dramatic internet slow down

by CBCKspec Mar 9, 2005 7:19AM PST

during the times of 4pm - 9pm, my broadband internet service (cox cable) drops to a crawl. this has just taken place over the last 6 weeks. there wasn't any new programs installed or d/l (except mcafee updates). i have had the cable company come to my house and check all of my lines. they tell me everything is above average. when i call the tech support, they tell me that all of the tests that they can intiate tell that my machine speeds are way above average and that the number of users on the server i connect to is below normal. when i do a speed test through cox at test.lvcm.com i have anywhere from 167-193 Mbps d/l and 450 u/l. i tested on cnets broadband tester at 4:30 pm cst and got 2310.3 Kbps. if all of these numbers are correct, i should not have ANY slow downs while i am surfing or gaming and yet sometimes the speed is as slow as dial-up.

i've had cox for over 3 years and NEVER had any problems like this.

steps i've taken: reformat computer. install only sp1. (tested still slow)install sp2 tested, much faster. had my computer worked over by the computer tech that built it. had cox check my lines and modem, they got 4.5Mbps d/l.

i am at a loss as what else to do. in my opinion and others, it could be something with mcafee. although i've done what they suggested. please help

my machine
p4 3.06ghz, inter d865perl mb, 1g ram, motorola sb5100 modem, 800 fsb, 2 120g hard drives, windows xp home with sp2, mcafee internet suite, nvidia 4600ti vid card, sb audigy zs pro platinum sound card, 400 watt power supply.

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CBC, With Cable, It May Not Be Your Fault...

by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Mar 9, 2005 7:31AM PST

Although it would be easy to check whether it's McAfee...Simply uninstall it and see if it helps..I don't think that's the problem here.....If the issue is "time related" as you have described, then it's probably not your software...Cable internet speed is dependent on the number of users using the line. The time periods you have listed are the prime times for other users to be using the cable. Everyone comes home from work or school and they start using their cable. Everyone I know that uses cable has similar experiences IF they're in locations where large number of users are.

I know you've had the cable company test things...and they say it's not their fault...hmmm.

I've seen similar slow downs recently but it relates to the new 5.5 version of ZoneAlarm firewall. Still, the slow down was a constant issue, not related to time at all. The only fix was to uninstall ZA..Disabling it DID NOT fix the problem. It had to be uninstalled.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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do you have xp fire wall turned on/

by jjv430 Mar 9, 2005 12:39PM PST

I'm guessing your mcafee suite includes their firewall product. If you are using it, make sure you have the xp firewall turned off. although it won't harm your computer having two firewalls running it does slow you down and isn't nesessary. When you installed sp2 the xp firewall was turned on by default.

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slow down

by David Fish Mar 12, 2005 10:29AM PST

Peak time load affects DSL somewhat also, but it is not normally a drastic slowdown. I use McAfee virus scan and have used their firewall and privacy service in the past. The firewall caused some slowdown, but the privacy service caused a great deal of slowdown. This has been a few years ago, but try disabling those components one at a time and see if there is any difference. I also recently experienced a drastic slowdown with zone alarm until I uninstalled it.

dramatic internet slow down

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