Hi everyone,
I've noticed there have been plenty of user sites asking about optimizing delivery for users in Australia. There has been a general sentiment that adding a CDN fixes latency issues. CDN tools are good, but they also don't necessarily offer the complete low-latency experience. When users want, especially for their users who are in Australia.
These are some of the most important technical reasons that a CDN alone cannot effectively solve latency:
- CDNs are good at working with static, not dynamic
The CDNs cache images, CSS, JS, videos, and so on very effectively. But anything dynamic, database queries, logins, shopping carts, search results, WordPress admin, API calls, the round trip may easily add 150-300+ ms to the latency. - TCP handshake and connection overhead
Each new connection entails the full TCP handshake sequence in case it is HTTPS. The further the origin server is from Australia, especially over wireless networks or in peak hours. CDNs may be helpful with routing, but cannot overcome physics. - Cross-continent problems relating to peering and routing
It is no secret that Australian transit is expensive at times and suboptimal. To any potential CDN advantage in Sydney, the origin fetch may use suboptimal routes. I’ve noticed instances in which the last-mile component from edge to origin takes about 200-400 ms. - Real-user examples
US West Coast origin + good CDN performance → usually, Australian users experience a Time To First Byte. Response time for dynamic content is between 250 and 500 ms. E-commerce, websites, and any kind of interactive service with an additional 150-300 ms per request make an even bigger difference.
In other words, if your core audience is based in the Australian market, an Australian VPS would be faster than overseas origins with CDN solutions.
CDN on top of the local server for static content delivery, protection against DDoS attacks, and worldwide accessibility – this is the key to success. I have found out that DedicatedCore and DomainRacer offer Sydney based data center with Australia VPS, which makes a big difference.
Has anyone tried them for Australia and measured the real performance?
