Watching YouTube Videos And Listening To Music Etc.

[Artemis]

  My husband and I both have new Toshiba laptop PCs. Here are the specs:
Toshiba C660/C660D Satallite Laptop PC
Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1
Processor: AMD E-350 Processor 1.60GHz
Installed Memory: (RAM) 6.00 GB(5.60 GB Usable)
System Type: 64-bit Operatin System
320 GB Shared RAM between C and D Drives
Mozilla Firefox 5.0.1

Plugins:
Adobe Acrobat 9.4.5.236
Microsoft Office 2010 14.0.4761.1000
Shockwave Flash 10.3.181.34
Silverlight Plugin 4.0.60531.0
Windows Live Photo Gallery 15.4.3508.1107
WPI Detector 1.4 1.1.0.4

Extensions:
Adblock Plus 1.3.9
AddonFox 1.1.9
Screengrab 0.96.3
XMarks 4.0.1
Yahoo Toolbar 2.3.11.20110727115843

McCafee Security/Firewall
Skype
Spotify
Nero Smart Start

Our problem is that YouTube videos keep bufferin and won't play. Also any audio only site won't play and keeps buffering. Sites are slow to load like tumblr, twitter, facebook, myspace, etc. We strictly got these new computers to speed things up and we are experiencing the same problems as with our old computer. We use BT Total Broadband. We are located in the Northeast of England around Newcastle. Also, our broadband goes out a fair amount and we call the helpline and they never say there are problems in our area. We really need help and are both painfully novice at the whole thing. We need very clear extremely easy to understand help. We are going bonkers with this. HELP! 

[Allan]

How do you connect to the internet?
And do you experience the same issue with IE?

[KenwoodGT]

Hello

I see your issue, you appear to have a difficult time loading video on YouTube, music etc. Try this in a different browser before you read on.

You stated that you had this issue beforehand with the previous computer, this is likely to be the speed of your Internet connection. Your provider can tell you that there is nothing wrong with the connection probably due to them simply checking if the line is working at a usable speed.

The following is a thorough explanation about speed testing, and reviewing what speeds would be good. If you doubt this is connection speed related, ignore.

Now here's some information that may be a bit difficult for you to understand (as you said, extremely simple )

You should test the connection speed by going to http://www.speedtest.net and there should be a begin test button that should appear in a few seconds. Yes the design is pretty neat actually.   When you have clicked begin test, it will automatically begin measuring the ping (distance between your computer and the server you are testing, the lower the better), download speed (this is how fast that video will download! Higher is better), and upload (uploading photos to Facebook, sending a file to a friend, uploading a video to YouTube... Higher is better) speed.

When the test is complete it will show the results. If you click on share, then on the tab that says forum, copy the code and paste it here so we can see if your Internet is the issue.

I'm on my iPod Touch right now, but I can post some example tests here for you.

Slow, will take a while to download that video.

The DOWNLOAD here is rather slow, as mentioned above. The upload is not the best, but a small amount slower than most connections. The ping here is rather good, the lower the better here.


This is a suitable connection, will work well.
Note: the upload is a bit above average, most providers have less than 1Mbps.

Download is suitable, good for YouTube etc, even for online games which you probably don't play.
Upload here is great, above average. Great for anything you will throw at it.
Ping is OK. not bad.


This is a FANTASTIC connection, I still can't believe I reached this speed.

Download is reeeaaaaaalllllyyyy good.  Enough said.
Upload is great, above average.
Ping is great.




If you have any issues let me know.

Enjoy your new laptops too.

[Artemis]

We connect to the internet wirelessly into BT Total Broadband. I believe my ping is high and the rest is low. MY husband's computer had these results: Ping/84ms Download Speed/0.13mbps Upload Speed/0.38mbps. My results for my computer are the ones I copied and pasted.

[Artemis]

I did a computer rating also:
Processor: Calculations Per Second 3.8
Memory: (RAM) Memory Operations Per Second 5.1
Graphics: Desktop performance for windows 4.2
Gaming Graphics: 3D business and gaming graphics performance 5.6
Primary Hard Disc: Disk data transfer rate 5.9

[KenwoodGT]

Wow, that is a poor connection actually.

By now, this has nothing to do with your computer, it's likely the connection (like if they use good wiring for it).

I had a whole chunk typed up here, but I went to the BT site to review and I guess the page refreshed when I was in a different tab.

Ok back on topic:  The base plans for your provider boast high speeds, even for the base packages. Now this is depending on how far the server is and if the line is quality. If it isn't it won't be as fast. I recommend calling your provider about this, and how you are getting extremely less than what you may be paying for. (like I said, I don't know what you have, but the basic packages looked like 20Mbps)

This isn't exactly my area of expertise, but I hope it helped a bit.

[Artemis]

We supposedly have the 40mbp BT Total Broadband package but, it can't possibly be that fast. Regular internet pages take long to load, too. I've looked at Virgin and they have one that is 100Mbps. Now, THAT'S fast! Plus, even if we only get 50 or 60MBps on that it's still faster than BT.

[jason2074]

Use the LAN port to connect one laptop wired and try browsing/streaming again to check the difference. Run speedtest again and post the result.

[soybean]

We supposedly have the 40mbp BT Total Broadband package but, it can't possibly be that fast. Regular internet pages take long to load, too. I've looked at Virgin and they have one that is 100Mbps. Now, THAT'S fast! Plus, even if we only get 50 or 60MBps on that it's still faster than BT.

I can't imagine why anyone needs 100Mbps.  The majority of Internet users have no real need for such blazing speeds.  I have a 3Mbps DSL Internet connection and I have no problem playing youtube videos.  Even intro level DSL services which typically provide 768Kbps will usually play much streaming video content fairly smoothly.

Your problem, as KenwoodGT has stated well, is that you're just not getting anywhere near the speed you should be getting from your ISP.  Run some speed tests are various times of the day with both computers and document the results and then use this info in dealing with your ISP.  Also, if you can ask some nearby neighbors who are using the same ISP whether they have similar problems, this could be additional evidence to support your position when dealing with your ISP.

[truenorth]

If after doing as soybean has suggested (in it's entirety if possible) you can dialogue with the ISP but i doubt that alone will change much (if anything). They probably know this already regardless of what they say to you. Then if you have a regulatory commission (or agency) that governs the terms of service of your providers (as we do here in Canada) i would urge you to complain to them with the accumulated evidence and their own statement of service levels provided (emphasizing the speed aspect) and seek their intervention to obtain the service levels they state or to alter their statements to reflect the reality. Of course the latter will NOT improve your speed but it may force them to advertise their product more accurately. Plus if it becomes public knowledge and they do nothing about it it could have adverse business consequences for them. Alternatively for your needs to the extent it is available you could investigate alternative providers. truenorth

[Artemis]

It turned out to be a line fault with my internet service provider BT who fixed it. It isn't perfect yet but hopefully soon it will be.

[Artemis]

It turned out to be a line fault with my internet service provider BT who fixed it. It isn't perfect yet but hopefully soon it will be.

The new speedtest. I think it may be some better.

[camerongray]

That still looks extremely slow - If it doesn't improve you should contact BT again as it could be a problem with your phone line.