Laptop browsing painfully slow

[martindcx1e]

Hey all I realize these kinds of quesions can get annoying but I'm desperate. I've very recently switched from a cable isp to a dsl isp and now my laptop's internet browsing is amazingly slow, almost like dial-up even. Everything used to be fine with the cable connection. My desktop which is wired through ethernet to the router surfs the net fine. Nothing has changed really since the switch. I have tried disabling the firewall to see what would happen and it didn't help. I also have very few things running on my laptop (usually just have internet explorer open). I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

[golfnut]

DSL speeds in some situations can be much slower than cable.

Start with checking your speed at www.testmy.net

Run a virus and spyware check on your PC.

How many other PCs are on the network.

Greg

[martindcx1e]

Just one, the desktop, which is not wireless. The desktop runs as fast as it did on the cable connection, at least I can't tell a difference. The wireless laptop runs very very slowly now on DSL and it used to run as fast as the desktop with cable.

[M/Q]

Just to make sure I understand the switch from cable to DSL did not involve changing the wireless router/access point? Just the device upstream of it?

Have you tried different channels? Are there any other wireless networks in your immediate vcinity? It may sound silly but I have fouund coincidences all to commonly in this profession. What I am wondering is if there is now another wireless source that is affectiing your link quality.

Have you added any firewall or security suite applications to the computer?

[martindcx1e]

Still using the same router, a Linksys WRT54G to be exact. There are no other networks around, and no new firewall/protection programs have been installed. I have also done searches for spyware with multiple programs and made sure my laptop is clean. I'll try switching the channels. Any other suggestions? Thanks for the response so far btw.

[M/Q]

Could you try moving files fromone computer to the other? That might help us determine if it is wireless or Internet based. Also does the router have the latest firmware? As LinkSys had some issues with PPPoE.

[EastCoastWiFi]

I'll let my partners in crime explain what this is but you should check your MTU settings as this may be the issue. MTU on cable is typicall 1500 as opposed to DSL which is 1492.

[martindcx1e]

My router has the latest firmware, and I can move files from pc to pc just fine. I don't know about MTU. My MTU number with DSL is 1492 like you said. Do I need to change this?

[EastCoastWiFi]

google MTU settings. There are some great step by step instructions and utilities you can find.

[martindcx1e]

Alright I'll see what I can find about MTU. One thing I have noticed (not sure if this helps any) is that sometimes when I first connect to the network, browsing is very fast for the first 30 seconds or so and then quickly returns to moving slow again. Thanks for the help so far everyone.

[martindcx1e]

Well I did a ping test to find my optimum MTU and it looks like the default 1492 (1464 + 28) is just fine. Any ideas on why it would move very quickly just after connecting and then slow down again within the first minute? Thanks.

[martindcx1e]

anybody have any more suggestions?