The first four steps address problems that are easy to identify and free to fix.

Step1: How's Your Browser?

The most common cause of slow Web performance is browser related issues. For a variety of reasons, the performance of specific browsers can degrade over time.

To enhance your speed performance, we recommend that you download a new copy of your Internet browser and be certain that it is the latest version. The links you need to install the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape are listed below:

• Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Netscape

Step 2: Is your speed slow because of congestion on the Internet?

The Internet operates throught the transfer of packets of information. For a variety of reasons these packets can become caught in what is essentially a traffic jam; that slows down the transfer of information.

You can access worldwide monitoring of Internet traffic jams, from the Internet Traffic Report, by clicking here.

Step 1: Try A Different Test:

• If the results of our speed test are not clear, and you wonder whether you really have speed issues, you can access another speed throughput test created by Speakeasy, the internet service provider. Click here to use this test now.

Step 2: Is it a Browser Performance Issue?

• The most common reason for slow Web performance is some type of browser malfunction. As a fist step, we recommend that you download a new version of the Internet browser you are using, and ensure that the browser is the latest available version.  The links for these downloads are listed below:
  • Internet Explorer
  • Firefox
  • Netscape
• If you are using Firefox, we also recommend that you download and install the FasterFox plug-in for this brower, at this link.
• Now, close all other programs, so there are no other activities are using bandwidth resources.

Once you have downloaded the latest version of your browser please retest your Internet connection and see if it is still slower than expected.

Step 3: Is your area of the Internet suffering from congestion?

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  Step 4: Are you trying to access a poorly performing Web site?

  • If you experience slow speeds when you try to access a particular Web site, it may be that the Web site and not your Internet connection is the problem.
  • Use the test below to assess whether you are trying to work with a site that performs poorly: