# Troubleshoot my horrible internet connection **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719 "2003-10-10T19:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/1 "2003-10-10T19:02:35Z")
Ok, my DSL connection has slowed to a crawl (Again… the last time, I just reformatted). This is not: Spyware (at least not that adaware saw) Kazaa/etc running in the background A virus (according to McAfee) Not enough memory (340 RAM, \>20 gigs open HD) My internet provider (I’m networked to my dad’s computer, his connection is peachy) Doesn’t need to be defragged What now? ---
**Author:** ![Walton\_Firm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Walton\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walton_Firm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/2 "2003-10-10T19:43:12Z")
Is your Dad’s machine the one connected to the DSL modem, with your machine hooked up to it through some kind of NAT gateway? In that case, my next step would be to connect your PC directly to the DSL and see if that solves the problem. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/3 "2003-10-10T20:09:47Z")
I can’t do that… no Ethernet card. ---
**Author:** ![Walton\_Firm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Walton\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walton_Firm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/4 "2003-10-10T20:19:22Z")
So how are you connected? Serial cable, parrallel, USB? What OS are you and your dad using? Are you using RAS and Windows network sharing to connect the two machines, or some special software? When copying a large file between the two machines, is that slow as well or is it just the Internet access that is slow? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/5 "2003-10-10T20:49:39Z")
Connected with a “2wire”(brand name) networking equipment… basically dad’s computer to router to phone line to phone jack in my room to splitter in my room to USB adaptor to computer. I’m using XP home and he’s using ME, but the same thing happened when I was using ME. The connection is recognized by windows, but the hardware came with “2wire” software. I’ve never copied any files b/w the two, never any need to. Also, I’ve tried tech support, but spent 4 hours on the phone that accomplished nothing (The cables are all in right, try unplugging phones, no that didn’t work… hmm. uhhh… (repeat for 4 hours)) ---
**Author:** ![Walton\_Firm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Walton\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walton_Firm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/6 "2003-10-10T21:57:19Z")
Ah. Sorry, can’t help you with that… ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/7 "2003-10-11T23:29:52Z")
aargh this is weird… usually in the evening, the SDMB loads so slowly that I don’t even bother trying… but now that I have a file-share client running in the background (I’m d/ling the trial version of lemonade tycoon, you person who would otherwise jump to conclusions), it 's going a lot more quickly. I’m thinking maybe the problem is something like those water bottles where you suck on it and water comes out, and if you squeeze the bottle, the valve stays open… but it takes quite a bit of pressure to get it open in the first place… maybe that’s why my internetness is in spurts… any guesses now? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/8 "2003-10-11T23:41:58Z")
If you are judging it by the load time of the SDMB, don’t. That is very frequently slow because the server is overloaded, and not your machine. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/9 "2003-10-12T00:14:39Z")
no, i mean it’s just faster in general… I’ve noticed that SDMB is slower than everything else. ---
**Author:** ![autobulb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@autobulb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/autobulb)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/10 "2003-10-12T10:06:30Z")
If you haven’t solved this problem yet you may want to know that USB is CPU intensive. High load on your CPU can cause the USB bandwidth to suffer. Also, USB 1.1 is pretty slow, 2.0 has much higher bandwidth. Another downside to USB is that I believe the rated bandwidth is shared between all the USB devices connected to your system. So, 450mbps for 2.0 is shared between your internet connection and any other USB thingies you may be using. This could be a big problem if you’re using USB 1.1 which has a much much slower rated speed. Another thing, Windows ME is garbage in my opinion. For the short while I used ME -everything- seemed to slow down with enough time. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/11 "2003-10-12T15:41:34Z")
[DSLreports.com](http://www.dslreports.com/tools) has a variety of tests and tools for tweaking broadband connections for optimal performance. Take the [tweak test](http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks), and follow the recommendations. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/12 "2003-10-12T15:50:44Z")
“usually in the evening, the SDMB loads so slowly that I don’t even bother trying…” Try the ATMB forum & search it for ‘slow’,that’s where you should be able to find hundreds of messages on this. Also try instead [www.straightdope.com](http://www.straightdope.com) & see if that loads fast for you. Also try doing a traceroute (programs to do that at [download.com](http://download.com) search for ‘traceroute’). ---
**Author:** ![chibby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@chibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chibby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troubleshoot-my-horrible-internet-connection/206719/13 "2003-10-12T17:40:41Z")
A few months ago my DSL slowed to a crawl (about twice as fast as my modem). I have two computers connected to an airport- a wireless mac laptop and a PC hardwired to the airport. The airport is in turn connected to the DSL modem. Both computers had comparable (slow) connection speeds. After much trial and error, the problem was resolved by turning the DSL modem off then on again. I have no idea why this worked, but it might be worth a try.