BleepingComputer.com: Slow Broadband Connection

About 3 weeks ago i had my broadband upgraded from to 2 meg to 8 meg (actually running at 7meg) but since then the net seems to be a lot slower and downloads are no quicker. Ive updated the drivers for my modem, speedtouch 330, so it can handle the higher speed but in the diagnostics of the modem the numbers are not the same as the website shows that they should be. I get USB bandwith available 188 Reserved 7680 while the website for the drivers says it should be available 1486 reserved 7680. Could this be why my net is so slow?? Ive checked for spyware etc and run avg 8.0 and zone alarm.

This post has been edited by kev25v6: 04 April 2008 - 04:46 AM

Hmm.. my recommendation to you is to first check the Internet Traffic Report

Check your country and see what you find. The higher percentage the sower conections can be.
Let us know if it helps

Percent is not too high compared to others.

Have you contacted your ISP about this?
It might be something on their part.

ive trtied emailling virgin meadia about it and as usual i get the " its your wiring, its your computer infected, its your dodgy modem" never get "ohh yes its a problem on our side let me sort it for you". They must one of the worst for sorting out problems for its customers. I had this problem about a year ago when they first upgraded everyone to 8 meg. They were supposed to upgrade the equipment in the exchange because the bt equipment didnt cause any problems, only when logged in through their equipment. I guess they never fixed it right.

Your with virgin for broadband ehh?

When you say "downloads" do you mean "P2P" downloads?
Cuz if you do I know what your problem is..

Its just any downloads that are slow, even downloading firefox 2 it only reaches around 95kbps. Its loads slower if i use torrents, around 15kbps. What can i do about it??

There isn't really much you can do that I know of.
Try contacting virgin again and ask if theres any diagnostics you can do with your modem to check if its faulty.

Also as for the torrent speed lots of ISP's are shaping speeds for torrents and P2P files as it causes way too much network traffic.
I highly doubt this is a virus or spyware issue I have many theories on why you could have a slower speed.

Are you on ADSL?

I think it is adsl. Ive got a speedtouch 330 wired modem if it helps.

A friend of mine is running 7MB ADSL and they told me they can usually get a download speed of around 700kbs.

Do you ive in the UK?
I suggest you read this topic on a forum talking about how unbelievably slow Virgin Media's broadband is. One user said they're on 8MB speed but it is incredibly slow.

Also I recommend reading this

Based on what ive seen this is an ISP issue and your best bet is to change to another provider.

You arent alone with this problem my friend

This post has been edited by Teenage.Zombiee: 06 April 2008 - 05:13 AM

Ive only really stuck with Virgin because im not tied into a 12 month contrace with them, i just give a months notice and i can be gone. Looking on the net a lot of isp have problems. I was going to have the free sky bb but its not in my area yet, only the 18 quid a month connect one is, just my luck. Ive installed the latest Java 6 update 5 after looking around on here for a bit and remembering about Java updates and pages are loading better and youtube vids dont seem to buffer as much, i just need the download speeds to increase. I actually got 300 kbps download speed last night, i could barely belive it. On another forum someone else has just had the upgrae same as me and they are getting the same problems, hopefully they will find a cure as Virgin dont seem to want to help at all.

I'm also with Virgin here in the NE of England and have the 3 for £30 package ie TV, Telephone and 4Meg Broadband connection. I usually get around 300-350kbs download speed.

Which modem do you have?. As I was originally with NTL prior to Virgin takeover I had the old black box modem until my son told me that new Virgin customers were getting a new blue Ethernet Cable modem as there were problems with the older type. Shortly after this mine mysteiously started misfunctioning!!! and Virgin installed a new blue one to me also which does give a faster download than the older type.

Apart from a problem with my TV digibox and PC losing the signal around two years ago which turned out to be a fault caused by a Virgin installer who had disconnected a wire from my connection while connecting a new customer to the main connection box for our street I haven't really had too much to complain about other than the fact that they charge you for the privilege of talking to a call centre in India to tell them you have a problem, though give them their due they will repay the charge if the fault lays with them. I had no connectivity for three days and they discounted me nearly £10 on my next bill.

At the time I was annoyed with them and decided to do a survey to see if I could get the same service elsewhere cheaper but found that although Tiscali and Sky/BT say they can, this is only if you already have a BT telephone line installed. If you don't, then the added installation costs for this make it more expensive. Another thing which cropped up was this. As far as I know Virgin are the only landline cable company in the UK and therefore their signal will be strongest as the others all lose signal strength bouncing off of satellites etc. If you live on a modern estate built in the last few years you will probably have a telephone cable capable of 8meg broadband but if you live in an older part of town which most of us do then it is in all likelyhood that your telephone cable is not capable of handling more than a half meg broadband anyway so paying for 8meg is just a waste of money.

I am by no means praising Virgin but it is only a few months since I checked all this out and to my chagrin found out that for the service they provide none of their competitors can beat them on price.

The distance away from the exchange can also play a major part in connection speed. The best way to describe it is this picture


How far from your exchange are you?

Ive read that the ethernet cable is better than the usb modem for speed, ill try getting one and see if it helps. I only pay for the 2 meg service but got the free upgrade to 8 meg. The line is steady at 7.4Mbps and the bt speed tester shows download speed of 3000Kbps i just dont get that from any other site though. Im about 1km from the exchange, its only two gardens away in a straight line but with the cable going the long way round the road its a bit further. I wouldnt say 1km is a long way from any exchange.

nigglesnush85, on Apr 7 2008, 08:21 AM, said:

I've heard about this but its most likely not the main cause.
Virgin has slow broadband is Australia too >.<