Infrastructure & Network
The first phase of loading: from the click to receiving the first byte — this page separates network- and carrier-caused delays from your own server delays.
Updated: Dec 2025
What this dashboard monitors
Speed is not one number; it is a chain. From the moment the user clicks the link to the moment they can interact with the page, several sequential stages run, each with its own clear owner. This dashboard monitors the first half of that chain — everything that happens before the first byte arrives.
The main goal is a root-cause separation: does the slowness originate from the user's network and carrier path, or from your server and code? The answer to this question sets the direction of your next steps.
This dashboard splits into two key parts:
1. The three headline metrics
This part gives you the macro state of the first loading phase at a glance. The cards are arranged right to left, in the order the stages actually happen.
- Connection time: this stage sits entirely with the user's carrier and has nothing to do with your code.
- Server response time (TTFB): the heaviest stage in the chain, and the only one that improving your code and database actually shortens.
- Slowest carrier: tells you whether the network slowness is site-wide or confined to one specific carrier.
each card carries a status badge (good, needs improvement, or poor). Clicking the ⓘ icon beside a card shows the full range for all three bands.
2. The loading chain, Infrastructure Pulse & alerts
This part gives you advanced tools for analyzing and automatically monitoring the network chain.
- The network loading chain: the only part of the dashboard showing the full picture of the whole path; it has four stages ordered by when they actually happen (Redirect, DNS, secure connection TCP/SSL, and Server response). Each segment's width shows that stage's share of the total time. Statistical note: unlike the rest of the dashboard, which runs on percentiles, this bar is calculated from means, because only means are additive — building it from percentiles would produce a total that's unreal and meaningless.
- Infrastructure Pulse: automatically detects sudden shifts in the network layer. By comparing the last 24 hours' P95 against the previous 7-day average, results are grouped into two columns, critical regressions and significant speedups. Every row is clickable and links straight to the relevant chart.
- Alert rules: set a defined ceiling for each metric. When a value crosses that threshold, the system flags an anomaly and immediately sends a message to your Telegram. The badge at the top of the page shows the number of active rules.
3. Key points for analyzing the data correctly
This dashboard is built on percentiles instead of averages, because the average metric hides exactly the slow users whose condition it's critical to check.
A working example: say your site has a hundred users:
- For 90 of them, the page loads in 200 milliseconds.
- The other 10 wait 3 seconds and leave the page.
The average of this data comes out to roughly half a second — a number that makes the situation look acceptable and completely erases those 10 people.
- P75 (the basis for the cards): shows that three quarters of visits were faster than this value.
- P95: captures the state of the unlucky 5% of users.
Important statistical note: the sum of percentiles doesn't equal the percentile of a sum. That's why, on Slowest carrier, the two network stages are first summed per visit, and only then is the percentile calculated on that sum.
Worth noting: events that happen after the first byte arrives are covered on the Render & Interaction dashboard.
FAQ
Because it covers the DNS lookup and the secure connection (TCP/SSL), both of which happen before the request even reaches your server — it belongs to the user’s carrier, not your code.
An average hides exactly the slow users you need to see. P75 is the basis for this dashboard’s cards because three quarters of visits were faster than it, and P95 shows the unlucky five percent that’s still common enough to matter.
This dashboard only follows the chain up to the first byte; what happens next — processing and laying out the page — is covered on Render & Interaction.
It automatically compares the last 24 hours’ P95 against the 7-day average and splits the result into critical regressions and significant speedups; every row is clickable and takes you straight to the relevant chart, so you don’t have to go hunting.
Yes — you set an allowed ceiling for each metric, and if a value passes it, Shahin sends you a Telegram message right away; each metric carries its own independent rule.
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