Thanks for the information Jenny. This concerns me how everyone else can remember this stuff and I stay out in left field, lost!

Don't worry about it, Terri. There's no reason why anyone would know this stuff unless it had to do with their hobby or profession.

Terri, they didn't need any information from you in order to tell you what speed you're paying for. That's in their records, and isn't dependent on any speed test you run. The only information they needed would be that which validates you are who you say you are.

I wonder what they would have told you had you not known the results of the speed test?

That's what I would like to know....

Drac, I get the feeling they're just agreeing with what Terri told them. As though they're covering up something. In short, I smell a year old fish.

You and I are thinking on the same wave-length.

Inland, I just retested twice and got approx 11 mb/s download and 1.5 mb/s upload each time. There are noticable pauses in changing sites/pages on the web which I didn't notice prior to the original loss of connection.

My computer has been shutting down on it's own. At first I thought I had set something to cause it, but it's happening more frequently now. I think it's dying. Could this have an affect on my internet speed?

I agree, I didn't like that at all. It did make me feel that they were just going by what I was saying. Then again, remember I only have basic.
Terri
PS.... Can someone tell me why I can't preview my post? This happens about 75% of the time. It just says Loading Preview...

It just did the same thing to me, Terri.

Have you tried Control-R (hold down the Control key and press the R key) to reload the webpage and then see if the Preview button works? That seems to straighten it out for me.

Terri, even though you just have the basic, they still should have told you what you're paying for without you giving them any speed results information.

There have to be orders written showing what speed you requested, or are available to you. This order goes to whomever programs the equipment, runs any office wiring, and to their records bureau. Once they validated who you are, they could pull up this information on their computers.

It could have an impact on page resolution (the time it takes to display the page), but the download speed should remain a constant. If you're paying for 24 Mbps, you should be seeing better numbers.

Is this by any chance a Cable network?

Yes, it's cable.

Cable can have issues if the number of users sharing the bandwith goes too high. I'd ask the ISP to look into it.

Sharon, the speed of your internet is determined by the cable path from your provider to your house, what's been programmed into the equipment, and by the modem communicating with the providers' end. And as Inland said, it will change if the number of users increase.

The users' computer doesn't do anything to adjust the connection speed, it's just a means for users to access the internet by using the appropriate software.

The only way speed can be adjust by a computer is through the one your provider uses to program their equipment.

But I'd say you do have something going wrong with your computer if its shutting itself down. Possibly something is overheating or the power supply is failing, or something else entirely. This type of computer trouble would be difficult for a owner to trouble shoot because it's what's know as coming and going trouble. And starting a switching out of hardware in the hopes that's the problems will take time and money for spare parts. This type trouble is best diagnosed by a computer repair shop.

Thanks Homer6. The system seems to shut itself off unexpectedly when it sits idle for a few hours. It doesn't do it all the time yet. I'm just going to start turning it off unless I'm actually using it or expecting a call (internet phone).

I was going to get a new system anyway, hopefully this will provide greater incentive to leave my money in the bank.