Can I fix my connection speed?

[Steve M]

Help me Computer Hope, you're my only...well, hope.

I'm using a Toshiba P200 laptop, first of all.

There's only one change to the machine I can think of recently. A week or two ago I installed some software from Steam (I think it's a client?) in order to download and play some online games. The game I downloaded (Champions online) took a bit over 4 hours. Things were ok for a couple of weeks until the game wanted to download a patch (which is an update for the game I think). But my download speed, according to a test I did, is only about 344 kilobits a second, which means the patch would take about 20 or more hours to download! So far I've been unable to download the patch and so therefore unable to play the game. Even when I'm not trying to download the patch or running Steam,  my internet has slowed to a crawl. Has Steam done this or the patch? Or something else? My internet used to be much, much faster!

Help me!!!

[jason2074]

What is your broadband speed and are you connecting by wired or wireless? 

[Steve M]

What is your broadband speed and are you connecting by wired or wireless?

The laptop is wireless, connecting to a hub in another room. As for broadband speed, how do I find that out? (That probably sounds like a stupid question, I know, but we've had broadband for years and I can't remember any of the stuff from when we set it up).

[Rustys]

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Click on the the city you wish to test to and post the results.

What does you ISP state that your speeds should be?

[Steve M]

I did a speed test (using a uk based program, as that's where I am). Download speed: 352 Kilobits/second. Upload: 316 Kilobits/second. The program said that in my area the best I could get was 4Mbps.
I looked at my wireless connection status (via Control Panel) and was told my speed was 54Mbps.
This is all very confusing and very annoying.  So, I have a program that can tell me my connection is slow, but now I need a way of finding out why it's suddenly become so slow and what I can do about it.

Help me, please!

[Transfusion]

4 Mbps=400+ kilobytes, not bits, per second theoretically. Here in China, I get 320 kilobytes/second max download speed on an ADSL connection, even with all the censorship/government firewalls, etc. etc. going on.
352 Kilobits/sec = 44 Kilobytes/sec. that is very slow for a 4 Mbps connection.
http://www.matisse.net/bitcalc/?input_amount=352&input_units=kilobits&notation=legacy

An Ethernet connection and a 54 Mbps WiFi connection will make no difference in speed connecting to the internet because the bottleneck is at your ISP's connection. Although if you want to nitpick about WiFi signal strength, beacon intervals... but for the most part the WiFi is not the problem.

So it is probably your game's connection to the internet that is malfunctioning. What you need is a bandwidth monitor that can track upload and download speeds of every application.
http://www.netlimiter.com/download/nl_2011_mon.exe Direct Download Link to netlimiter monitor version 2.
http://www.netlimiter.com/index.php

[Steve M]

Through control panel I check ed on my Hub, and it said Downstream was 1696Kbps and upstream 448Kbps.

Could it be possible my connection is slow because someone else is wirelessly also using my bandwidth without my knowledge?

[reddevilggg]

Have you tried the test while connected to your router with an ethernet cable??

[Transfusion]

1696 Kilobits/sec=212 Kilobytes/sec. I assume

Through control panel I check ed on my Hub, and it said Downstream was 1696Kbps and upstream 448Kbps.

to mean that its your PC's downloading/uploading speeds. It is your PC hogging bandwidth if so.

Have you tried the test while connected to your router with an ethernet cable??

and yes please try that-forgot that you were

connecting to a hub in another room.

[jason2074]

Sudden sluggish on internet connection could also be a cause of junk files and or infection.

[Steve M]

Thanks again for your replies.
The laptop hasn't been defragged or anything like that for ages, so that's next on my to do list.
Later I'll try the test with the hub/router connected to the laptop with the cable. But that can't be a long term solution because we often have computer in the other room running at the same time as the laptop and that's the one that needs a cable in order to connect.

[reddevilggg]

Later I'll try the test with the hub/router connected to the laptop with the cable. But that can't be a long term solution because we often have computer in the other room running at the same time as the laptop and that's the one that needs a cable in order to connect.

Its not meant to be a long term solution, its meant to find out if your router is as slow as your wireless connection.

[Rustys]

Just to test try disabling firewall and AV software see if there is any difference for the connection speed.  The enable after the test.

1  Is there any improvement if you connect directly to the modem?

2  Have you tried to disable or uninstalling Steam?

3  Yes there could be some one accessing your wireless if you do not have it secure.  The way you can check is bring up the configure screen for the router or modem and see who is using the connection and how there are connecting.  With out knowing what router and or modem you are using can not specifically tell you where to look to find the information.

[Steve M]

I've tried connecting the laptop directly to the hub/router with a cable. It took quite a while to download the drivers it needed. Then I did a speed check and got pretty much the same result. I've defragged the computer and deleted cookies and other stuff that may be slowing it down (but would those effect download speed anyway? I've no idea), but that hasn't changed the speed test.

[Steve M]

Just to test try disabling firewall and AV software see if there is any difference for the connection speed.  The enable after the test.

1  Is there any improvement if you connect directly to the modem?

2  Have you tried to disable or uninstalling Steam?

3  Yes there could be some one accessing your wireless if you do not have it secure.  The way you can check is bring up the configure screen for the router or modem and see who is using the connection and how there are connecting.  With out knowing what router and or modem you are using can not specifically tell you where to look to find the information.

I am using a BT home hub. The speed just dropped for no visible reason and has stayed the same for over a week.
Please help me computer hope experts, you haven't let me down yet!