You can track exactly how long a page takes to load by using this FF extension – FasterFox.
It also allows tweaking and prefetching, both things I have disabled as I saw no benefit and hate the fact that the extension loads links I may not want to use!
The page timer is fab tho, gives a real time, the waiting often makes you think it’s more. The last ten page loads for me have all been under 7 for the homepage, most under 5.
