Slow internet

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I'm having real slow broadband speeds all of a sudden today? Am wondering if this is Festive season traffic? Its a bit of a complicated issue because dependent where you are globally you will have very different experiences. So, are you experiencing a slow down and if you are or are not, why?

The internet is way too big to be effected by that. Test your speed.

Speed Test

No it isn't, but the bottleneck at most ISPs is at the last mile - so effects are going to be felt at a neighborhood/market level.

Global Internet traffic definitely goes waay up during the holidays. I've worked at enough very large providers to see that.

It's interesting to run across this topic, because I'm having a hellacious time getting pages to load no matter where I go or what site I'm visiting, today and yesterday. I just thought it was my computer, which acts up at any time of year. But load times lately are horrific for me at the moment....

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I know that on New Years Eve its almost impossible to use the internet etc. I live in New Zealand. At present I am in a construction camp in Queensland, Australia and we are all flying home today. We have a wireless network. I reckon all the boys are skyping, facebooking, tweeting (I don't understand what most of these modern apps are) and going crazy online ordering and so on.

Sometimes "slow internet" can be the fault of malware. If you don't have a software firewall on your PC, you're vulnerable to "drive by hacks" which are programs that search the net for unprotected PCs and secretly install bad stuff on them. Since you're going home for the holidays, may I recommend having your PC looked at by a competent tech?

Yes, will see if the speed improves when I get back home and if not I'll have it checked out.

Did you try the speed test I linked to? If so what was the results?

I agree with that. Not just malware, but any problem with your computer that causes it to slow down. Here is my troubleshooting list of potential internet slowness, from most common to least.

1. Server problems. WP being the worst. Simply try to load a few other websites like Google. If it loads quickly, there is the problem. I usually run a speed test at speedtest.net at this point too.

2. Computer slowness. With my Mac since I don't have to worry about malware, so I simply restart the computer. If the speed returns to normal, problem solved. If the speed only partially comes back, or if the problem reoccurs, maybe I have to do more troubleshooting with the system.

3. Router/ISP problems. Restart the router/modem. If that doesn't fix it, I try again and then wait. As a last resort I call the tech support number in India and try to talk to some guy whom I probably can't even understand his English. Then on to level 2 and level 3 and so on...

4. Internet backbone. I really never see problems with this anymore, but if you think it's a problem you can check it on these sites.

Network Overview /// Internet Traffic Report

Internet Health Report

Real-time Web Monitor - Akamai

^^^ 2a. Computer slowness. Close all windows except the one you are using. This includes instant-messaging utilities, streaming audio or video, and any other services or applications that take up a lot of processor time or memory.

No because I left the camp where I was (in Australia) and back home (in New Zealand) so no probs with speed here.