Slow internet

[topsi]

Hi can anyone help me? The last few days my internet connection has been real slow. Just trying to flick back and forward through MN discussions is taking ages. The green bar at the bottom of the screen is literately creeping along.
How do I find out if it my ageing laptop or the internet connection?
Any advice gratefuly received, thanks

Are you wireless or do you connect through a modem?

Watching. Ours too. What causes it? Who do I blame?

You can start by restarting your router,it might be that your internet speed on your line has dropped and a restart will cure it.

You can also clear your browser cache,I always use ccleaner as this cleans up Windows as well so pc or laptop will perform better.

How do you restart the router? Just unplug it? Our speeds are crap, really crap.

Also, what's this about some providers "throttling" usage? That unlimited access isn't really that at all. Anyone know more?

Restart your router by unplugging it if it doesnt have a restart button.

I know that with unlimited broadband from BT,there is a fair usage of 50gb a month,but I dont know if BT throttle line speeds.

what is a browser cashe?? will try with the router.
We thought we had unlimitted internet access with Sky until I started browsing MN then they told us we had to start paying extra!
I have a modem but our wirless thing is not working so I plug in through a modem

ooooo..... much faster. I phoned Sky and they said to reset router by pushing a pen into the back of it in a small hole there. They also checked the line and said we were getting under 1MG instead of 2 so tweaked something and sorted it out.
Nice one - still don't know what a browser cashe is though?

Basically browser cache is your internet history stored in by your browser in the cache.What browser do you use for the internet?You need to clear history periodically to make internet browsing faster,the method of doing it varies depending on the browser but if you were to use ccleaner[see link in my earlier post],it would clear your browser cache,and any unnessaty files,[it used to be called crap cleaner as it deletes all the crap on a pc]never mind which browser you are using.

Thakns Bubbles. I had to buy the full version as the free downlaod only fixed 25 problems and my comp had over 1000. I have a happy computer now.

topsi - sounds like you need some anti-virus (like the free version of AVG - see free.grisoft.com/ and keep looking for 'free' alongside download as they keep making it a less obvious link than their paid-for products!)

Also, Ad-Aware might sort out some of the junk which you can accidentally pick up. See www.savemybutt.com/ and look at the Downloads section (not my site but worth using)

Most ISPs have some FUP (Fair Use Policy) with limits on how much you can download.

I had a petition on the Number 10 (Downing Street) website but because of the election it is in limbo. It was aimed at getting higher speeds by using Fibre optic connections to the BT roadside cabinets {mostly deep green}.

If you have long term problems with low speeds (and neighbours with the same ISP don't) then there are guides and user discussion areas on www.ThinkBroadband.com

BT's estimate for my line was 5 Mbps but at present it is 250kbps (20 times slower)... a bit of a pain, but I had no dialtone for over 10 days so something wonky on the wires back to the exchange (and around 6 kilometers of wire doesn't help - losses are significant). If we had fibre, the distance for the copper would be under 300 feet not 19,000+ and I might get 30 to 40 Mbps...

Would like to get the government to fund rural areas first, to "level the playing field" for whole communities - schools, homes and small business - and it would allow teleworking, teleconferencing and cut traffic if it was done.