Your connection should be pretty quick. Your location (too far from central office) or wiring may be a problem. Do a speed test at Speedtest.org and post your result.

I have 3MB DSL and it's plenty fast for the purposes you describe. 10MB would be about 3 times quicker, but I'm not sure that's the solution. It sounds like something else is going on here. Please check out your actual speed on your own at the link below and then report back. Also, post the link to the paper you read so I can try to access it...maybe they have a slow server.

Here is a link that might be useful: Speakeasy speed test

agree your 3Mb should be fine for anything you need to do it sounds to me like a problem in your wiring which is often the case with dsl, I had dsl once and had horrible issues, they finally came out and found there was a stretch of bad wiring between me and the nearest CO, once replaced and the CO updated things improved greatly, they also at that time put in a whole house filter so no more need for the individual filters that must be put on each phone line. That can often be a cause of slow or bad connection also, not having the little dongle filters on every line, even a phone line connected to the tv for satellite connection and also those for alarm systems. If you miss a filter somewhere you can have problems. I would demand they come to the house and run tests from there.

Do lots of speed tests from different testing locations and keep records. These are good tests at BBR.
Broadband Tests and Tools
Speedtest.net

speed-test page.

also try using your browser with all add ons disabled, if firefox go to Start> all programs> mozilla> firefox safe mode.

IE Internet Explorer

Do you monitor your signal-to-noise ratio and your attenuation? You should, and this info should be available by logging in to your modem. If you don't know how, ask your ISP. Depending on your distance from the telco office or the remote DSLAM that serves you, you might see a noticeable signal degradation by upgrading from 3 to 10 mb. Even if the ISP offers 10mb...it might not be available TO YOU depending on the distance. Find out.

Also make sure your DSL provider is not downgrading your connectivity deliberately.

QWEST did that to us - suddenly the DSL was extremely slow and kept dropping packets. they had changed out some switches and we ended up dropping Qwest completely (no land lines, not DSL) and going to cable

Wow! I have a lot of suggestions to carry out. Speedtest.net results: down-2.28 Mb/s up-0.47 Mb/s I was insructed by the tech guy to run a test on this site while I spent a long time on the phone asking questions and getting suggestions. The web site says these results are slightly higher than ISP's average???? He told me results like these were pretty typical for my DSL. He told me my 3 Mb service is actually very good and there was nothing wrong. He said my service line is great. Then he tried to sign me up for 10 Mb. This was about 10 days ago.
Other tests I ran tonight: Speakeasy down-2.51 Mbps and up-0.49 Mbps. Speedtest.org down-1689 Kbps and up-486 Kbps
Verizon said 127 KBytes. I'm not certain I understand all the questions you have asked or all the suggestions. The Internet Explorer site suggested by Raven didn't give info fo XP. I will try to find out more from their site that is specific to XP. I have runs tests on my laptop when it was directly connected to the modem (laptop was set up for a network) and the results were slightly better. The OS on the laptop is Vista. I disconnected the router becasue I am not using the laptop and thought the router might cause some slowdown. When my netboolk avvives I will test that right away.
I have said before I have absolutely no other choice for TV or phone other than TDS because I am out in the sticks. I might be able to get internet from Hughesnet but I can't do that for more than a year. I am locked into a 3 year bundle with TDS for local phone, digital HDTV through DISH and my DSL. I will call a TDS tech in the morning and ask the questions about the quality of my DSL line and if it might be necessary for someone to check the connection at my house. However, that will cost a small fortune when they walk through the door. I don't pay a monthly fee to them just in case I MIGHT need a house call. I am certain that when I first got DSL it was much faster, and I believe I had my old computer at that time. I don't recall being dissatisfied when I first got this computer. I was working then and the office computer on Time Warner broadband snapped from one site to another very quickly. When I first got my DSL I thought it was as fast as the service at work. I am convinced it has slowed down over the past year. Oh--I was given several extra filters when the DSL line was installed and all phone jacks have filters. I do have five cordless phones in my house (I hate to get up to answer the phone so I have lots of phones around the house). Only the phone with my PC and my kitchen phone are on jacks. Three others are sitting on chargers. Could any of this matter? One last thing, last month I was sent a new DSL modem to see if that helped. It didn't.
Nancy

the directions are for IE specifically does not matter which OS you have.
# Open Internet Explorer 7 or 8 which ever you have
# Click Tools, point to Manage Add-ons, and then click Enable or Disable Add-ons. Disable them and try it to see if that helps if so you know it is an add on causing the problem.
if you have not tried using a different browser do that immediately, firefox would be my suggestion, you should always have at least 2 browsers on a pc anyway in case one dies on you.

If you have a router I would definitely NOT disable it you really do want a router in your set up because they provide more security, they have a built in hardware firewall so I would sure add that router back in.

you mention you have Dish is there a phone line connected to your dish box? If so does that phone line connection have an inline filter on it? If not it also needs one. That was one problem I had with my DSL when I had Direct tv, I had never even thought about the line that went to the box and the one that went to my alarm system. Which is why they came out and put a whole house filter at the box for FREE, they will only do it if you ask them for it. them testing their lines up to your house should cost you nothing. Only if they work on the lines in your house would they charge you.

If you are getting the speed you show on the speed tests then it looks like you have the speed coming in.
I think you need to tell us exactly what is slow and how slow. Because it may not be your DSL if all those test sites are saying that you are getting pretty near your 3Mb.

Here is a link that might be useful: firefox

Raven--I found directions specific to XP and I printed out two. I am going to read and compare them and then follow one set of instructions.
I did use Firefox for a while and it seemed a very small bit faster. I didn't like Firefox and eventually removed it. I have tired Firefox and Opera in the past but I am addicted to Microsoft, probably because it is what I first used. Nothing else feels as comfortable.
I will turn the router back on.
I recalled that when I added HD to my DISH the tech connected a phone line to the receiver box. I never use any pay for view services and I have disconnected the line. The line has a 2 inch by 1/2 inch box on the end of it where it is connected to a jumble of lines going into the phone box on the wall.
I will see if there is an improvement after I clean up my browser issues.
When I have tried everything suggested here I will then talk to a tech person. I don't have many positive feelings about TDS because they are the only supplier of phone service in the little hamlet in which I live. Verizon is as close as 6 miles as is Time Warner, but neither is interested in bringing service out my way because there simply aren't enough families in this area to make it cost effective for them. TDS ia well aware I have no option to take my business elsewhere and their attitude is very "take it or leave it."
Thanks, Nancy

well you can threaten them with taking your business elsewhere because if Verizon is that close you can sure tell them you have the option of going with Verizon air card for your internet service and your cellphone service and canceling your home phone, not to say you would but it can be used as a threat.

I am not sure what in particular you are talking about when you say you found the directions for xp?
The reason for my link to that site was for you to have the directions on how to turn off all the add ons in IE. In my above post I gave those instructions. From that link you can find them under this section topic header
Option 2: Use the Manage Add-ons tool to determine which add-on is causing the issue
you can fully disable all of them to test if it makes a difference if so then you can do as stated in the instructions for each one at a time to see if you can pin point one add on that is the culprit.

What else were you looking for?

even if you do not care for using another browser it is highly recommended to have one loaded on the pc and available. If you IE should get corrupted and not work you would have no other way to get online on that pc. Having a back up like firefox or Opera assures you have an option.

With DSL it is really essential that every phone line have a filter on it or it can degrade the signal, I had to get a special filter for my Direct tv phone line, since mine was not at a wall plug there was a direct line run through the wall and out with the direct tv cables, so it had to be one that the line plugged into and then another section of phone cable plugged into that one and on to the satellite box, an inline filter with female on both ends, picked it up at radio shack.

Quite frankly, the speeds you are getting with your DSL are rather good, certainly better than you would get with HughesNet or WildBlue satellite. I am using a cellular air card, and I do not get down speeds as good as yours.

By the way, if you do not have a phone line connected to your Dish receiver, you will be billed an extra $5 per month. Keep it connected even if you do not purchase moveies, etc.

Did I here "Wild Blue" You know what I'm going to do with my "Wild blue Dish"

Take down the Dish and make it into a "Birdbath"

I left my Comcast connection in Pittsburgh. Stuck with wild blue...

Grandms-- I had to talk to three different people, and each time answer all kinds of security question, but I was finally told that keeping the phone connection to the Dish Receiver is no longer required. The practice was DC's in February.
Nancy

Mudlady,

From what you've posted, your DSL download speeds sound pretty reasonable. Remember the advertised speed is a theoretical maximum that is effected by lots of factors. The other half of the equation is how long it takes for your computer to render the page. That is to say, the amount of time it takes for your computer to take the incoming information and display it in a useful format on your screen. While that time will be effected by hardware (processor speed, memory, etc.) the most limiting factor is that amount of stuff running in the background. So you might want to take a look at that. My experience is that many people have so much crapola running in the background it's amazing the computer runs at all.

Yes indeed and also how much RAM you have on the computer can you please tell us that info, low RAM will definitely make things slower. How old is the pc and what OS is it running

Ok, I don't call myself Computerdyslexic for nothing. How do I find the amount of RAM? I think I got the computer around 5-6 years ago. I will haul out the printed stuff that came with my Dell and see if the invoice shows a date. It has XP Pro. However, it was once worked on by a tech I will never have in my house again and I don't know what he might have changed.
Nancy

easiest way to know exactly what is in the pc is to run the free belarc and get a report, I always print one off and keep it handy should I need to know something. It will tell you the amount of RAM memory in the pc.
Belarc

Mudlady,

I think I got the computer around 5-6 years ago.

That's your problem, not the connection speed. As computers have advanced so have web pages become more complex, requiring more processing power to render them quickly.

I'd also suspect that after that many years there is a fair amount of stuff on your machine that's slowing it down a bit. I don't know how time effective it would be to try and "tune" your machine. Especially with new computers available for well under $500.

If that's not in your budget, my recommendation would be to backup critical data and reinstall the operating system. That will clean out any lingering crapola. Obviously that will be a time consuming activity if for no other reason that to download and install 5 years worth of Microsoft updates. :-)

Raven--
I ran the Belarc and am overwhelmed with information. From the dates mentioned I believe my Dell was made for me in the first half of 2006. I have 2 slots with 512 MB memory, so I guess I have a 1G.

Mike--
How depressing! I'm too old and too poor to keep getting new computers. I had hoped that my current Dell and my Toshiba laptop might keep me going for a long time. I am not a very sophisticated user and go online most often for email, A couple forums and Google searches. I think of my computer as the world's largest library and I spend hours most days researching whatever has my interest. I also play Solitaire mindlessly for a while before I go to bed. It is the only game I have ever played on computer. I hope to be able to get by with less than cutting edge computers. As long as I can research stuff like my next vacation (I live near Syracuse, NY and will spend 2 weeks in June driving alone to the lowcountry of S. Carolina and Georgia) I will be satisfied.

I followed the "Steps to Optimize IE in Windows XP" and things are moving a little faster.
Nancy

I have a couple of my computers that are about 5 yrs old and they run great, it is all in keeping them cleaned out and maintained, if you do not use resource hogging programs then there is no reason a computer has to be the cutting edge.
For desktops cleaning out the inside of the case is important too, heat can slow down and kill a computer so making sure that task is done is essential especially in an older pc that has had years to suck up dust.
Cleaning the computer and its components

an excellent guide
Help! My computer is slow!

adding another gig of ram would do a world of good too and it is not very expensive and easy to add.

I know you said it is xp but is it sp2 or sp3?

Hi Raven,
I copied this info yesterday:
OS XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service pack 3 Build 2600
Dell DXP051
Total phys. mem 1,024.00 MB
Avail. 455.46 MB
Total virtual mem 2,00 GB
Avail 1.96 GB

I added your two previous links to my Favorites. I am guilty os having 3 cats and not loving housework :-)

Another RAM is something I have done on previous computers and I wil do that for this DELL.

Nancy

Folks--
Here is a message from me that isn't a complaint! My Toshiba netbook arrived this afternoon and I have been playing!!! Miraculously, it picked up my LAN and I am having a ball! Now, what exactly should I do with my laptop? :-)
Nancy

what kinds of speed are you getting with the laptop? that will tell us a lot if you get speedier results with it.

you should, do all your windows updates, install and update your antivirus, install malwarebytes and spywareblaster. Pretty soon you should make the backup copies from the backup on the laptop so you have it on disc.
Here is a good site to get a lot of the stuff you need in one place.
The easiest way to get apps.

I would also run the secunia tool and see what it shows needs updating, I am sure java and adobe will be listed.
Secunia Online Software Inspector (OSI)

Also make sure your windows firewall is turned on and your windows updates are set how you want them.

but mostly enjoy it

My little netbook acts the way my PC used to. I turned it on and after it found the network I went to one of my son's several fabulous sites where he displays beautiful photos of birds. He is the most avid birder imaginable and he has become an excellent amateur photographer. He has an extremely expensive digital SLR camera, long distance scopes and lenses and macro lenses. He is also proficient in Adobe Photo Shop. I know his large pictures are fairly big files. They snapped onto the screen faster than I could look at them in a book by turning pages. I KNOW my PC is the problem. Knowing what is causing the slow downloads is enough to make me get past being annoyed. I will work on all the suggestions to speed up my Dell and stop cursing TDS for a slow DSL.
Nancy

Nancy,

Post a Hijackthis log from the Dell computer, lets see what's running.

Zep--
I have no idea what this is or how to do it.
Nancy

Mudlady,

We've established that your PC is the "problem." I know the folks here love to analyze logs and attempt to find solutions. While that may be a worthwhile endeavor at the age of your computer I think you would be far better served by simply backing up your data and doing a fresh install of the operating system.

Nancy have you made any progress here on the Dell?

I did all the suggested clean-ups and things are running faster. Is Garden Web (computers and cooking) extremely slow to load pages for everyone, or is it just my problem?
Nancy

Garden Web can be slow to load, a lot of us here use add block plus and the easy list subscription, this helps reduce adds being loaded, so it seems to help with page loading as well.

AddBlock plus is a Firefox Add on.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

http://easylist.adblockplus.org/ Install Easylist The main ad-blocker subscription (necessary)