Topic: Repeated stop & retry link quicker than click once & wait--why?

[Cobra951]

This is more of a general question than a need for help.  I've been observing an interesting phenomenon when surfing the WWW.  Sometimes I click on a link and the browser just sits there spinning its wheels.  The status bar informs me that it's waiting for the site, which is perfectly normal when actually connected.  If I press the Stop button, and click again, it may do the same, or it may go right through.  Usually just a few such retries get me there.  This is especially true at Sandy's.  She has Comcast (which sucks immeasurably compared to the Roadrunner I use at home).

Why does this happen?  Intuitively I would think that once I'm on the queue to get a response, I shouldn't walk away and then get in line again.  But long experience has taught me otherwise.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, I've wondered about this myself. On my connection it's also common to click a link, get timed out (even stopping and trying again doesn't go), and then after timing out, the retry goes through instantly. This has baffled me somewhat, and never happened to me so much until getting on DSL. Cable always seemed okay, but this is different. Though it hasn't done it so much lately, so... yeah. Go figure.

[iPPi]

This happens to me frequently as well.  I'm not sure why it happens.

[scottws]

I think it is traffic shaping or something by the ISP.  When I had fiber optics with Cincinnati Bell, it was lightning fast from both a latency and a pure transfer rate perspective.  We have AT&T U-Verse here in Florida and while the transfer rate is good, I notice the same thing you guys are talking about.  I click a link and it sits there for several seconds before doing anything.

It helped when I changed my DNS to OpenDNS rather than using the ISP's, but that only helps speed up DNS lookups.  Once your computer has resolved the name to an IP address, you are just waiting for TCP to work its magic and I get the feeling the ISPs are prioritizing traffic.

[Cobra951]

I guess that would explain why I rarely have the issue when on Roadrunner.  It's this dodgy Comcast in Indiana that plagues me with it (sometimes as much as like half the time).  Thanks.  At least I know I'm not alone.