Internet question

[django1]

Lately I've been having intermittent problems viewing web pages or uploading stuff, like this thread. It gets slow or I get an error something like "page not found". At the same time I can download stuff (bit torrent or just plain big files) at 7 or 800 kbs, which is a good speed for me. Sometimes my bit torrent client slow things down for web browsing but I get the same problem when the client isn't running.

I don't get it but I'm sure someone out there does...

[Ronm1]

Don't know how your NET connected or type of interface, but I would suspect
you are getting errors causing retransmits. theirs your intermittent delay or pause. Just a guess, somwhat educated but still a guess.

[ratracer]

There are a lot of different possibilities.

Are you also uploading files yourself or are you running p2p software and offering files for download by others without restricting throughput?

Is the network connection from your local computer wired or wireless?

Do you get any kind of error or warning message pop up on your computer when you have throughput problems?

When you see this problem is it only for 1 or a couple of sites, or do you try several different sites and have the same problem with all of them?

There cause could be pretty much anything from a cable in your house that isn't quite plugged in properly causing sporadic problems, to the next-door neighbors wireless phone (not cell phone) causing interference with your wireless network whenever they're talking on the phone, to a network bottleneck either with your service provider or with other providers on the path between you and your destination.

If you can narrow the symptoms down a bit it can help to either eliminate the problem or at least be able to make a more educated guess as to where the problem might be.

First thing you can do right up front is to make sure that all of your network-related cable connections like from your computer to your switch and from the switch to the cable modem or other demarc in your house/appartment are snugly and properly seated. The problems you are experiencing as you describe them aren't often caused by cable seating issues but it's a good easy first step, a more likely senario is some kind of localized network congestion issue.

If your local firewall and your service provider don't block ICMP you can also try using the tracert command (traceroute www.google.com as an example) at the command prompt. The output from that command is often misinterpreted but if there is a congestion problem somewhere in the path it can help pick that up.

[django1]

Thanks for the replies guys! I've got a wired connection with two computers and a router. The other computer ( p3 laptop) is almost always slow. I'm on high speed cable, supposedly 7.5 mbps. I have a recent Win 7 computer if that helps. The bit torrent site is not always running and everything was fine until lately. Now when I use it it interferes with my web browsing (sometimes).

[dvenardos]

Lots of things it could be. Might be a flaky router or cable modem (getting ready to die). You might try switching ports on your router and/or swapping ethernet cables. Not very helpful, but something to at least try.