Let’s start with a sentence you’ve probably heard before:
“Indian websites are slow for international users.”
It usually comes up when someone is choosing hosting. Or when a client blames their website for poor US traffic. Or when a developer casually says, “Just host it in New York, bro.”
For years, I believed it too. Mostly because everyone else did.
But at some point, I realised something uncomfortable:
Most people repeat this line without ever testing it.
So instead of arguing or guessing, I decided to do something simple—almost boring.
I hosted the same website, in two different countries, and let the internet decide who was actually faster.
Why I Even Bothered Testing This
The internet today is nothing like it was 10 years ago.
Back then:
- Indian hosting was unreliable
- International routing was messy
- Cheap servers were painfully slow
But today?
- Mumbai is a major internet hub
- Submarine cables connect India directly to Europe and the Middle East
- Data centres have upgraded quietly, without marketing noise
Yet the old assumption still survives.
So the real question became:
Is the myth still true, or are we just stuck in 2012 thinking?
The Setup: No Tricks, No Fancy Optimisation
I wanted this test to reflect what normal website owners actually do.
So I bought:
- One basic hosting plan in Mumbai
- One basic hosting plan in New York
Nothing premium. No cloud magic. No enterprise servers.
Then I installed:
- WordPress
- The exact same theme
- The same demo content
- The same plugins
No CDN. No performance plugins. No extra caching.
The only difference between the two websites was where the server physically lived.
That’s it.
How I Tested the Speed (And Why Location Matters)
Instead of testing from my own laptop (which proves nothing), I used GTMetrix.
I tested both websites from:
- London
- Sydney
- Tokyo
Why these places?
Because they’re far from both Mumbai and New York.
And because real websites don’t just have US or Indian visitors anymore.
Each test was run multiple times so random spikes didn’t distort the results.
What I Expected vs What Actually Happened
Honestly?
I expected New York to win most of the time.
Not by a huge margin—but clearly.
That didn’t happen.
What the Results Showed
- From London, the Mumbai server loaded slightly faster
- From Tokyo, both servers were almost identical
- From Sydney, New York had a small edge
But the real surprise came when I looked at Time to First Byte.
For users in Europe and the Middle East, the Mumbai server was consistently about 200 milliseconds faster.
Not once.
Not by accident.
Again and again.
How Is That Even Possible?
This is where people get confused.
They think distance on a map equals speed on the internet.
It doesn’t.
The internet works on routes, not geography.
Mumbai has:
- Direct submarine cable connections to Europe
- Strong peering with Middle Eastern networks
- Efficient routing paths that avoid unnecessary hops
Meanwhile, some US routes actually take longer paths than you’d expect.
So while New York looks closer on Google Maps, the data sometimes takes a longer journey.
That’s the part most people don’t realise.
The Big Hosting Mistake People Still Make
Most hosting decisions are based on:
- What someone said on Twitter
- What a YouTube video claimed
- Old advice that once made sense
Very few people test their own reality.
They assume:
- US hosting = global speed
- Indian hosting = local use only
This experiment showed that the truth is more nuanced.
What This Means If You’re Choosing Hosting Today
Let’s make this practical.
If your audience is:
- India, Middle East, Europe → Mumbai hosting can work extremely well
- Only the US → New York still makes sense
- Global → Server quality and routing matter more than country name
The smarter question isn’t:
“Which country should I host in?”
It’s:
“Where are my users coming from—and how does traffic reach them?”
The Real Lesson From This Experiment
This wasn’t about proving Mumbai better than New York.
Or the other way around.
It was about proving this:
The internet has changed. Our assumptions haven’t.
In 2026, global speed is influenced by:
- Network routing
- Peering quality
- Infrastructure maturity
- Real-world testing
Not stereotypes.
Final Thoughts
If you’re serious about performance, stop guessing.
Run speed tests.
Compare locations.
Measure before migrating.
Because sometimes, the server you were told to avoid is actually doing a better job than the one everyone recommends.
And that’s why testing beats opinions—every single time.
