Noticeably slower download speed from another country?

Not really that important but a deciding factor in my search for a reseller host.

I'm based in the UK and am currently deciding between Hostgator and a UK company.
Although Hostgator has a far superior support system and better features (Cpanel and WHM as opposed to eXtend in the UK), the UK host is closer to my (potential) customer base.
Hostgator is also preferable on the cost front, being more affordable for a start-up business.

Basically the question is: Is there a noticeable speed difference for users in the UK accessing their sites on a west-coast US server?
I don't see much difference in speed personally but does anyone else know of a slowdown for sites heavy on pictures?

I pinged both sites - UK is 40ms and hostgator is 120ms. For me that is still an acceptable ping and shouldn't really be apparent on a "normal" site. (ie one that isn't too picture heavy).
Does any one else have a different view or opinion?

I have a couple of other questions too but I plan on testing your support soon...

Thanks
Rob

[Serra]

Originally Posted by UK Rob

I pinged both sites - UK is 40ms and hostgator is 120ms. For me that is still an acceptable ping and shouldn't really be apparent on a "normal" site. (ie one that isn't too picture heavy).
Does any one else have a different view or opinion?

Ping is only important when playing games. Ping is much less important for web sites. Even a sucky ping will surf fine. Throughput is an issue. As you move further from the source, the amount of bandwidth you can use goes down.

On the other hand, I know a guy running about 50 sites in New Zealand off a HG server and isn't having a bit of problems.