# My internet connection speed is rather slow all of a sudden... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039 "2003-04-25T03:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/1 "2003-04-25T03:59:45Z")
Ever since two days ago my connection speed has slowed down durastically. I have a 56k modem and usually get 45.2k – 46.6k, which is rather slow by many peoples standards on here, but good enough for now in my case. Now, it connects at paltry speeds – 24k, 19k, _even_ 16.9k. I looked this up in help and said that staticy phone lines cause this. I would hope that such a problem would be corrected rather quickly, but it doesn’t seem to have been. The string was broken last night with a 37.2k connection, and I thought {i]Well, it’s halfway solved.\*. This morning, it’s up to its tricks again. Is there more to the picture; possibly an internal problem? Any ideas or experiences? Thanks so much. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/2 "2003-04-25T04:56:10Z")
Can you hear static or noise on your phone line? If you can’t, that’s not the problem. If you can, you’ll want to try to determine if it’s in your house wiring or not. If this is a house, it’s easy to do. Go outside to where the telephone dropline comes over from the pole. There should be a grey box on the wall (often this in near the electric power meter). One side of this box you can open, and inside you’ll see a short jumper connected to a modular phone plug, like the one you use to ply your phone into the wall jack, plugged into a jack. Unplug this and plug a phone into the jack and see if you can still hear the static. If you can, the problem is in the telephone comapny’s wiring, otherwise, it’s in your wiring somelace. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/3 "2003-04-25T10:30:30Z")
A sudden drop in phone line quality can often be traced to the weather, particularly heavy rain, or to workmen digging up the road, disturbing the existing wiring. Look around and see if that applies. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/4 "2003-04-25T13:33:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Can you hear static or noise on your phone line? If you can’t, that’s not the problem. If you can, you’ll want to try to determine if it’s in your house wiring or not. If this is a house, it’s easy to do. Go outside to where the telephone dropline comes over from the pole. There should be a grey box on the wall (often this in near the electric power meter). One side of this box you can open, and inside you’ll see a short jumper connected to a modular phone plug, like the one you use to ply your phone into the wall jack, plugged into a jack. Unplug this and plug a phone into the jack and see if you can still hear the static. If you can, the problem is in the telephone comapny’s wiring, otherwise, it’s in your wiring somelace. \*\* hmm. I’m having the same problem. My connection is down to 9600 it’s basically worthless (I’m at work now). I called the phone company and asked them about it. They said they would check the line and called me back. They said there was a problem with the line, however I did not hear any static. Q.E.D has a good suggestion about plugging into the box outside to eliminate any problems with your house wiring. I’m about to try that myself. [rant] I’ve called the phone company twice now and each time they said they will send someone the next day to check it out. Both times, no shows. :mad: They must use a different calender than me.[/rant] ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/6 "2013-04-27T08:16:50Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/7 "2013-04-27T08:34:52Z")
I came to say that my acoustic coupler modem is acting up lately and I cannot get any speeds above 200 baud. I can’t connect to my favorite BBS. Help! ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/8 "2013-04-27T12:06:36Z")
Who the hell still has a 56k modem?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/9 "2013-04-27T12:38:02Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > Who the hell still has a 56k modem?:eek: I can’t believe it took six posts for someone to ask this. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-internet-connection-speed-is-rather-slow-all-of-a-sudden/171039/10 "2013-04-27T17:41:02Z")
I saw this thread come up and I moused over to see the thread preview and was like “Oh man oh man, please let this thread be 10 years old…” Whew!