The Speed Problem: What Every Australian Website Owner Should Know
We originally planned to conduct a controlled split test using identical websites - one running BunnyCDN and one running Cloudflare Free to provide comparisons for Australian users, but after researching Cloudflare's routing behaviour, we realised this approach would be fundamentally flawed. Any split test results would be mostly meaningless because of the inconsistent baselines, that testing tools don't reflect real user interaction, and that the variable results make comparison difficult.
Read the full blog post below to understand how Australian ISP routing impacts your websites performance and why consistent local CDN routing matters for Australian users.
A few years back, a Melbourne business discovered their Australian API calls were taking over 700ms through Cloudflare, 10 times slower than the 70ms they should have been experiencing.
The culprit? Their Telstra customers were being routed through Hong Kong and Osaka instead of Melbourne.
Across Australia, Optus and Telstra users (who together control over 65% of the market) often experience wildly inconsistent routing. Sometimes users get a local edge server (fast), sometimes Singapore or Hong Kong (slow), sometimes even the US (very slow). The same user might see 50ms latency in the morning and 250ms in the afternoon. Here's why this routing lotto happens and how our new favourite CDN provider, BunnyCDN provides consistent Australian routing instead.
The Core Issue: Cloudflare's Routing Lotto for Australian Users
What Should Happen
When someone in Australia visits your website, they should connect to a local edge server:
- Expected latency: 20-80ms consistently
- User experience: Fast, responsive pages every time
- Business impact: Predictable performance, reliable conversions
What can happen with Cloudflare Free Tier
Australian users potentially face a routing lotto that changes based on ISP, time, and network conditions:
- Actual latency: Anywhere from 30ms to 700ms+ (completely unpredictable)
- User experience: Fast one moment, slow the next
- Business impact: Inconsistent performance hurts user trust and conversions
Why BunnyCDN is Different
BunnyCDN removes the routing lotto with consistent Australian edge routing:
- Predictable routing: Local users always connect to local servers
- Consistent performance: 25-95ms reliably, not 30-700ms randomly
- No geographic lottery: Australian traffic stays in Australia
How to Check if You're Affected if you are using Cloudflare
Test Your Current Cloudflare Routing
Visit: https://yourdomain.com/cdn-cgi/trace
Look for the colo= line:
- colo=SYD or colo=MEL ✅ You're routing to Australia
- colo=SIN ❌ You're routing to Singapore
- colo=HKG ❌ You're routing to Hong Kong
- colo=KIX ❌ You're routing to Osaka, Japan
NB: Good routing right now doesn't mean good routing today, tomorrow, or for your other users.
The inconsistency is often the problem.
Why Does Cloudflare Route Australians to Asian servers?
1. Cost Optimisation
Cloudflare has publicly stated they route free tier traffic based on bandwidth costs, not geographic proximity. Australian bandwidth is pretty expensive, so free tier users often get routed to cheaper Asian data centres.
2. ISP Peering Agreements
Major Australian ISPs have different peering arrangements that create unpredictable routing patterns:
- Optus: approx 24% of mobile market share, frequently routed to Singapore/Hong Kong
- Telstra: approx 43% of mobile market share, often routed to Singapore/Hong Kong/Osaka
- TPG: Sometimes gets Melbourne/Sydney routing, sometimes Singapore, inconsistent
- iiNet & smaller ISPs: Generally better routing
The problem isn't bad routing, it's unpredictable routing. Your site might perform well one day and poorly the next, depending on time of day, network congestion, and Cloudflare's cost optimisation decisions.
3. Free Tier (un)prioritisation
Enterprise Cloudflare customers get priority routing to Sydney. Free tier traffic uses "off-cycle headroom" which means you get whatever routing is cheapest at that moment. Cloudflare has acknowledged: "Transit prices in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) are lower than they used to be, but continue to be extremely high in relative terms". They state: "If you exclude Optus and Telstra, then the price falls to 17 units" explaining why these ISPs get poor routing.
Real World Impact: Australian User Reports
Though many of these are older comments, on the Cloudflare community feedback you can find Australians complaining of routing issues:
- "We noticed that Australian traffic to our api was very slow (> 700ms when routed via Cloudflare and ~70ms when bypassing Cloudflare)"
- "Much of our traffic was being routed via colo's in Hong Kong (HKG) and Osaka (KIX) despite us being in Melbourne"
- "Over 200ms RTT to Cloudflare IP's from some Australian Carriers (Telstra and Optus)"
- "Singapore routing during business hours, Sydney only late at night"
One user explained their solution: "We upgraded from the Pro to the Business Plan and are now seeing Australian traffic routed through Australian POPs" confirming that proper Australian routing requires paid plans.
BunnyCDN's Australian Advantage
Local Routing
- No free tier discrimination: All customers get optimised routing
- Australian edge priority: Local traffic stays Local
- ISPnostic: Works consistently across all Australian ISPs
Performance by ISP (Cloudflare Free vs BunnyCDN)
| ISP | Cloudflare Free Routing | BunnyCDN Routing | Performance Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optus | Often Singapore/Hong Kong | Local | 200ms+ vs 30-90ms |
| Telstra | Often Singapore/HK/Osaka | Local | Up to 700ms vs 70ms |
| TPG | Local or Singapore | Local | 30-200ms+ vs 30-90ms |
| iiNet | Usually Local | Local | Good but can vary |
The difference: BunnyCDN provides mostly consistent performance. Cloudflare Free can be a lotto, you might get local routing today and via Asia tomorrow.
Pricing vs Performance Costs
| Monthly Traffic | Cloudflare Free | BunnyCDN | What You Get with BunnyCDN |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100GB | $0 | ~$3 | Consistent Local routing |
| 500GB | $0 | ~$15 | Faster for many users |
| 1TB | $0 | ~$30 | Predictable performance |
BunnyCDN Asia/Oceania: $0.03/GB (July 2025)
Implementation Best Practices
Avoid CDN Stacking
Avoid using Cloudflare free plan proxy mode with BunnyCDN underneath. This can create:
User → Cloudflare (Singapore) → BunnyCDN (Local) → Origin
Potential Setups
- BunnyCDN: Add Bunny WordPress plugin & LiteSpeed cache:
- BunnyCDN + Bunny DNS: Add Bunny WordPress plugin & LiteSpeed cache:
- Cloudflare Free: Use Cloudflare for both DNS and Cache/CDN
- Cloudflare Pro: Use Cloudflare for both DNS and Cache/CDN
The Bottom Line
For Australian websites, the question isn't just "free vs paid", its also "unpredictable routing vs local routing."
With Cloudflare Free, your performance could depend on:
- Which ISP your visitor uses
- What time of day they visit
- Current network congestion
- Cloudflare's cost optimisation algorithms
BunnyCDN's approx $3-30/month is great for Australian visitors allowing connection to Australian servers, almost every time. That's the difference between hoping for good performance and almost guaranteeing it.
Test your current routing, measure the real world impact, and decide if consistent Australian performance is worth the investment. For most Australian businesses, eliminating Asian routing delays pays for itself through improved user engagement.
Need Help Optimising Your Website's Performance?
Choosing the right CDN is just one part of creating a fast, reliable website for Australian visitors. Our Sydney website development team specialises in building high performance websites that deliver exceptional user experiences across all industries, from eCommerce stores to professional service firms.
We configure optimal CDN solutions as part of our comprehensive website services, ensuring your site loads lightning fast whether your visitors are in Sydney CBD, Parramatta, or anywhere across Australia. Our WordPress maintenance packages include ongoing performance monitoring to keep your site running at peak speed.
Ready to eliminate slow loading times? Contact us today for a free performance audit and CDN recommendation tailored to your Australian audience.
Photo by Brett Sayles: