Well, the problem is really that the network isn't even connected properly in the first place. I agree that it shouldn't behave badly while actually on the network. It's just odd that madly hitting refresh while wifi is reconnecting actually gives me a sooner and faster page load than letting the machine load by itself. That means there is something can be automated but unfortunately isn't being automated.
Network stacks are layered and even after 40+ years, on every OS I've seen, L4 (TCP) never queries nor uses any L1/L2/L3 link quality/stability/availability information when computing retrans intervals, etc. Doing that would indeed be an aesthetically distasteful layering violation, but it would enable much more optimal behavior in a lot of wifi & cell network scenarios, as you've said.
It will probably happen eventually, at least in Linux, after a few more years of commercial pressure to make it suck less.
