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Internet So Slow!

E

ebmx66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2006
18
0
I have comcast and my internet is ridiculously slow.....

i did speed checks on www.2wire.com and it came out as 388, 212, 208, 235 kbps

also when i download audio on limewire it usually only runs at about 20kb/s

i am using a Motorola SB5120 modem and a Netgear WGR614 router

any suggestions on what to do or on a new setup?

thanks much appreciated
 
Try hooking directly to modem...
How old is the modem? My grandfathers cable got ridicously slow and it turned out to be a faulty modem... Has it been faster before?
 
Also, turn off LimeWire. That app can seriously mess with an internet connection. I'd unplug the modem and the router for thirty seconds and then see if it's any better. Have LimeWire off during this time. This might be able to distinguish whether this is a hardware issue in your network or not. :)
 
mad jew said:
Also, turn off LimeWire. That app can seriously mess with an internet connection. I'd unplug the modem and the router for thirty seconds and then see if it's any better. Have LimeWire off during this time. This might be able to distinguish whether this is a hardware issue in your network or not. :)
Click to expand...

LimeWire has the worst code ever. I bet that's the source of your problem.
 
what program should I use instead of limewire......

are both the pieces of hardware (modem n router) good products?

ill try what u guys said when I get home tonight

thanks
 
Phex is a decent alternative....

I had a motorola sb5100 for about 2 years and it worked fine...

I dont have any experience with netgear though...
 
ok.... i tried unplugging them both while limewire was off for 30 seconds.

After i hooked them back up again and the internet was working i did two more speed checks and they were both in the 250-350 kbps range?
 
Is it an Intel Mac perchance? :)

I don't think I've ever used the word perchance before in my life... Well, there's a first time for everything. I'm excited.
 
What kind of modem is it? Did you purchase it or is it provided by the cable company? Also, has there been alot of rain in your area recently? I have had problems with internet speed after lots of rain. Although Charter cable is not the greatest, maybe Comcast is better.
 
Try turning off IPv6 and see if that helps any.

System Pref >> Network >> Airport Config >> TCP/IP >> Config IPv6
 
it is a Motorola SB5120 it was provided/suggested from comcast though we did pay for it.........

we havent had a lot of rain and it usually doesn't bother my internet
 
ebmx66 said:
what program should I use instead of limewire......

are both the pieces of hardware (modem n router) good products?

ill try what u guys said when I get home tonight

thanks
Click to expand...

There's a lot of options. Click here and look under the "Gnutella" heading.
 
i have dsl........

i tried turning off IPv6 and it didnt do anything

ive got a new problem too.... whenever i try to download anything, in the downloads box underneath the file name it will say

"-cannot create file" and won't download
 
ebmx66 said:
i have dsl........

i tried turning off IPv6 and it didnt do anything

ive got a new problem too.... whenever i try to download anything, in the downloads box underneath the file name it will say

"-cannot create file" and won't download
Click to expand...
Hmm thats weird...you said you have comcast and a Motorola SB5120 modem

Comcast only offers cable, and that modem is for cable.....

So how do you have dsl?
 
oh i thought that cable and dsl were very similar and my parents told me we have dsl i guess we have cable then.......

i dont know what u are talking about when u ask what download speed we are paying for
 
I checked my DSL speed on the same page and got these results: 65.7, 142.40, 113.60, 157.70.

Part of the problem with this test is it has little meaning:
What does this test actually measure?
This connection tests how fast your computer can load a Web page from the 2Wire Website. It does not measure the speed of your ISP connection, but rather the speed at which the page is received and appears in your browser.

Why do other "bandwidth" meters give different results?
Bandwidth does not always mean the same thing, other meters measure how fast your connection is able to find a requested Website, or how fast you can send and receive email.
Click to expand...
I have a 1.5 Mbps down/256 Kbps up line.

I tried the other two and PC Pitstop couldn't run the upload test because the FTP port is blocked.

Speakeasy gave me 1244 down and 207 up.
 
Don't use that speet test as it never gives me an accurate speed at all. I have no idea how they get their speeds, but it shows my connection as 1.2 mbps while my network activity shows the speed as 4.2 mbps - and I am paying for 4 meg connection from InsightBB.

Use PC Pitstop instead. It is more accurate.

That said, what are you paying for? Typical DSL is about 1.5 mbps, unless you have a premium package of 2-3 mbps. Typical cable is 4-6 mbps.

Go into your system prefs an open the netoworking panel. Make sure that your connection - either ethernet or Airport - is listed first, see if there is anything listed in the DNS field. If so, write it down - just in case - and then remove them. Sometimes DNS servers change and your provider might have switched without telling you. Also, turn off IPv6 as it sometimes screws ups both PC and Mac connections.

Do these one at a time of course to see which one has an effect. If nothing, then try plugging directly into the modem and test your speeds. If they are faster, then it might be your router. Try resetting it and if that makes no difference, then it might have gone bad. They do that, but fortunately they are affordable to replace - around $30-$40.
 
emaja said:
Don't use that speet test as it never gives me an accurate speed at all. I have no idea how they get their speeds, but it shows my connection as 1.2 mbps while my network activity shows the speed as 4.2 mbps - and I am paying for 4 meg connection from InsightBB.

Use PC Pitstop instead. It is more accurate.

That said, what are you paying for? Typical DSL is about 1.5 mbps, unless you have a premium package of 2-3 mbps. Typical cable is 4-6 mbps.

Go into your system prefs an open the netoworking panel. Make sure that your connection - either ethernet or Airport - is listed first, see if there is anything listed in the DNS field. If so, write it down - just in case - and then remove them. Sometimes DNS servers change and your provider might have switched without telling you. Also, turn off IPv6 as it sometimes screws ups both PC and Mac connections.

Do these one at a time of course to see which one has an effect. If nothing, then try plugging directly into the modem and test your speeds. If they are faster, then it might be your router. Try resetting it and if that makes no difference, then it might have gone bad. They do that, but fortunately they are affordable to replace - around $30-$40.
Click to expand...

This is always pretty darn accurate - http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

I get around 6990kbps down and 465kbps up from my cable modem..

(Brighthouse just tuned us up to 7mb/s DL's!) BLAZING FAST!
 
Electro Funk said:
This is always pretty darn accurate - http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

I get around 6990kbps down and 465kbps up from my cable modem..

(Brighthouse just tuned us up to 7mb/s DL's!) BLAZING FAST!
Click to expand...
Whoa thats nice upload for cable.... We switched to DSL....

Our cable was about 5mbits down/256k upload

We went to dsl..cause of price with bundled stuff....

3mbits down/ 512k upload ... Its not that bad really.... I think it was almost worth it..Especially since with dsl they dont care if you run a webserver... And i use bit torrent so thats nice to be able to seed it rather quick
 
ebmx66 said:
oh i thought that cable and dsl were very similar and my parents told me we have dsl i guess we have cable then.......

i dont know what u are talking about when u ask what download speed we are paying for
Click to expand...
I recommend calling comcast. I believe they have 24 hour free tech support. The people can do some things to test the line that you can't do.
 
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