New Hosting - Init. Connect. & Download faster, but TTFB slower. Why?

[pmeenan]

What platform does the code run on (Apache/PHP)? What you are seeing is likely a difference in the tuning of the application layer serving (if it is PHP then the PHP/Apache integration). Since it is a VPS, do you have full control over that part?

If it is PHP, make sure php-apc is installed, also check to see if they are both integrated with php the same way (mod_php, cgi or fcgi). For dedicated/VPS I usually like to run apache with mod_php because I don't have to worry about multiple different user accounts like you do in a shared environment and it can be somewhat faster than cgi (particularly with apc running).