How wrong they are! The network performance speeds can massively vary as most broadband connections are heavy contended
. This means the end user experience of a site can still vary from very fast to frustratingly slow.
In addition to this, the average home connection does not have a high tech QOS to ensure that you can do your online banking when little Tommy next door is hammering the line downloading the latest game!
This new consideration launched by Google signals the beginning of interesting times. Network Managers are now going to have to align their work efforts even closer to the site business owners' to achieve the mutual goal of speeding up their website.
Maybe discussions about site design and the overhead of delivering large pages with many objects will be jointly had between IT and the Business? SEO, Sales, Marketing, Development and Infrastructure will all have to work and "compromise" together to achieve performance related objectives.
We are not very forgiving of slow web sites and will typically blame the site that we are visiting for an unsatisfactory experience. Whatever the reason and wherever the fault lies, the end user will leave with a negative perception of the site based on their encounter. It is not your fault but it is your problem!
Ecommerce sites are typically ahead of the curve on site performance as they know that faster sites offer a better user experience and in turn will increase the 'Browse to Buy' ratio thus making more money!