"Blazing fast" measured from the data center down the street

"Blazing fast" measured from the data center down the street

Myth: "Their benchmark shows 200ms, so it's fast."

Whose 200ms? Host-published speed tests run from a server near their own data center, with one toy WordPress install and zero plugins, at 2am with no neighbors awake.

Your reality: a plugin-laden site, a database under load, real visitors three time zones away, and a noisy shared box at peak. The number you were sold and the number you get share a unit and nothing else.

Follow the money: nobody markets the p95 TTFB under load — it's ugly. They market the cherry-picked best case and call it typical.

Reality: a host's speed benchmark describes a lab that doesn't include you.