends who like to take shortcuts, many packets get lost along the way, never to return. Your machine, or machines along the way, have to re-request the information and go through the process all over again. Well fine, you're thinking. What am I supposed to do about it? There are actually several ways you can deal with this. Surf after hours. The biggest drag on the network is during peak hours of use; while use of individual sites and services may vary, peak hours of general Internet usage are US business hours. (Net surfers from other countries report significant download lags begin when dawn hits the East coast.)Happy downloads. Doug Lawson drives a 1978 Volvo on a good day. He edits The Blue Moon Review. |
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