Slow to find sites on the net?

[Poppa_Meth]

Here the past few days I've had constant "site could not be found" "connection timed out" errors. Sometimes It blazes right along and my download all go at a constant pace. It's like the browser is just having trouble locating the site initially. I have Adelphia Powerlink cable running through and SMC router, all of which has been checked. I'm thinking this is on the ISPs end. Sound like a possible DNS issue? I'm not even sure where to start really.

[redwudz]

The first thing I do is go to a site like this and run a speed test.

http://www.dslreports.com/

I have those same problems on occasion, and it's usually the ISP, even though they may deny it. If you try to pin them down, they will probably say it's problems on other internet systems and not theirs.

A handy program is Neotrace. It shows the times between the links from your computer to the site you are connecting to. It's freeware. Also shows where the signal is being routed to get to the site.

http://www.networkingfiles.com/PingFinger/Neotraceexpress.htm

[Poppa_Meth]

I've run speed tests and it always checks out fine. It seems more like a connection issue. I'll try that program and see what I can come up with. I've had more poblems with ISPs lately that ever before. I think the one we have at work dropped off the face of the planet. No bill, no tech support, no connection.

[Faustus]

Where are you at in the world? MackemX has been having problems also.

[thecoalman]

I have Adelphia too, the connection seems a little slow of as late too. No trouble with speed issues, just getting connected as you mentioned.

[Poppa_Meth]

I'm in Staunton, VA.

I know Adelphia is a crappy company but Powerlink is on thing I've never had issues with from them. I'll call them if it doesn't clear up soon and see what's going on. I hate to do it since I'll be on the phone a half hour before I'll get to talk to anyone.

[thecoalman]

Have you already tried the standard "unplug the modem and wait 5 minutes and plug it back in...." they are going to tell you....

[ozymango]

Have you already tried the standard "unplug the modem and wait 5 minutes and plug it back in...." they are going to tell you....

Same people work for your ISP too, eh? I've got Comcast out here on the west coast and we've been having more and more of these kinds of episodes (especially in the evening, I'm assuming after people get home from work) where everythings fine for a while, then ... you can't reach anything for a while ... then you refresh and it speeds right along, and then ... connection timed out.

So of course check all blinky lights and do the modem unplug/plug thing and my guess is you're just seeing the consumer side of more and more people subscribing to cable broadband vs. your supplier's ability to keep up with the bandwidth.

Oh, and yeah it's often a DNS issue (out here, anyway) -- I have a couple of sites I know by IP, plus my office computer's IP for remote desktop, and 90% of the time I can get to those connections even when I can't connect to any named addresses. Not that this really helps the irritation factor when your connection just times out ... ...

[Poppa_Meth]

Yep been through unplugging the modem and router. Made sure my DNS servers are current. Still have issues. It's worse in the evening so I'd say you are correct about it being more traffic than they can keep up with. Also Comcast bought Adelphia recently. I didn't have problems with it until then.

[isogonic]

trace apps could provide misleading information because busy routers may drop,delay trace/ping requests