[Colonel Panic]

My FTTC speeds are not toooo bad (27 down, 9 up) but I am finding that as often as not sites are very slow to load - especially the first page within a website when clicking on a (DuckDuckGo) web search. Is there a cause for this, and if so is there anything I can do to help speed things up? Very keen not to ditch DuckDuckGo if I can help it.

I have a Draytek Vigor 2670 modem(/router), and my ISP is PlusNet.

TIA

[Kittyhawk]

I am having exactly the same problem

[johnm]

It ain't duckduckgo, loads faster than Google here

[riverrock]

Your web browser checks central servers (google or others) before going to a new site, to ensure that it is isn't on a "dangerous" list. Some anti-virus providers have a service which does this too. These can slow initial loads down.
There are plenty of other things that can do this too. Tracking a specific cause can be hard work. First place would be developer tools (F12 in chrome), go to network tools, select to "preserve log" on navigate, then try to access a new page. Could be machine memory (new space allocated when opening a new tab or page); network latency; DNS latency; web protection tools; firewalls; browser plugins; slow server etc etc.

[Colonel Panic]

Thanks riverrock; I use a fairly whizzy 27" 5k iMac, with 32GB RAM, running the latest macOS 10.14, and Safari 12.0, so I'd like to think it wasn't a hardware issue. I do have a couple of Safari plug ins - DuckDuckGo Private Search, ABP Control Panel, ABP and 1Password, but no AV software. The macOS Firewall is running, and there may be a firewall feature within the modem/router too. Ping is 17ms

But it sounds like a long road to try to identify what is causing the issue, so maybe I will just have to hope it goes away by itself...

[rjc101]

The DNS in many ISPs is very slow for a number of factors. You could try and use a public DNS such as 1.1.1.1 ( https://1.1.1.1 has details on how to change the settings) - or google DNS on 8.8.8.8 and see if things speed up.

[jaycee58]

Thanks riverrock; I use a fairly whizzy 27" 5k iMac, with 32GB RAM, running the latest macOS 10.14, and Safari 12.0, so I'd like to think it wasn't a hardware issue. I do have a couple of Safari plug ins - DuckDuckGo Private Search, ABP Control Panel, ABP and 1Password, but no AV software. The macOS Firewall is running, and there may be a firewall feature within the modem/router too. Ping is 17ms

I think you'll find the problem is with MacOS 10.14. I'm having similar problems with slow or very slow web page loading with Safari on both my iMac and my MacBook. Several people over on MacRumors are having the same problem.

I can cure the problem for a while by quitting Safari completely (not just closing the app with the red button) then re-opening it and sometimes the problem doesn't occur for several days at a time. Apparently Chrome and FireFox work ok with Mojave so quite how Apple have managed to bring out a new OS that won't even run their own browser properly is still something of a mystery.

[Dave Phillips]

I'm finding Safari on 10.14 is a bit 'crochety'.

[johnm]

so quite how Apple have managed to bring out a new OS that won't even run their own browser properly is still something of a mystery.

Perhaps they hired some Microsoft developers

[stevelup]

Zero issues here and I’m a real fussy bu66er who notices if things take even a millisecond longer than they should.

So I’d start ruling out other things like ABP and DuckDuckGo. As previously suggested, try a different DNS provider as well.

[Colonel Panic]

My Primary DNS is 8.8.8.8, secondary 8.8.4.4. Will try turning off ABP for a day or two, and hope my eyes won't bleed during the trial

[stevelup]

You could (in fact probably should) try 1.1.1.1

I hate the index of google seeing all my DNS lookups. They’re probably just about the last people who should be trusted with this privilege...

[Colonel Panic]

In the link rjc101 links to above (re: 1.1.1.1) it says to change the DNS Servers within SysPref; I see that mine are set to 212.159.6.9 & 212.159.6.10 (which AIUI are PlusNet). I had never looked in there before, only within the modem (currently 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4).

Should I change both places to 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1, or does one trump the other?

[johnm]

I think you'll find SysPref is what the MAC will use, the modem has a DNS entry for look up for its admin I would have thought, software update and the like .....

[stevelup]

I'd change them both on your Mac and your router.

Changing them on the router will make sure any devices that you haven't manually set will use it.

Changing it on the Mac will make sure that it uses it wherever it is (important for a portable device).