Slow internet connection - any solutions?

did you upgrade firefox?

Couple of questions to narrow it down:

Firstly, are you on satellite or do you have broadband access?
Secondly, go to www.pingtest.net and run a couple of scans and post the 'grade' it gives your connection. That will go a long way to deciphering what the problem could be.

I'm currently using version 9.0.1. Is there something more recent?

every time it upgrades, my system slows down for a day or two until it sorts itself out.

a few days ago was when the last one hit...

(not sure what I'm running this week)

I'm on broadband.

I ran the pingtest. I got these messages:


Don't know what this means. I don't have a firewall installed.

EDIT: I double-checked -- it gave me a grade of B*, even though the "packet loss test" failed.

If you've been doing a lot of streaming of videos lately, I wouldn't be surprised if your internet provider is intentionally slowing down your internet speed.

This is a prime example of what people are fighting back about with the broadband companies like Comcast via net neutrality and the FCC.

CRTC finds evidence of throttling on Rogers Internet service

FCC to Comcast: Throttling Broadband is Unlawful

My laptop was doing the same thing about a month ago, turned out I had a virus and had to call the geek squad, I couldn’t believe how fast the internet was when they were finished. Like a new computer.

That's always a possibility, although it has never been an issue in the past.

External modem? we recently had a decrease decrease decrease in speed and then no connectivity. Turned out to be a problem with the cable from the modem to the laptop - a $12 fix.

Yes, external modem. I probably have some extra wires lying around somewhere. I should check them out.

Try to defragment your computer- it always helps. Or, you can delete the "cookies" on your computer for faster streaming. (virus scan)

Hope that Helped.

I will now display my profound understanding of computers by asking: how do I do that?

That depends on your operating system. If it is windows, then click on the following: Start (the Windows symbol in the lower, left-hand corner), All Programs (should be at the bottom), Accessories (also probably at the bottom of that list, next to a file folder icon), System Tools (also next to a file folder icon). Now you want to execute two programs consecutively. First, under the System Tolls rubric, you want to run disk cleanup. It won't be asking you to delete anything important, it will mostly just get rid of temporary files. It might delete cookies, but that's no big deal--your frequently visited web sites will give you new cookies if that happens. I just don't recall if that happens automatically.

After you have run disk cleanup, follow the steps back to System Tools, and select disk defragmentation. This takes a while, especially if you've never done it. This is cup of coffee and the morning paper stuff, the first time it's done it can take quite a long time.

If you have any problems . . . i was never here . . . i don't even know you. (Seriously, this is routine stuff, no muss, no fuss.)

By the way, defragmentation is a benign process which is very useful, and should be done every couple of months at least. That being said, i am not endorsing a claim that that will speed up your browsing, but as the other poster pointed out, it certainly can't hurt,and it may help. I'm now going to read the rest of thread and see what i can see.

Is your DSL from the phone company (i.e., on optical fiber) or is it a coaxial connection (like some forms of cable tv access)? The reason i ask is because coax connections will slow down during peak usage periods, which would be after 6:00 p.m. weekdays, and all weekend. If you are using a coax connection in an area in which there are a lot of subscribers it can noticeably slow down. The fact that your non-internet programs run normally suggests something like that.

After all the above is said and done, and if it's still slow, check with your cable provider. My internet was very slow and they upgraded my router.

Thanks. That's so intuitive, it's a wonder I never stumbled across that before.

I'll run that after I get home from work tonight.

It's DSL, and I've never had this problem before, so I don't think it's increased usage, although I do my teevee viewing in the evenings and on weekends.

Try doing a system restore back to a set point from last week. You'll lose any upgrades that you installed, but that could be a good thing. I noticed that Windows did an auto-update two days ago. I'm still on Firefox 8.0.1 because I didn't want to risk another Firefox bog down. Do you automatically update your Windows OS? If not, then there may be updates out there that fix whatever you have that is bogging down your system.