I'd like to echo the comments of dws. Timing complex loads is a complex problem. Another issue is that when many people are interested in the time required to "load a page" they mean the time from the request until all the graphics have finished rendering.

Some browsers render pages faster than others. In my experience Opera is pretty fast on most pages and Netscape is very slow on some pages. IE can be slow on some pages, too. Measuring the time to render is somewhat more difficult than just timing data transfer.

You should also consider the time required to load and display banners from third-party advertizers or ad services if you use that.

You may also consider running your test a few times in a row or over a longer time span so you are not timing Internet delays if the page is not on your local server.

If the desired end result is to get the page sped up a bit, consider netmechanic or web site garage, or another service that can help with that.

HTH, --traveler