[kutter]

I've been dealing with this issue for about a month now and can't figure out what is wrong. I've never had any problems with my internet speed in the past and speedtest.net is saying the speed is 2.7mbps which is what my speed has always been but I can't watch youtube videos or anything now without waiting for them to buffer for minutes at a time. And this is where I get confused: when I'm streaming a video the speed seems to max out at 100 KBps and usually sits around 50. But, if I download a torrent it gets up to the full speed and downloads no problem. And this problem is on every computer in the house...we have laptops and cellphones/ipods using the wireless connection plus a desktop using a wired connection and everyone has the same issues. I've tried searching for a fix for this but nothing has worked so far. Does anyone have any ideas?

[mhd1360]

Speed of 2.7 mbps is not enough for watching high-quality youtube videos, maybe 240p works fine.
There is a fact that should mentioned and that is when you are downloading a file from torrent, ftp protocol or a website , using any kind of download managers like IDM, Download Accelerator, and ... they can use maximum bandwidth of your internet connection, and because of that, at the same time, you can't open any webpage normal and if you could, it will load very very slowly.
But when you are watching a online stream or youtube content, your browser try to download the content and it will never get your whole bandwidth.
With 2.7mbps your maximum download should be (2.7*1024)/8=345 KB/PS, But as I pointed before, you can not reach this speed in normal web browsing or watching video (High Quality Video)

[kutter]

Thanks for the reply. I know the speed isn't too fast but I was trying to say even the lower quality videos aren't loading anymore and I've been on with this ISP for 3 years now and have never had problems with them in the past. Even with no other computer using the bandwidth, the browsers stay within the range of 50-100KBps meanwhile with nothing using the bandwidth and downloading a torrent, it downloads in the 300~ range and all the speed tests are consistently in the range of 2.7Mbps.

[TerryNet]

Do you have separate modem and router? If so, does the problem occur even with a computer connected directly to the modem?

If you have a modem/wireless router combo does the problem occur with the router's wireless disabled (turned off)?

[kutter]

Ok, so now I feel stupid for not trying this before. Just tried it bypassing the wireless router and it was working at full speed. But what would be wrong in regards to the router? None of the settings have been changed and it's the same one we've always had.

[TerryNet]

Could be a wireless issue. A quick way to test for that is to disable the wireless on the router.

If it is still slow with the wireless disabled reset the router to factory default settings and test again. If still slow replace the router.

[kutter]

Sorry for taking so long to reply, was on holidays for a couple weeks. I've updated the firmware on the router and also reset it to factory settings and after I reset the settings it was back to normal for a couple days but I noticed tonight that it is back to the slow speeds again. I guess I could just buy a new router as you said but I just can't believe that the router would be totally at fault. It is only 2 years old and has worked fine all that time and is a Linksys WRT610N (which I'm pretty sure is a fairly decent model) but I'm running out of things to try.

[TerryNet]

Did you try ...

Could be a wireless issue. A quick way to test for that is to disable the wireless on the router.

[kutter]

No I didn't. I don't have the manual for the router any more and looked everywhere on the router setup page and couldn't find anything that disabled the wireless. But one thing I have noticed since I reset the factory settings is that at random times it will work fine for an hour or two but then the rest of the day it slows right down to like 30 KB/s again. So I don't know if that means anything or not.

[DoubleHelix]

This is how you disable wireless.
http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.as...pid=96&slnid=3

[kutter]

Thanks Helix....just tried it with the wireless disabled and it's still the same slow connection

[TerryNet]

at random times it will work fine for an hour or two but then the rest of the day it slows right down to like 30 KB/s again.

Maybe it is overheating, but at random times it runs cooler and you get the expected speed?

Maybe the electrical supply is mostly bad? If the router is plugged into a surge protector or power strip try it connected directly to a wall outlet.

But, probably the router is defective.

[kutter]

Ya it's plugged into a power strip. Haven't tried it directly in the wall yet since it's actually been working fine tonight so far. Was just streaming at 300 KB/s. Overheating might make sense since I don't really know what else it could be to cause it work so intermittently.