my broadband connection is slow

[dlandis72]

I have Comcast cable internet and they advertize that I should be getting 4Mbps download speeds. Recently (the last week or two), websites have been a lot slower in loading. I have tried several speed tests and all of them give me different answers. Does anybody know what could be causing my problem? Is there a reliable way to test my connection speed?

 

[joule]

Ha. I have Comcast cable and I've been getting some slow speeds the last few days, too! I dunno. It seems to be good now.

If you are really worried about your connection and believe that it may be at fault, try checking out these tests.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/default.asp (Measure your upload and download speeds and run a ping test)

http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks (Tweak your connection to improve speed and overall performance to take full advantage of your broadband connection)

 

[dlandis72]

Thanks. The test says that I'm getting over 5 Mbps, but I still feel like websites are loading a little bit slower than they used to. Maybe I just need to suck it up and deal with it.

 

[joule]

Got Firefox?

 

[Muffin Man]

I <3 firefox. and comcast sux so much, i got em too =\. and maybe it is the servers getting over crowded

 

[dlandis72]

yea i have firefox and i love it

 

[bliink]

call comcast tech support and complain. They will test the line properly perhaps.

EDIT: I would suggest telling them you have "Intermittent speed problems"

 

[JellyWorld]

Those tests never give accurate results on my connection, I always get under 1Mbps even though I have 3mbps cable (and I do reach those speeds sometimes on BT or with a download accelerator).