Latency, contention, and device ageing: why connecting to the cloud can feel slow

Fast-moving cars, a day packed with events, and juggling multiple tasks at once—these seemingly minor, everyday things condition us to a dynamic pace of life. So much so that any unplanned delay can throw us off our emotional balance. For example, a slow internet connection that prevents you from completing work by your intended deadline.

Almost everyone has encountered slow internet, often at the most inconvenient moment. Our clients have also reported issues to our technical support team when connecting to the Jumis Pro cloud solution. In these situations, we send our users a tool to check the internet speed from their specific device to the location of the database.

Requesting and awaiting a response

That tool, or "ping test," shows the latency in delivering or receiving data. You can have fast internet that moves a large volume of data quickly, but with high latency. This means you have to wait a long time for a response.

The operation of a "ping" can be illustrated with a simple example: imagine a tunnel with one person standing at each end. One person at the end of the tunnel calls out to the other and starts counting until they hear the shout and respond. That is the response time. Something similar happens in the Jumis Pro cloud solution. After every click or action that retrieves data from the cloud, you have to wait for this response. This is especially noticeable if a single action requires multiple simultaneous requests. For example, when generating a report with several parameters—date, partner, account. Once that is done, the data can travel quickly to the next action.

Every action is based on an internet connection, which typically has two indicators: download speed and upload speed, but the stability of this connection is also very important.

The cable doesn't always lead to the computer

Internet connections can vary, but they are primarily divided into wired internet and mobile internet.

When using wired internet, the device in use is connected to the global network via a cable. We encounter this type of internet very often, but upon closer inspection, it turns out that the cable is only used up to the router, not all the way to the computer itself. From there, the connection to the specific computer is made via a WiFi wireless signal.

The router is the first device that ensures data security; it operates using software and is updated regularly, so it is recommended to restart the router periodically. The main question regarding speed here is whether one computer or several are connected to this device. If there are many computers, the internet "speed" is divided among the number of connected devices. We very often encounter situations where these routers are both morally and physically obsolete, which is why internet latency is very high.

This is precisely why it is more productive to connect to the internet directly via a cable for transferring large amounts of information or for fast work in cloud services.

One tower – hundreds of users

Mobile internet users often complain that Jumis Pro technical support finishes work at 5:00 PM, and then the cloud performance slows down.

What is the operating principle of mobile internet? Let's assume a situation: one village where 100 people live, and each has their own device that uses mobile internet. Its performance depends on the capacity of the specific tower.

Let's assume our village has a single mobile internet tower. At night, 99 residents are asleep and dreaming of a nice next day, while one person sits at their computer downloading movies and sending photos from their last trip to a friend. In this case, the mobile internet tower is interacting with only one device, and the user is happy because the internet connection is perfect and everything happens quickly. Morning comes, the residents wake up, pick up their mobile devices, and start reading news about events in Latvia and the world. At this moment, the nighttime user observes a decrease in internet speed because the mobile tower is already serving all 100 residents.

When the workday arrives, 50 residents leave for another village, and their mobile devices disconnect from the specific tower; another 30 children head off to school, and their devices also disconnect from the tower. And during the day, 20 people remain at the specific tower. Consequently, there is no heavy load on the internet connection, and none of the users experience a decrease in internet performance. Evening comes, and all the residents return home, turn on their devices, and connect to the tower; accordingly, a high demand for internet is created, and the average speed drops. This is also the reason why working with the cloud becomes slower after business hours.