Why does the Internet load slowly on my brand-new laptop?
 

I just bought this for school and, unlike the $300 laptop it replaced, it loads everything quickly, except for the Internet. I just did a speed test and it said that I had an excellent connection with 500KB download speeds!

What year is this?

I keep trying to do schoolwork in my room where I cannot hear my family and the television as well, but then some web pages never load, so I get on my desktop, which does everything quickly, but I struggle to tune out my environment. I have been trying to search for a solution on-line, but everything that I find either points out the obvious, or is actually about something completely different.

My CPU usage is at 14%, so it shouldn't be a virus. Resource Monitor hardly shows any Internet being used. It did not seem any faster when I unplugged the ethernet cable from my desktop and plugged it into the laptop. Windows says the driver is up-to-date.

Do you guys have any idea why the Internet is so slow on my brand-new laptop, while my two year-old desktop and my 4.5 year-old phone are great?

Thanks!

Your new laptop meets the current NSA requirements of funneling everything you do through their systems. It essentially triples your bandwidth usage because everything gets downloaded to you, bounced to them where it's analyzed, logged and then sent back to you to be loaded on your screen.

Didn't you get the memo?

Maybe your computer is just too busy sending everything you do to Redmond. What is your upload speed?

https://wccftech.com/windows-10-data...soft-collects/

500 KBps, or 500 kbps?

One is kinda bad, and the other is terrible. Latency?

You're using a better (different) browser than IE, right? Did you know people who use 3rd party browsers tend to be more productive and more successful in their work than those who use use the default?

14% CPU is high for an idle utilization on a new laptop. Did you remove all the bloatware that normally accompanies the laptop?

Ah, bit or byte. I do not remember.

I Google's speed test says 33.8 Mbps download, 2.44 Mbps upload, but I have had school files that never downloaded. I do not know if you still need to clear your cache between tests, but I wanted to do a different test to be sure. I first tried to do C-Net's test, but it never fully loaded in either Vivaldi or Brave.

When I first bought this laptop I loaded Internet Explorer, downloaded Vivaldi, and it was so slow that I installed Brave, but Brave does not have an import wizard for Vivaldi, and I have not set up my accounts on Brave yet, so I keep both open (with many tabs). In fact, I have IE open also, just because that is what Win10 used to open the PDFs from school. I also have Word, Excel, and Powerpoints open, my Kindle textbook, and other programs, but those others should be small.

Apparently the Internet is finally working right on my laptop. Case closed everybody?

What changed?

I had a DSL modem that would continually drop communication whenever a torrent download was in progress. A minute after exiting the torrent download, normal reliable connectivity would resume.

When you experience the slowness, do a continuous ping to some server on the internet, like ping google.com. There should be no request timeouts, and the reply should rarely go above 100 ms.

Google pinged at 63 ms. One of the webpages listing things to troubleshoot showed a ping of 103.

I had webpages that never loaded at 63. How bad would 103 be?

Are you using a wireless router? What is the bandwidth? What is your Internet connection?

The only hardware in the laptop that really affects the speeds of downloads is the networking interface.

103 isn't too bad. It's 1/10th of a second after all.

Sounds like the issue has passed though?

The thing about the internet is that we don't get to pick the route our data takes, and the route is subject to change at any time.

The test you did where you connected the ethernet cable from a known good computer into your laptop is very good troubleshooting. I'd also disable the wifi just to be sure it's using the wired connection.

If it's slow on the wired connection on your laptop, but not slow on the desktop, that pretty well points to a software issue on your laptop. Try a variety of browsers.

PM me if you want to chat or do a remote session to troubleshoot after 5pm PST.

By the way, I like to go into Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) and look at what's installed. Anything that looks unfamiliar I look up on a website called www.shoultiremoveit.com. It can give you an idea of what the program does, and what reputation it has with others. Remove things you don't use or are known to be buggy or poor performing.

You do use an adblocker, I hope? If not, get one.

If using a wireless router, what frequency (channel) are you using? If a lot of your neighbors are on the same one (never changed the default), that might slow things down. You can find WiFi analyzers* that will show you who else is on each channel.

Even though you plug in the ethernet cable, the laptop might still be using WiFi. I don't know enough about Windows to advise you how to check. On linux, you could use "ip -a", and it would show you the connection status. Wired will have a name starting with "enp", wireless with "wlp". Lots of info, but the important one here is state UP or DOWN.

*Looking at my tablet just now, I see me on channel 8, neighbors on 4, 6, and 11.

Apparently I installed an adblocker. It is not the first thing that I have forgotten, but Brave blocks ads, and my Hosts file is supposed to help.

I downloaded WiFi Analyzer and it indicated that our current channel is stronger than the others. NetSpot does not show anyone on channel 4. We are 6+1. Three neighbors are on 6 and one each on on 7, 8, and 9.

What does any of that mean?!

Some mysteries are impossible to solve!

https://www.metageek.com/training/re...ls-1-6-11.html

Yes, but I grew bored trying to figure out the +1. What is this, an invitation-only activity?

I am trying to download NetStumbler, but my WiFi grew tired again. I think that it has been downloading for half an hour or more. The only information that I have about a bandwidth is the 500 kbps.

I was able to download NetStumbler with Vivaldi.

It says that it cannot find my wifi adapter and I cannot find any setting to help locate it.

It was probably as simple as windows downloading an update in the background. Sometimes even just checking for an update while their server is being hit by a ddos attack can slow a windows machine to a crawl.

According to C-Net, the next update may delete your documents folder.

https://www.cnet.com/news/windows-10...some-upgrades/

Hosts file doesn't help with anything but name resolution (translating a computer name into an internet address). There's usually no need to muck with the hosts file unless you are trying to get computers on 2 different networks to talk to each other.

Many wifi access points default to channel 6, which is why choosing channel 1 or 9 is usually best. Pick the least crowded channel. It matters because a channel can only support 1 conversation at a time, so overlapping with neighbors shares/fights for that single conversation space.

This is the brilliance of cell phones. The "cells" are the communication range of each tower, with each adjacent tower utilizing different wireless channels so as to not interfere with each other. The limited range of a cell tower is actually a feature, as it allows channels to be reused on towers that are outside of the interference range. For example, if a cell tower had a 100 mile range, other towers couldn't utilize those frequencies unless they were well outside of that range. By having a 2 mile range, cell towers can reuse the same frequencies at much closer distances.

I use INSSIDER to evaluate the radio landscape, but I think the latest versions are not free. Simply torrent an older, free version.

I'd like you to disable wifi, and try plugging in the ethernet cable again. We need to isolate the problem. Report back what you find.

BTW- The 5 GHz channels(802.11 a and ac and some n) and are best because they are less commonly used, faster, and the range is much more limited, so you won't get as much neighbor interference. The downside is the range is more limited, so large homes won't get a strong signal everywhere without having repeaters.

Your new laptop should have an 802.11ac wifi adapter. If it does, you should get an 802.11ac wifi access point with multiple antennas. Lots of good options starting at about $40 for a T-mobile AC1900. That's what I run at 2 different homes.

I have been working on this all day. I got it? It was the driver?
 

https://i.imgur.com/cK8NCE9.png

I was able to download INSSIDER 3.2.3.1 here. It says channel 6 + 10. Dual channels?

INSSIDER recommended that I changed to channel one. I ran a bandwidth test, changed, cleared my cache, and tested again.

It dropped from 1 Mbps to 800 kbps. Strangely, both tests were over 2 Mbps upstream, so I looked into that.

Someone on Quora said that if that is your situation, you should replace your router. They are not the boss of me!

My 4.5 year-old phone in desktop mode got an even faster upload speed, but 28.35 Mbps down--from the same spot!

My $300 two year-old laptop was 28.24 Mbps.

I feel like I have done far more troubleshooting than should be necessary on a new computer and should make this Lenovo's problem.

This guy said he had this problem until he disabled WMM under QoS, but he reported that all of his devices using WiFi were affected: https://www.ybrikman.com/writing/201...t-fast-upload/

He explained that Comcast marked everything 8--Priority--the second lowest. He changed his firewall to make everything 0, best effort, and it was much better, but not as fast as 46, Expedited Forwarding.

I still think this is the laptop, not the router.

Windows says this is the latest driver, but I found a more recent one at Lenovo.com--but I could not download it, not in Brave, not in Vivaldi, and not in Internet Explorer, or at least I did not wait around to download 15.6 MB at 10 kbps.

I disabled the WiFi and got 88 MPH with ethernet. I reenabled WiFi and got 87.99 with ethernet. I downloaded and installed the driver, but Windows still shows the old one. I rebooted and tried in three different browsers. Brave is the fastest, then Vivaldi, and Chrome came in last.

I do not know why they vary so much, but the slowest was still dozens of times as fast as before.

I wish that I had figured out this a day or two ago, you know, before that test.

Did it disappear into the past, in a streak of flames?

Ads will slow you down more than anything.
That's why I did ad free for life on here.

This site loads and searches faster than anything

I do not remember if the wifi worked adequately, but I did not manage my time adequately to balance work, school, and my family, so I dropped out. I signed up for one class for this semester and did not receive eleven clients in eight days like last term. I have plenty of clients, but too many cancellations.

I usually try to reschedule, but it almost never happens.

I am having wifi problems again, although it is possible that I struggle more trying to tune out Mom, my brother, and The Hallmark Channel. I will be watching a lecture in my room with the door closed with headphones and then call out to warn Mom that she is watching a Liberty Mutual commercial.

She screams when she hears the jingle.

So, soundproofing and finding a solid door is a completely different issue, but I need to find my noise-canceling headphones, too.

I sometimes have problems with pages not loading, but mostly I struggle with my lectures buffering. However, I only had fifteen minutes for my third quiz because I could not get the page to load.

I have been taking quizzes on my desktop because the Internet does not act much better even on ethernet (with wifi disabled).

The problem is that if I am in the kitchen, Mom just thinks that I am playing on my computer, and keeps trying to talk to me.

I am taking a quiz!

Move out? If anywhere is available for rent, whether it be one bedroom or three, it starts at $750 a month, and I am barely able to afford my room.

I am pretty much just trying to endure until I can get into grad school.

That is why I am taking on-line classes.

Craigslist shows a two-bedroom apartment for $390 a month, but that does not include gas, electric, or Internet.

That is tempting.

Anyway, I installed a program to keep my drivers up-to-date, but it says "More updates found! 13 device drivers and components need to be updated by Pro Edition!"

When I close that it says "Hooray! All drivers are up to date!"

"Upgrade to Pro Edition to update 13 more drivers and components!"

It sounds like I need a new utility. It has updated fourteen drivers, so it does the job about half of the time?

This is a Lenovo and this time when I went to their website looking for drivers it had me download Lenovo Service Bridge, which shows it my drivers. Even though Windows said I had the latest wifi driver, Lenovo showed me a newer one.

It did not make a difference.

It showed me eighteen other drivers that needed to be updated, so that utility did not even catch everything.

I tried different troubleshooting steps that I found on-line and finally downloaded Ashampoo Windows Accelerator 3. Two seconds later it told me to reboot and I did another speed test.

I went from .27 Mbps to 89.6 Mbps and things work great--for the most part.

Some of the lectures still buffer, while everything is absolutely fine on my desktop. I just went to bed at 9pm, woke up at 3:30am, and am trying to not bother Mom and my brother.

I am not a big fan of this class and how the professor set it up, but that is a different issue.

Do you have any idea why the Internet buffers on my laptop, even on ethernet, but not on my desktop?

Have a great day!

So, did you get antivirus protection on before you connected to Internet?

https://hal2020.com/2011/05/12/how-l...out-5-minutes/

Internet Explorer or Edge?

Tell your mom not to bug you when you're taking a test. Keep telling her, with increasing firmness.

What does speedtest.net say? If you're sharing internet with others, they could be hogging the bandwidth. Doesn't sound like a driver issue if wired internet is slow.

Lenovo has it's own update program called System Update. Don't install 3rd party garbage to do this; they'll give you adware and junk.

Open programs and features and look through the installed programs. Use www.shouldiremoveit.com to see which of the installed stuff needs to be removed.

School is pointless unless you have something specific in mind. Discipline will need to be learned first; something which I struggle with. I'd stay with mom as long as you can, but there's plenty of people that would disagree. Just don't let that arrangement prevent you from taking care of yourself and succeeding.

I just ran Avast and Malwarebytes and both said that I am clean.

I use Opera.

As I said, your problem doesn't sound like it's related to your computer since you've tested on 2 different ones, both wired and wireless.

Your mom, and your internet aren't sufficient excuses for not performing well on a test, or at school in general. take those things more seriously and visit a library if you need to. Don't spend the money on classes until you're prepared to do what is necessary to excel.

This is my point total so far:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1549896203

This is the test that I took yesterday:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1549896662

I had planned on driving down Saturday to see the woman that I have been dating, but since the tests is actually worth twice as much as all four quizzes (I am still waiting for the grade for #4), I stayed in-town and studied. I spent an entire day studying. 196 / 207 = 94.7. Yes. I absolutely could have done better, but only about five points. I earned 201 / 228 on the quizzes = 88.2%, but with the weird way the professor scores things, I currently have a 92.5.

The thing is, I did four quizzes and a test in five days, watching two hours of lectures and reading four chapters every day. I wanted to get started as soon as the class opened, but my textbook did not arrive until a week ago. I am going to do a quiz or a test every week now, so I will have more time to study, without the stress.

Please let me know when I am excelling in this class.

Thank you.

I was still trying to figure out what was wrong with my wifi and remembered that in the dozens of Linus Tech Tips videos that I have watched, he always mentions his community forum, "Which you should totally join."

I created an account and went to create a thread asking for help, but there was a "Before you ask for help" thread with all kinds of rules. I think that I spent an hour looking up all of the information they requested. I have used computers for thirty years, but I needed to look up how to look up half of it.

Of course, it asked about drivers. I used the Lenovo utility to catch up a couple of weeks ago, but ran it again, and found a BIOS update. With the exception of last night when it seemed like nothing wanted to load, it has been great, and when I tried to watch a lecture, it ran at double speed just fine.

Hopefully this holds up.

Today I noticed something that I did not recognize in Task Manager and looked it up. Apparently it was a standard Windows "Feature." I also discovered Settings > Privacy > Background, which showed thirty-six background "Features," most of which begged to be disabled. I may never notice a difference, but I like to know what is running on my computer, and to get rid of things that I do not need.

Mac OS has an application called Activity Monitor. Windows probabl has Task Manager

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=windows+equivalent+activity+monitor

Aside from needing to reset the modem and router up to several times a day, the wifi has been working fine on my laptop.

The lecture for the quiz yesterday gave many specifics about how bad poverty, education, and etc. are in New Mexico (but sometimes still better than Arizona), but the data was from 2006 - 2010. The lecture is from 2012. The textbook she told us to buy is from 2008, although she said the newer editions lack significant improvement, so save your money.

That may be true, but if she started using a newer textbook, she would need to redo her recorded lectures, quizzes, tests, and the final.

Then again, the one time she showed the textbook in a lecture, it was an even older edition, if not a completely different text. Worse, I went back through the textbook and rewatched the lecture. She never covered material relevant to some questions on the quiz.

Public schools are always 12 grades behind the world they are trying to prepare you for.

On my $100 laptop (spontaneous reboots about once a week) I found out how to turn on Text Summary Service. It's like Cliff Notes for everything.

Even better, I downloaded a 1.Gb file to enable local speech-to-text. :thumbup: The first phrase it captured was "My voice is my password".

Hey, does anyone remember how this ended? :)

I happened to see this thread when I was updating other threads about this laptop.

I guess that I solved the wifi problem, but it kept freezing, and then crashing. I convinced the extended warranty company to replace the motherboard and I sold the laptop on eBay.

How did I fix the wifi? Does it matter? :)

I fix WiFi by turning it off and back on and if that doesn't work, use a hammer.

I mentioned resetting the Wi-Fi several times a day.