It seems like a no-brainer that the faster a site is, the better right? But did you know that site speed is a major factor in the success and growth of your website?
It’s why web hosting providers like A2 Hosting are so keen to tout their speed. In fact, speed is one of A2 Hosting’s biggest selling points in their quest to be one of the top web hosting providers around. It’s why they offer Turbo plans, which offer the use of their Turbo Servers.
We’ll keep this short and simple. Aside from the obvious reason that everybody, yourself very likely included, prefers to use a fast website, there are two big reasons on why you would want your own site to be as fast as possible.
It directly influences your conversion rates and repeat business. Every second actually counts. A single second delay can result in a 7% reduction in conversion. Think of it this way. If you’re buying something off the web, every second you have to wait for your purchase to finalize after you click “buy” makes you nervous right? Did my order go through? Am I getting double charged? Do I want to buy from this site again if it’s always dicey like this?
See? Speed actually matters. It offers a sense of security, on top of convenience.
It affects your search engine rankings. Google has made page speed a ranking factor, including for mobile search rankings. It’s not just purely about the speed either, but a faster website translates to a better user experience, which in turn, further improves its search engine rankings.
The Turbo Servers are built for speed. So their servers are managed differently in order to maximize these speeds.
They have limited occupancy so more resources can be dedicated for each Turbo plan account.
They use upgraded server hardware, advanced caching software, optimized configurations, and a variety of performance add-ons.
These servers can handle 9 times more traffic with read/write speeds that are 3 times faster and able to reach the first byte 2 times faster than non-Turbo servers.
This allows them to load 20 times faster than regular sites.
So how are these Turbo Servers able to achieve these mythical speeds? Why, through the magic of science of course.
Limited occupancy Turbo Servers allow fewer users per server. This allows them to better service those users. Think of them as highways that only let a certain number of drivers onto their roads. Not only do fewer cars mean less congestion, but each car would be able to go faster because the roads are empty.
Upgraded server hardware Turbo Servers are configured to give faster performance with CPU processors that are 40% faster and increased RAM. And not only that, they have double the physical memory allocated.
Advance Caching Software Turbo Servers have Alternative PHP Cache (APC) enabled by default with accounts allocated 16 MB of APC memory. On top of that, they have built-in caching engines, though those are disabled by default and can be enabled by following the steps entailed here.
Additional Features
Along with the premium hardware and optimized configurations, the Turbo plans also come with additional features to push the speed and performance to the next level, including:
NVMe Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) Hosting solutions, which is what allows for the over 3 times faster read/write speeds compared to competing services.
QUIC Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) is the speed-enhanced alternative to TCP. QUIC lowers latency by creating multiplexed connections between communicating computers, unlike TCP which requires multiple trips to display a website.
If you’ve checked out our article Comparing A2 Hosting’s Plans, you’ll see which plans use Turbo Servers, but we’ve listed them here for your convenience. Much like other A2 Hosting Plans, Turbo Plans will also come with assorted freebies like a free SSL Certificate and free migration.
But really, do the Turbo servers really make such a difference or is the only thing ‘hyper’ about them, the hyperbole of the A2 Hosting marketing team?
We did a number of tests to see if the Turbo servers really are as fast as they claimed. In the test we did for our full A2 Review, we set up a total of 6 different test sites on A2.
We hosted 3 test sites on their ‘Drive’ plan, and 3 on A2 Hosting’s ‘Turbo Boost’ plan. We then put them all through our website speed test tool and all six scored an A+ speed ranking.
However – the plans on their Turbo plan did perform faster, with an average worldwide server response time of 130.4ms.
US (W)
US (E)
London
Singapore
Sao Paulo
148 ms
81 ms
11 ms
156 ms
188 ms
Bangalore
Sydney
Japan
Canada
Germany
138 ms
265 ms
222 ms
87 ms
8 ms
Our Amsterdam-hosted test site hosted on A2’s Turbo Plan. (See full result)
Their Drive plan was noticeably slower, with an average global response time of 173.2ms. Quite the difference!
US (W)
US (E)
London
Singapore
Sao Paulo
172 ms
212 ms
278 ms
6 ms
316 ms
Bangalore
Sydney
Japan
Canada
Germany
163 ms
141 ms
67 ms
218 ms
159 ms
Our Singapore-hosted test site hosted on A2’s Drive Plan. (See full result)
So based on our tests, we can attest that the Turbo Servers really do deliver on their promise of more speed.
Everything’s about speed these days. Gone are the days when your dad was perfectly fine waiting several minutes for a web page to load. It isn’t just about shorter attention spans either.
Speed and reliability creates confidence and every second counts because time is money. So if you want to be on that next level, you can rely on the Turbo Servers to keep their end of the bargain.
