I subscribed to AT&T Broadband Internet about 2 1/2 weeks ago and ever since then my internet connection has been as slow as a 56k. When I'm downloading a file it'll sometimes start off at 40kb/s and drop down to as low as 4kb/s. This happens everytime I surf the web or try to download a file. My computer: 400 mhz Pentium II, 64 mb RAM, 6 gig hardrive, RCA cable modem, and Windows 98 SE. The AT&T technician installed everything for me. I've tried contacting AT&T but their phone lines are ALWAYS busy. It's pretty ridiculous. I've also tried powercycling my modem and everything remains the same. Any suggestions?

Try clearing your Internet cache (temp internet files)

is this ALWAYS or is an intermittent thing? run some speed tests and see what you average at during different times of the day. i'm not sure what ATT promises as far as speed but you might wait on hold and try and find out. even though your computer isnt the fastest in the world the connection should be faster then that. there is a great possibility that you have a problem on the cable system. trust me it is possible for that to be the cause, i am a Level III field tech for Time Warner Road Runner. this is one of the things that i have to fix. if you cant find anything to do with your computer then get a tech out there to track the problem on the cable plant.... good luck

also have you tried to install a speed patch to optimize the NIC settings for cable modem. the patch is at www.speedguide.net they are under PATCHES on the left. choose the OS that you have. un-zip, then right click and choose INSTALL, reboot and try speed test again. see if that helps. may or maynot.... good luck

Could be network traffic, but 4kb/s is crazy. Try shutting off your router and modem and turn back on. usually solves the problem when my dsl slows down.

Yikes! even 40k/sec for a cable modem is bad. My fastest download ever was 567k/sec I coouldn't belive it. But my average is 200-300k/sec. With the slowest being around 60k/sec. I all depends on the server you're d/l from. If their end id packed then your end will be slow as well. Try d/l any larger file from nVidia's website (www.nvidia.com) I always found their site to be quite fast. (250-350k/sec.)

Make sure your nic is not sharing an IRQ unless the driver supports sharing.