Netflix recommends a minimum speed of 1.5 Mbps. My understanding of DSL is the further away from their outside interface the more interference (crappy download speeds) you get.

Snidely-- I have a 4 yr old HP Envy netbook running Win10, i7, x64, 2.4 GHz, 12 GB, and more than 85% free disc space; but it receives streaming thru WiFi. But even with WiFi potential limitations, it is where I found a speed of 10.0 at 8:30 am today. I had initially used it last night to first check speed (measuring 1.5). However I then used an older desktop running Win7 AND directly connected via ethernet to the modem for all subsequent speed tests while speaking with the centurylink help center and receiving speeds anywhere from 0.5 to 2.0.

The Sony is old but it is still sold on Amazon today for $129 as I recall, and it can still be updated and it seemed to run well for a couple of days before I ran into trouble yesterday. I would worry about it if it gave trouble while I found fast speed.

As I send this at 5pm, I find a speed of 7.4 via the netbook.

Then I'd say as with either your DSL feed or the router, something isn't as it should be.

You're correct that your connection speed can degrade with DSL when more and more customers are using it in a specific area. It's possible that your ISP has been slowly but steadily adding more customers without doing anything to expand the capacity. Think of it as a neighborhood water supply in a fixed size pipe that is fine at some times, but, when everyone gets home from work and takes a shower, then suddenly there isn't enough water in the pipe to supply all the households with water at a decent pressure.

I suggest you do this experiment: set your alarm for 4 in the morning, get up, and test your connection speed. If it is decent, the issue may be what I've described.

kudzu9-- I would say that I had already performed the 4 in the morning test, because I had already found max speed at 8:30am. I found 9.9 at 10am this morning and speeds had dropped to 3-6 last evening.

I had always wondered if the water/shower analogy was an accurate or only slightly similar one. Are you saying that it is indeed an accurate one? If so, it would suggest that with the vast increase in internet use over the world in the last few years, that all services would be awful by this time. What is actually done to increase 'flow'?

Another thought. What Wi-Fi are you using? I tried streaming with a wireless-G with a PS3 and had nothing but stutter and buffering. I upgraded the Wi-Fi to wireles-N and had no more problems. Also, how many devices are connecting to the wi-fi at the same time you are trying to stream video?

chas045-

Maybe I should have been clearer: not all forms of connection suffer from this kind of slowdown. Cable and DSL are the ones that are typically subject to it. The reason there hasn't been a worldwide slowdown is that there are other forms of connection, like fiber optics, and providers have also been building up networks to keep pace with or try to get ahead of anticipated growth. However, your provider may have done nothing to expand capacity in your specific area. You have to remember that DSL piggybacks on phone lines, so old lines, aging connections, and distance from the substation, compounded by competition from other subscribers, can compromise DSL at times. That's a reason I switched from DSL years ago, but I understand that may not be an option for you.

I have DSL & although speed checked in the evenings gives the same speed via Ookla speed test (~2.5 mbps) as mornings, the "speed" viewing websites, etc, slows down. I attribute that to traffic, but not sure.

chas045, how well do you know your neighbors? Ask them if they are experiencing the same issues. If you are all having the same speed degradations, then all of you should be on the phone with them to do something about it. If only on person is complaining, then they assume it's limited to you. And if that is the case, then it will help you narrow down the issue. But if multiple people in the area are complaining, then they should be forced to look beyond your equipment/installation.

Coming back to update this thread. I did check with a couple neighbors and found that others were having problems as well. I called CenturyLink back a few times to keep them alert and bring techs out for potential diagnosis, repair AND to keep them driving 20-40 miles and their time=money so that centurylink would feel obliged to do something.

The first tech out agreed with me that the system was over loaded but had the good news that a supervisor was going to be moving to a home just down the street and would likely see the problem for himself.

Unfortunately for centurylink, they have some auto software that emails me to let me know that my problem has been fixed (since the tech has been here) rather than saying something reasonable like 'we are working on it'. That ticked me off so I called for more repair. The next tech agreed that there was a problem and upgraded the 'repair ticket' to a higher up department (who actually called me saying they were working on it and would get back to me; but they didn't).

Last week (following me calling again after another 'all OK' when not OK, the pair of techs said there were 12 complaint calls and that they had found that the local distribution box had old 'slow cards' that they were now replacing. They said 6 lines per card, and I knew the system had approx. 270 homes so that's a lot of newer cards. I'll bet centurylink knew about it all the time but were waiting until enough folks whined about it. With card replacement, the speeds are almost always above 9mbits/sec even under evening load.

Guess you were right Steve.

chas045-

Thanks for updating. It's amazing how persistent one has to be to get action, and I'm frankly surprised to see that even with your level of effort you finally got them to do something. Hopefully, this is a permanent fix. Congrats.

Awesome, glad you got it figured out.