Slow Downloads Using Firefox or IE

DJ_Price · 10-06-2006, 21:58

Hi, im with ntl & have 4mb connection, my problem is that I can only ever get download speeds of 120kB/s or lower when i download anything in Firefox or IE. Ive have done speed tests on various websites & programs & the results all show I have a 4mb connection. Thanks for any help in advance.

pedantic · 10-06-2006, 22:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ_Price

Hi, im with ntl & have 4mb connection, my problem is that I can only ever get download speeds of 120kB/s or lower when i download anything in Firefox or IE. Ive have done speed tests on various websites & programs & the results all show I have a 4mb connection. Thanks for any help in advance.

I doubt it's a browser problem, to be honest.

Try a tweak test here it will run a few tests and give recommendations.

DJ_Price · 10-06-2006, 22:47

I checked it out & still have the same problem

also if im downloading something, then try going on a website, it takes ages for the page to load, but when the download has stopped the page will load ok.

pedantic · 11-06-2006, 00:51

It could be a proxy issue, have you tried changing proxies to see if there's any difference ?

Shaun · 11-06-2006, 01:32

Also, have you tried a download manager like www.freedownloadmanger.org ?

DJ_Price · 11-06-2006, 02:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedantic

It could be a proxy issue, have you tried changing proxies to see if there's any difference ?

I don't use a proxy.

---------- Post added at 02:11 ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun

Also, have you tried a download manager like www.freedownloadmanger.org ?

I've just downloaded & tried it out & i get full speed using it. Thanks for the link, but its still strange how i only get 120k using Firefox or IE

LSainsbury · 11-06-2006, 09:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ_Price

I don't use a proxy.

If your connection is via NTL then you will use a Proxy....

---------- Post added at 09:44 ---------- Previous post was at 09:43 ----------

Ohh my god - I've reached 1,000 posts!

I obviously need a life!!

pedantic · 11-06-2006, 10:53

If a download manager works, I suspect your connections to a server may need tweaking, and rwin setting may need to be increased.

lemarsh · 11-06-2006, 11:00

is there a general problem with NTL at the moment (possibly on back of upgrades?).

I have a 2meg download (waiting for 4) - and speed test from ntl advises around 1.8.

However, there are loads of pages that don;t seem to want to load - examples being the two links in this thread. Both seem to be waiting for data - and even this page as I type says 'waiting for pagead2.googlesyndication.com....'.

BBC has constant issues. This started happening a few days ago, but yesterday was OK - but nothing seems to want to load in standard times.

I have 2 machines going through the same router, and both having issues. Have re-booted, but still does not work. Is the same for Firefox & IE.

Any suggestions (apart from loading above when it happens, but as it is 2 machines...).

quick update - dslreports has loaded, and when run Tweak Tester II returns '* Downloading file of size 1024000: Failed to download: Read timed out'

pedantic · 11-06-2006, 11:09

There have been problems recently with NTL, I think someone mentioned DNS issues. Also the google ads on this site, can take an age to complete, especially if you are having problems with your connection. It might be worth getting an ad blocker, I did that because of the problems with ADSL at the moment. This site loads very quickly for me, but sometimes you do need to tweak it a little.

DJ_Price · 11-06-2006, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsainsbury

If your connection is via NTL then you will use a Proxy....

---------- Post added at 09:44 ---------- Previous post was at 09:43 ----------

Ohh my god - I've reached 1,000 posts!

I obviously need a life!!

Thought u meant added by myself in Firefox or IE

---------- Post added at 12:32 ---------- Previous post was at 12:30 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemarsh

is there a general problem with NTL at the moment (possibly on back of upgrades?).

I have a 2meg download (waiting for 4) - and speed test from ntl advises around 1.8.

However, there are loads of pages that don;t seem to want to load - examples being the two links in this thread. Both seem to be waiting for data - and even this page as I type says 'waiting for pagead2.googlesyndication.com....'.

BBC has constant issues. This started happening a few days ago, but yesterday was OK - but nothing seems to want to load in standard times.

I have 2 machines going through the same router, and both having issues. Have re-booted, but still does not work. Is the same for Firefox & IE.

Any suggestions (apart from loading above when it happens, but as it is 2 machines...).

quick update - dslreports has loaded, and when run Tweak Tester II returns '* Downloading file of size 1024000: Failed to download: Read timed out'

If you have Firefox, then download the extension from here http://www.customizegoogle.com/ You can change loads of things 2 do with google, such as blocking ads, adding extra search engines to the top of the page.

**Maggy J** · 11-06-2006, 13:21

Some sites restrict their downloads because of bandwidth issues surely.I have one site that insists that I do not use a download manager at all and I'm lucky to get any kind of respectable download speed at certain times of the day.This happens whatever browser I use.

So may we enquire what sites are you downloading from?

Mine is a graphics software site.

lemarsh · 11-06-2006, 18:05

really don't think it is either a PC, or the sites. It is happening on 2 machines, running IE & Firefox. Additionally, I sometimes connect my work laptop (via a VPN connection over broadband) to work, and this was failing today.

I have now tried to use CuteFTP to upload some sites to my web host (i-web), and this is timeing out. Therefore, can only presume it is either - NTL, My Router or My Modem. Router & Modem have been re-booted a number of times, and no difference - so can only think it is NTL issue.

Is it me worth ringing technical support? I am based in Surrey (near Woking)

pedantic · 11-06-2006, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemarsh

really don't think it is either a PC, or the sites. It is happening on 2 machines, running IE & Firefox. Additionally, I sometimes connect my work laptop (via a VPN connection over broadband) to work, and this was failing today.

I have now tried to use CuteFTP to upload some sites to my web host (i-web), and this is timeing out. Therefore, can only presume it is either - NTL, My Router or My Modem. Router & Modem have been re-booted a number of times, and no difference - so can only think it is NTL issue.

Is it me worth ringing technical support? I am based in Surrey (near Woking)

Connect the modem to the pc directly, without the router.

Have you done any traceroutes ? This can sometimes tell you of any bottlenecks you might have.

lemarsh · 11-06-2006, 18:29

how do I do a traceroute?

Also, if I connect the PC direct to the modem, doesn't that give a different MAC address, which will not be recognised?

Strage - nthellworld loads fine!

thanks for your help