Internet Service Problem or Not?

[ZeeOSix]

I've been trying to determine if my internet service issue of being intermittently slow and plain dead at times is to do with my computer or modem, or is it my provider or the internet websites I'm visiting. Doesn't matter if I use Firefox, Google Chrome or IE. It seems to be worse late at night, but that's just a perception without test data to back it up.

The best clue I can give, which makes me think it's something beyond my hardware, is that I can attach huge files to an email and see it uploading and I can then send that email to myself and receive it instantly.

But sometimes (not always, it seems intermittent) I will go to a website like bobistheoilguy or Yahoo or YouTube, etc and it will just sit there and churn and churn while it says in the bottom status bar: "Waiting for bobistheoilguy.com ..." or "Waiting for Yahoo.com ...", etc. In task manager when it does this there is zero network activity.

Is a symptom like this the provider, or some part of the network that's all honked up? I'm using CenturyLink.

I've tried rebooting my computer to see if it helps or I've rebooted the modem to see if it helps. Sometimes it seems like it does for a few minutes then goes into that "Waiting for whatever.com ..." mode again.

Any ideas?

 

[mattwithcats]

Any overlays on the computer?

Overlay is a program on top of the browser, Google Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, Ask toolbar, etc...

How many antivirus programs are running?

 

[Rolla07]

Run a traceroute and see where its timing out. That will tell you either the site itself or your provider. Id assume its your internet provider/issue on their end. Centurylink is DSL right? Older technology (DMT 2) might be affected by slowdowns at night. Best bet: call your provider and find out what technology you are on. Tell them what you are experiencing and have them check on their end. Are you using a modem and router or all inone device? There are many things to consider here.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
Any overlays on the computer?

Overlay is a program on top of the browser, Google Toolbar, MSN Toolbar, Ask toolbar, etc...

How many antivirus programs are running?


No toolbars, I refuse to install them when programs try to sneak them on.

I'm running Bitdefender Free and Malwarebytes PRO (both real time runners) ... that's it.

It's been working very well except for about the last week intermittently.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Run a traceroute and see where its timing out. That will tell you either the site itself or your provider. Id assume its your internet provider/issue on their end. Centurylink is DSL right? Older technology (DMT 2) might be affected by slowdowns at night. Best bet: call your provider and find out what technology you are on. Tell them what you are experiencing and have them check on their end. Are you using a modem and router or all inone device? There are many things to consider here.


I have no idea how to run a traceroute test. Yes, I'm using DSL with a measly 1.5 Mbps download and 900 Kbps upload speed. For what I do on this machine it works fine unless there is some glitch going on like I'm experiencing. This is the first time I've ever had this issue in years.

I'm using an ActionTec DSL Gateway, model GT704WG.

 

[redhat]

Maybe change your DNS servers? Try Google Public DNS or OpenDNS. I've been using Google for a couple months now and they're great. They knock the socks off of TWC.

 

[openroad]

Try moving closer the modem/router. A weak signal will definitely cause latency issues like the ones you are describing.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: openroad
Try moving closer the modem/router. A weak signal will definitely cause latency issues like the ones you are describing.


I'm hard wired to the modem.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: redhat
Maybe change your DNS servers? Try Google Public DNS or OpenDNS. I've been using Google for a couple months now and they're great. They knock the socks off of TWC.


How is changing the DNS servers done? Is that set in the modem itself?

Sorry, I don't know much here ... I set this DSL modem all up years ago, and it has worked great with no noticeable hick-ups until now.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Do you have more than one computer? If so does this happen with the other computers?

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
How is changing the DNS servers done? Is that set in the modem itself?

Sorry, I don't know much here ... I set this DSL modem all up years ago, and it has worked great with no noticeable hick-ups until now.


Well it depends on how your DSL Gateway/Modem operates. Sometimes the Modem/Gateway acts as a DNS relay where your computer asks the Gateway and the Gateway then reaches out to the DNS server then relays the IP back to your machine. Other times, the DSL Gateway just provides the computer with the IP addresses for DNS servers. Either way though, you can configure Windows to use different DNS servers.

You can change this in Windows (temporarily) to see if the problem goes away. Here is an article from Google for Windows 7:
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs

Here is XP:
http://www.mediacollege.com/computer/network/dns.html

Google Public DNS Servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Also, take a speed test on SpeedTest.net and make sure the speeds it says are close to if not spot on with your rated up/down. Of course DSL a lot of times markets itself as "speeds up to xxx down and xxx up" but it should help to reveal a potential issue.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Do you have more than one computer? If so does this happen with the other computers?


Just one computer using this modem via hard wire.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: redhat
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
How is changing the DNS servers done? Is that set in the modem itself?

Sorry, I don't know much here ... I set this DSL modem all up years ago, and it has worked great with no noticeable hick-ups until now.


Well it depends on how your DSL Gateway/Modem operates. Sometimes the Modem/Gateway acts as a DNS relay where your computer asks the Gateway and the Gateway then reaches out to the DNS server then relays the IP back to your machine. Other times, the DSL Gateway just provides the computer with the IP addresses for DNS servers. Either way though, you can configure Windows to use different DNS servers.

You can change this in Windows (temporarily) to see if the problem goes away. Here is an article from Google for Windows 7:
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs

Here is XP:
http://www.mediacollege.com/computer/network/dns.html

Google Public DNS Servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.


I'll check that out when I have more time. Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted By: redhat
Also, take a speed test on SpeedTest.net and make sure the speeds it says are close to if not spot on with your rated up/down. Of course DSL a lot of times markets itself as "speeds up to xxx down and xxx up" but it should help to reveal a potential issue.


I have taken the speed test using speedtest.net and when it's working the speeds are usually in the range CenturyLink says they should be in for my service - 1.2 to 1.5 Mbsp download and 600 to 800 Kbps upload.

It does seem that sometimes if I reboot the modem it will start working for a few minutes, then die again. I'm suspecting the DSL modem might be getting flaky on me. It's not clear to me what exactly is going on yet.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: redhat

You can change this in Windows (temporarily) to see if the problem goes away.

Here is XP:
http://www.mediacollege.com/computer/network/dns.html

Google Public DNS Servers are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.


So I looked at the Internet Protocol Properties info as the link for XP showed. All info is blanked out as the options for the IP address and DNS server address is chosen to be "obtained automatically".

So do I use the same IP address numbers for "IP address", "Subnet mask" and "Default gateway" as is shown in the example in the link? Then of course use the DNS servers numbers you gave above for "Preferred DNS server" and "Alternate DNS server".

 

[Nick R]

You do not want to manually set the ip address and gateway manually. It really won't let you set custom DNS servers without manually setting the ip? This is the problem with ISP owned routers/gateways.

 

[redhat]

On the link I sent, keep the bubble on "Obtain an IP Address Automatically" and then put the second bubble on "Use the following DNS server addresses".

Then key in the two Google Public DNS.

 

[Rolla07]

http://www.mediacollege.com/internet/troubleshooter/traceroute.html

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: redhat
Maybe change your DNS servers? Try Google Public DNS or OpenDNS. I've been using Google for a couple months now and they're great. They knock the socks off of TWC.


+1 for both OpenDNS and Google's. They're reliable enough that DNS is one thing I rarely have to consider when troubleshooting.

I usually use a Google service if they offer it, but for some reason the OpenDNS servers have proven a wee bit faster and I like the logging and filtering options they offer.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: redhat
Maybe change your DNS servers? Try Google Public DNS or OpenDNS. I've been using Google for a couple months now and they're great. They knock the socks off of TWC.


+1 for both OpenDNS and Google's. They're reliable enough that DNS is one thing I rarely have to consider when troubleshooting.

I usually use a Google service if they offer it, but for some reason the OpenDNS servers have proven a wee bit faster and I like the logging and filtering options they offer.


+1 I am a big proponent of OpenDNS

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Oookkkk.. I'm seeing pretty much the same thing here. Usually between 8 am and 12 noon, occasionally, in the early afternoon.. I thought it might be a router problem, speed test to various places logs 15meg up and 1 meg down, just what I'm paying for, during the slowdown.. The TWC blog has others posting the same issue. I know its downstream from my router, I have 2 100meg lan connected machines, and 3 wireless wirh 150-300 meg connections. It happens on all the devices.The TWC support is not responding to the complaints.
BTW: It's nice and crisp this morning.

Wayne